Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Fieldbook Studio, an Alloy Partners venture studio located in Bentonville, Arkansas, is focused on creating advantaged companies across the retail value chain. Our newest venture is designed to address a significant and overlooked opportunity in the independent retail and emerging CPG ecosystem by rethinking how product discovery and brand expansion happen across this market.

Independent retailers represent more than 1.7 trillion dollars in annual spend, yet the process of discovering new products remains highly fragmented. Retailers lack a curated and reliable way to identify trend-forward items for their stores. Emerging CPG brands face high customer acquisition costs and a challenging pathway to retail exposure. This new venture solves these challenges by creating a curated sampling and discovery platform that connects retailers with emerging brands and helps brands expand into retail more efficiently.

Fieldbook Studio is seeking an Entrepreneur in Residence who will lead this concept through early commercial validation, operational development, and long-term scale. This role is intended to transition into a founding CEO role at the time of incorporation.

This is an opportunity to build a zero-to-one company inside the Bentonville retail ecosystem with the full support of the Alloy Partners venture studio model.

What You'll Do

Lead Strategy Market Discovery and Concept Evolution

• Develop a deep understanding of the problems facing independent retailers and emerging CPG brands
• Translate market insights and early pilot activity into a clear company strategy and value proposition
• Shape product themes and guide how curated discovery will work across the platform

Drive Early Traction and Customer Development

• Step into the leadership of early pilot activity and monthly sampling cycles in motion at the time of hire
• Build strong relationships with emerging CPG brands and manage onboarding, product sourcing, and curation
• Lead retailer acquisition efforts, including referrals, partnerships, and network development in priority markets
• Identify and predict consumer trends to guide product offerings and develop a six-month trend pipeline and corresponding brand network. 

Build Go To Go-To-Market Strategy and Revenue Foundations

• Develop and execute the dual-sided commercial strategy for brands and retailers
• Shape pricing and economic models and refine a repeatable go-to-market motion
• Identify growth pathways that support long-term scale, including retailer network expansion and brand channel partnerships
• Explore enterprise adjacency opportunities within large retail ecosystems

Oversee Operations and Logistics

• Manage the operational workflows required for a monthly sampling and discovery platform, including sourcing, fulfillment, and logistics
• Build scalable systems and operational processes as volume increases
• Evaluate long-term operational models

Requirements

• Deep experience in independent retail or emerging CPG, including hands-on exposure to buying/merchandising, forecasting, and physical product considerations (packaging, case pack design, and in-store presentation)
• High credibility within the retail or emerging brand community and strong relationship‑building instincts
• Demonstrated ownership of revenue and commercial outcomes (e.g., driving new product distribution, launching into new channels, or building early go‑to‑market motions), ideally in resource‑constrained or zero‑to‑one environments; prior formal sales leadership is a plus but not required
• Ability to recognize and predict consumer trends ahead of mass adoption; a strong social media presence or portfolio that demonstrates this trend fluency is a plus
• Understanding of scalable business dynamics and familiarity with building businesses capable of reaching one hundred million dollars in revenue
• Hands-on execution mindset, ready to inherit and refine a live pilot
• Comfort traveling to trade shows and partner events, and building multiregional retail relationships
• Founder or senior operator experience in independent retail or emerging CPG strongly preferred (e.g., building a brand from concept through getting on shelf)
• Experience in funded startups or prior fundraising preferred
• Experience solely in large, established CPG or retail organizations without hands‑on exposure to independent retail or emerging brands is typically not a fit for this role

Benefits

• Competitive compensation. Note that this will be a 1099 position until the concept is launched and incorporated, which could take several months. At that time, the role will transition into a W2 position with founder shares issued. 
• A collaborative, entrepreneurial environment with a proven venture studio playbook
• A highly validated concept and business model hypothesis developed by our team 
• The support of the venture studio and platform services, our goal is to surround the startup with world-class expertise in every discipline required to build a market-leading company

About Fieldbook:

Fieldbook Studio conceptualizes, launches, and grows innovative startups in the Retail Value Chain sector. Our team works with entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate partners to identify and develop new business opportunities and provide support and resources to help startups succeed. Fieldbook Studio leverages the experience and expertise of the High Alpha Innovation team and partners to offer a wide range of services, including business strategy development, product design and development, marketing and branding, fundraising, and mentorship. 

About Alloy Partners: 

Alloy Partners (formerly High Alpha Innovation) is a venture builder with a radical thesis: we can build advantaged companies in partnership with corporations and entrepreneurs to unlock transformation and address society’s biggest challenges through startup creation.

What we value:

WE BUILD

We make decisions with imperfect information and quickly move forward. We take action. We are comfortable with discomfort, and we measure our results in terms of what we build.

WE ARE BOLD

We seek, uncover, and speak truth. We are endlessly curious, we dream big and we lead through vision. Our ideas change the world.

WE CREATE OPPORTUNITY

We aim to create as much opportunity for as many people as possible, and we believe startups are a powerful vehicle for doing so. By creating opportunity, we create joy for ourselves, our loved ones, our corporate partners, and if we’re doing it right -- the world.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Alloy Partners is an equal opportunity employer, and we value diversity at our company. We do not just accept diverse backgrounds, we celebrate them. Our company, the work we do, and our partners benefit from the value of a diverse team. No team member's value lies alone in their diversity, and because we value diversity so highly, we reiterate that all hiring and employment decisions are made on merit, performance, competence, and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.