Paid, part-time internship
Founders Associate
Own a real workstream and help Populous move faster on work that matters.
About Populous
Populous helps product and marketing teams pressure-test major customer-facing decisions. We use simulated customer populations to anticipate reactions, surface objections, and generate insights around pricing, positioning, product concepts, and marketing strategy—before teams spend months and meaningful budget going in the wrong direction.
We recently raised a pre-seed round, have a working product and active beta users, and are now focused on finding repeatable product-market fit.
Why this role exists
We are moving quickly to make human-behavior simulation accessible to the teams making important product and marketing decisions. We have more high-value work than two founders can execute alone, so we are looking for one or two people to take meaningful ownership across go-to-market, product, development, or behavioral research.
Your mission
Help Populous move faster on work that matters. We will shape the role around the intersection of our immediate priorities, your strengths, and what you want to learn. You will own a real workstream, work directly with both founders, and ship something useful within four weeks.
What you may do
- Build and run an end-to-end go-to-market pipeline.
- Build critical product features that improve how Populous simulates human behavior.
- Improve the UX so behavior simulation feels as intuitive as today’s best AI products.
- Design or execute behavioral research that strengthens the product.
- Develop and test organic-growth experiments.
You will not be expected to do all of these. We will choose a focused workstream based on where you can contribute most.
What we’re looking for
- Genuine enthusiasm for the mission and very early-stage startup work
- The ability and desire to learn quickly and thrive in ambiguity
- Working familiarity with AI tools and coding assistants
- The ability to collaborate well on a very small team
- The judgment to use AI tools without outsourcing your thinking to them
Especially useful, but not required
- Sales experience
- A technical undergraduate background or technical professional experience
- Interest in behavioral economics, psychology, or behavioral science
What you can learn here
Everything else. We care more about how quickly you learn and take ownership than whether you arrive with a perfect background.
How we work
You will work closely with both co-founders. We move quickly and give people significant flexibility and autonomy. You will be exposed to current and potential customers and will see how product, research, and go-to-market decisions get made in real time.
Some work, especially technical projects, will be highly collaborative. Other projects may be better suited to independent ownership. The role can be remote, but at least one day per week in person in Berkeley is preferred.
Very early startup work is hard. Priorities change, the work is ambiguous, and outcomes are uncertain. In exchange, you will have unusual freedom to make an impact, learn quickly, and help shape the company rather than inherit a finished playbook.
Time and compensation
- Start immediately
- Initial four-week engagement
- 10–20 hours per week
- Possibility of conversion to a longer-term role at the end of summer
- $30 per hour for undergraduates
- $40 per hour for MBAs
Hiring process
Email Justin at justin@populous.app. No resume is required. Send a short note covering:
- Why Populous and this opportunity interest you
- Where you think you could contribute most
- What you hope to learn
- Your availability over the next four weeks
If there appears to be a fit, the next steps are a short conversation with the founders and a brief work sample. We review interest on a rolling basis.