Founding Head of GTM

About The Role

An early-stage ambient AI startup in San Francisco is hiring a Founding Head of GTM — a rare full-stack seat that owns both go-to-market strategy and brand positioning from day one. You'll design the funnel, craft the narrative, and execute the beta-to-launch plan that gets a category-defining product in front of the right early adopters. This is a player/coach role with real ownership: strategy and execution, story and funnel, all in one seat. The company is building an ambient intelligence system — spanning hardware, software, memory, and context — designed to reduce cognitive overhead and help people reclaim presence in their daily lives. It's a genuinely compelling product thesis at the intersection of consumer AI and personal productivity, targeting a "second brain"/PKM-aware early-adopter audience.

What You'll Do

• Own GTM strategy end-to-end: design funnel logic, sequence beta-to-launch phases, and mix channels including founder-led outreach, KOL activation, community platforms, and product launch platforms (Product Hunt, Hacker News).
• Build brand narrative, voice, and positioning from scratch — find the angles that make the product thesis land and validate the real early-adopter audience.
• Construct and iterate on a working beta acquisition funnel; measure conversion by channel and reallocate effort based on what's actually working.
• Direct and coach everyone else touching GTM or marketing (contractors, future hires) in a player/coach capacity — this is not a peer split.
• Build a repeatable GTM and brand playbook the broader team can scale post-launch.

What We're Looking For

• 3+ years owning GTM execution and brand/positioning end-to-end for a startup launch (seed to Series A/B stage) — the full stack, not just one half.
• Demonstrated ability to build and optimize multi-channel beta-to-launch acquisition funnels with channel-level conversion analysis and reallocation.
• Proven experience developing brand narrative, positioning, and voice from scratch that resonates with early-adopter audiences.
• Experience as a 0→1 hire: thrives in high ambiguity, early-stage environments where process is created, not inherited.
• Hands-on execution across founder-led outreach, KOL activation, community platforms, and product launch venues.
• Experience directing and coaching marketing/GTM team members and contractors.

Nice To Have

• Experience with consumer AI or hardware-adjacent startup launches.
• Expertise in community-led or product-led growth (PLG) models.
• Understanding of trust dynamics and market perception challenges for China-origin products.
• Established operator network and existing audience on X/LinkedIn.
• Bilingual capabilities.
• Familiarity with "second brain" / PKM personas and communities.

Location & Work Arrangement

This is a hybrid role based in San Francisco, CA. In-person presence is expected on a regular basis.