Folonite
Website:
folonite.in
Job details:
Role Type: Co-Founder
Industry: Artificial Intelligence, Voice AI, Developer Infrastructure
About Us
We're building the infrastructure for real-time conversational AI.
Our vision is to develop the foundational technology that powers the next generation of AI voice agents, systems that can listen, understand, and respond naturally in real time.
Our product roadmap spans speech models, voice agent infrastructure, developer tools, and cloud-based solutions.
We're focused on making conversational AI more natural, reliable, responsive, and accessible to developers and businesses.
We're building for a market where voice will become an increasingly important interface for interacting with AI.
I'm leading the technical side of the company, including product engineering, AI models, and infrastructure. Now, I'm looking for a business-minded co-founder who can take ownership of the commercial side and help turn the technology into a sustainable, globally competitive company.
The Opportunity
This isn't a conventional job opening. I'm looking for a genuine co-founder who wants to build a company, take responsibility for its outcomes, and grow alongside the product.
You'll work directly with me to shape the company's business direction, identify the right market opportunities, acquire early customers, build strategic relationships, and develop a sustainable business model.
The ideal person is someone who has already experienced the realities of building a startup—or has been deeply involved in growing one—and wants to build again with a technically driven founder.
I'm looking for a partner who can own the business, while I own the technology.
What You'll Own1. Business Strategy & Market Positioning
- Define our target markets, ideal customers, and initial use cases.
- Identify the most promising opportunities within voice AI, conversational AI, and AI infrastructure.
- Develop our positioning, pricing strategy, and business model.
- Evaluate competitors, market trends, and potential routes to market.
- Help determine which products and customer segments we should prioritize.
2. Customer Acquisition & Revenue
- Develop and execute strategies to acquire our first customers.
- Identify potential customers, design partners, and early adopters.
- Build relationships with startups, enterprises, AI companies, and developers.
- Explore revenue opportunities through subscriptions, API usage, cloud services, enterprise solutions, and strategic partnerships.
- Turn customer conversations into actionable product insights and commercial opportunities.
- Take ownership of early revenue generation and the path toward product-market fit.
3. Go-to-Market & Growth
- Build our go-to-market strategy from the ground up.
- Identify effective customer acquisition channels, including founder-led outreach, partnerships, developer communities, and content.
- Develop our launch strategy and communicate our value proposition to the market.
- Build repeatable processes for customer acquisition, activation, retention, and expansion.
- Experiment with different approaches to find scalable growth opportunities.
4. Partnerships & Business Development
- Identify and establish relationships with potential technology partners, AI platforms, cloud providers, and distribution partners.
- Explore integration opportunities and strategic collaborations.
- Build relationships that can accelerate adoption and strengthen our market position.
- Represent the company in relevant business discussions, industry communities, and potential partnerships.
5. Fundraising & Investor Relations
- Evaluate whether and when external funding makes sense.
- Build relationships with relevant investors, accelerators, and the startup ecosystem.
- Help develop our fundraising strategy, pitch materials, and business narrative.
- Lead investor outreach and fundraising discussions when appropriate.
Fundraising experience is valuable, but it isn't a substitute for the ability to build a real business.
6. Business Operations & Company Building
- Establish the commercial processes needed to operate and grow the company.
- Help manage business priorities, budgets, pricing, and strategic decisions.
- Bring structure to execution without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.
- Work with me on company-level decisions, product priorities, and long-term direction.
- Take ownership of business outcomes rather than simply recommending what should be done.
Who We're Looking For
We're particularly interested in people who meet one or more of the following profiles:
- Former founder: You've founded a startup, experienced the challenges of building a business, and want to build again.
- AI startup founder: You're currently building or have previously built a company in AI, SaaS, developer tools, infrastructure, or a related space.
- Early-stage startup operator: You've played a meaningful role in taking a startup from an early stage to customer traction, revenue, or a repeatable growth model.
- Business-focused technology entrepreneur: You understand technology products well enough to identify commercial opportunities and translate technical capabilities into customer value.
Previous founder experience is strongly preferred. We're more interested in what you've actually built, sold, or grown than in titles alone.
What Matters Most
- Founder-level ownership: You take responsibility for outcomes and don't wait for someone else to tell you what to do.
- Commercial thinking: You can identify who will pay for a product, why they'll pay, and how to reach them.
- Customer acquisition ability: You understand how to find customers, build relationships, and turn interest into revenue.
- Strategic judgment: You can make decisions with incomplete information, test assumptions, and change direction when the evidence demands it.
- Execution: You can move from an idea to a real-world experiment without getting stuck in endless planning.
- Resilience: You understand that startups involve uncertainty, setbacks, and periods when progress is slower than expected.
- Long-term commitment: You're interested in building a company, not simply adding a co-founder title to your profile.
Experience with B2B SaaS, AI products, API businesses, developer tools, enterprise sales, or international markets would be a significant advantage.
How We'll Work Together
I'll lead the technical side of the company, including AI development, product engineering, model development, and infrastructure.
You'll lead the business side, including market strategy, customer acquisition, partnerships, revenue generation, and commercial operations.
We'll work together on major company decisions, product direction, positioning, and long-term strategy.
The goal is to build a company where technology and business reinforce each other—not two disconnected functions.
What This Is Not
- This isn't a conventional salaried business development position.
- This isn't a role limited to cold outreach or lead generation.
- This isn't a position where you'll simply execute someone else's business strategy.
- This isn't a search for someone who only has startup ideas or fundraising contacts.
I'm looking for someone who can think independently, challenge assumptions, make decisions, and build alongside me.
Equity & Commitment
This is a co-founder opportunity, with the potential for meaningful equity ownership based on the responsibilities, commitment, experience, and contribution we agree upon.
The equity structure, vesting, working arrangement, and other terms will be discussed transparently before we commit to building together.
I'm particularly interested in someone willing to make a serious, long-term commitment to the company.
How to Express Interest
If you've built a startup before, are currently building an AI company, or have demonstrated that you can turn technology into a real business, I'd like to hear from you.
When reaching out, please share:
- Your startup or entrepreneurial background.
- What you've personally built, launched, sold, or grown.
- Your experience acquiring customers or generating revenue.
- Why you're interested in building in AI infrastructure or voice AI.
- What kind of commitment you're looking to make in your next venture.
A LinkedIn message is enough to start the conversation or you can whatsapp me on 9790294221
I'm not looking for a perfect résumé. I'm looking for the right person to build with.
Click on Apply to know more.
