The Opportunity

We are Product.ai —the company building the Axiomatic Intelligence layer of the internet. You may know us as Demand.io the profitable, founder-led team behind SimplyCodes—the leading AI-powered savings tool driving $1B+ in annual commerce. In early 2026, we complete our corporate transformation and formally become Product.ai.

What we're building: Product.ai is a recommendation engine that doesn't guess—it verifies. We ingest product data, marketing claims, and real user feedback, then use adversarial AI to expose hidden flaws and surface the products that actually deliver. Think "Consumer Reports meets ChatGPT"—but with receipts.

We are seeking a Founder's Associate to operate as the direct extension of the CEO during a critical inflection point: the transformation from a bootstrapped savings company into an independent AI commerce platform.

This is not a "Chief of Staff" role that promises strategy but delivers scheduling. This is both. We are telling you the truth upfront because we only want people who can handle it.

You will trade labor for wisdom. You give us 100% reliability on high-friction tasks. We give you 100% access to the rooms where decisions are made.

What You Will Do

You will not be filing expense reports in a corner. You will be embedded in the operating rhythm of a founder building a category-defining company.

50% Operational Excellence (The Hands)

• Calendar Defense: You don't just book meetings; you guard "Deep Work" blocks like a bouncer. You kill low-value invites before they reach the CEO's attention.
• Environment Architecture: You own the Santa Monica HQ as a high-performance sanctuary. Supplies, food, vibes, repairs—zero entropy, zero excuses.
• Life Logistics: You eliminate the personal friction (travel, reservations, errands) that creates drag on executive output.

50% Strategic Exposure (The Brain)

• Executive Shadowing: You're in the room where strategy is forged. You capture the decisions. You track the follow-through. You see how choices cascade through an organization.
• High-Velocity Research: "Michael needs the unit economics of [Competitor X] by 4 PM." You find it. You synthesize it. You present it clean.
• Rapid Prototyping: You run small experiments across tools, processes, and systems. You report what works and what doesn't with brutal honesty.

Who You Are

We do not care about your pedigree. We care about your slope.

• You are a Future Founder. You are early in your career but learning faster than people with twice your experience. You know you want to build something of your own one day—you just lack the operational playbook to do it. This role is your apprenticeship.
• You possess the "Figure It Out" gene. We don't have training manuals. We have problems. When given a vague objective ("Fix the office energy"), you don't ask for a spec; you design a solution and ship it.
• You write with clarity. Your communication is concise, active, and structured. You understand "Bottom Line Up Front." You do not bury the answer in paragraph three.
• You are tech-native. You use AI tools (Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity) as prosthetic limbs, not novelties. You work 10x faster than your peers because you've already integrated these systems into your workflow.
• You understand that excellence has no hierarchy. The best operators we've met treat small tasks with the same rigor as big ones. Ordering lunch for a board meeting and synthesizing a competitive brief both matter. If you see a distinction between "strategy work" and "logistics work," this isn't the right fit.
• You are physically present. This role requires 5 days per week in Santa Monica. Remote work is not compatible with the shadowing and rapid-response nature of this position.

The "Tour of Duty" Structure

This is a 24-month commitment with a defined arc:

• Year 1: You are the sponge. You master the operations. You earn trust through flawless execution on the unglamorous work. You absorb how a founder-led company operates.
• Year 2: You take on independent projects with real ownership. You run experiments. You manage outcomes, not just tasks.
• Post-Graduation: If you are excellent, we invest in your next move. That means either a Product Lead role at Demand.io, backing for your own startup, or a warm introduction to our network. If it's not a fit, we part ways cleanly with no hard feelings.

This is not a career administrative role. It is a launchpad.

Compensation & Benefits

Because we are profitable and founder-led—with no VC burn rate to manage—we can pay at the top of the market and share the upside directly with our team.

• Base Salary: $120,000 – $150,000 (99th percentile for early-career generalist roles)
• Performance Acceleration: Exceptional performers in Year 2 become eligible for equity participation as they transition into permanent leadership roles.
• Benefits: 100% premium coverage for medical, dental, and vision. Daily catered lunches at HQ. Unlimited PTO that we actually expect you to use.
• The Real Compensation: Direct access to a founder building a category. A front-row seat to strategic decision-making. An operational education that would cost $200K at business school—except you get paid instead of paying.

How to Apply

We don't use cover letters or ATS keyword bots. We measure logic, not keywords.

The Process

• The Input: Instead of scheduling a 30-minute phone screen, you will answer 6 short questions via video (async).
• The Context: These are high-signal prompts designed to assess your culture fit and thought process. No rehearsal is required. We value clear thinking over production value.
• The Trade: If your signal is clear, you skip the generic recruiter screen and move straight to a peer-level conversation with the team.