Co-Founder & CEO - AI Sales for Wholesale Distributors

Co-Founder & CEO – AI Sales for Wholesale Distributors FutureSight is seeking an experienced, visionary Founding CEO to lead the launch of a new AI Sales platform explicitly designed for wholesale distributor sales reps. Industrial wholesale distributors in the HVAC, electrical, and plumbing markets face a perfect storm: experienced sales reps are retiring, causing 6–12 months of productivity loss per retirement; manual quoting can take hours to days. Distributors turn down 80% of RFPs due to capacity constraints, struggle to manage 100,000+ SKU catalogues, and need staff fast. This $2B TAM is growing 25–30% annually with no dominant player. The solution is an AI assistant that serves the complete distributor sales workflow—inside sales, outside sales, commercial quoting, counter sales. It transforms hours into seconds through real-time quote generation, automates RFQ processing with ERP integration, processes contractor takeoffs into accurate quotes, offers point‑of‑sale AI for counter staff, captures institutional expertise, and delivers real-time cross‑sell intelligence as a unified all‑in‑one platform for the complete front‑office sales workflow. As Founding CEO, you will: Win customers — Run pilots, shape pricing, and validate retention and expansion. Build the product — Work with FutureSight's product/engineering pod to launch V1. Raise capital — Lead the seed round with our initial investment. Build your team — Hire your founding team and set the cultural foundation. About FutureSight FutureSight is a venture studio that co‑creates and invests in B2B SaaS and Vertical AI startups alongside exceptional entrepreneurs. We give founders an unfair advantage by pairing hands‑on studio support with early capital, reducing risk and increasing the odds of success by 10×. We’re led by a cross‑functional team of builders and investors. Kevin Nguyen and Alan Smith lead venture design and product strategy. Prathna Ramesh applies her experience as a venture investor with capital strategy. Dennis Ensing mentors our ventures with operational and strategic expertise; Krista LaRiviere brings years of entrepreneurial and marketing experience; and Anupama Joshi drives founder excellence. John Carbrey (San Francisco) brings deep insight into scaling startups from 0 to 1. What We Bring Validated problem — You will enter a venture with a proven market need and strong momentum toward building and scaling. Studio bench strength — Designers, engineers, growth marketers, and fundraising pros are embedded from Day 1. Capital commitment — Initial pre‑seed funding for early hires and building the MVP with potential for follow‑on funding, and access to our investor and advisor network. What You Bring Founder‑level drive — You're motivated to co‑found a new venture as the CEO. Startup scrappiness — You know what you're signing up for and are familiar with owning something from start to finish. Previous founding experience — You have co‑founded a product company or B2B SaaS venture or have been at a venture‑backed company. Risk appetite and capacity — Read more on our post on the Entrepreneurial Risk Profile. GTM chops — Proven success in B2B SaaS sales, marketing, and customer engagement. Fundraising fluency — Able to craft investor narratives and close capital; well networked in fintech and early‑stage communities. People leadership — Magnet for top talent; coach and culture carrier. Industry experience — Background in building integrated sales SaaS products, working in parallel with ERPs. What You Can Expect Daily active engagement with our team to launch the initial product, achieve initial market traction, and prepare for seed fundraise. Full P/L ownership of the new entity. A significant equity stake in the business. This is a full‑time role; we are seeking someone to dedicate themselves full‑time and exclusively to building and owning a new SaaS venture. Seniority Level Executive Employment Type Full‑time Job Function Other Industries IT Services and IT Consulting #J-18808-Ljbffr