Ecosystem Associate

Startup Ecosystem Associate Incubation & GTM

Organisation: Kumbhathon Innovation Foundation | Location: Nashik | Experience: 13 years

About Kumbhathon

Kumbhathon Innovation Foundation is an incubation centre in Nashik, building a high-trust startup ecosystem in a Tier-2 city. We focus on nurturing founders solving real civic challengesespecially those that emerge in large gatherings (public safety, mobility, sanitation, health, crowd management, grievance redressal, and last-mile services)and help them build solutions that can scale beyond Nashik.

Role Summary

We are looking for a high-agency, field-first ecosystem builder who can work closely with early-stage startupsfrom problem discovery to pilots to go-to-market. This role sits at the intersection of founder support, research, and stakeholder engagement, working with government ecosystem, civic bodies, and ecosystem partners to translate on-ground problems into scalable ventures.

You will help startups move from interesting idea to deployable solution by bringing structure, insight, execution support, and institutional collaboration.

Key Responsibilities

1) Nurture startups end-to-end

Work as a hands-on second brain for founders: problem clarity, customer insight, value proposition, and execution roadmap.

Run weekly reviews: milestones, experiments, blockers, customer conversations, and iteration cycles.

Support founders in pilot planning, partnership readiness, and fundraising preparedness.

2) Research & opportunity discovery

Identify pain points through field immersion, stakeholder interviews, and secondary research.

Convert insights into problem statements, solution hypotheses, and measurable pilot outcomes.

Create crisp briefs: opportunity notes, stakeholder maps, risk registers, and solution blueprints.

3) GTM & pilot support

Support startups in GTM strategy: target customers, pricing, distribution, procurement pathways, and adoption levers.

Design pilots with government/civic partners (scope, KPIs, responsibilities, timeline, reporting).

Document learnings and help replicate pilots across geographies and events.

4) Engage administrations and institutional stakeholders

Build professional working relationships with administrators and civic leadership.

Support meetings, presentations, follow-ups, and MoUs/LoIs where required.

Ensure communication is crisp, respectful, and outcomes-driven.

5) Program delivery & ecosystem execution

Coordinate expert clinics, founder roundtables, and field immersions.

Track cohort performance, maintain dashboards, and publish progress updates.

Support convenings with partners across government, CSR, academia, and industry.

Qualifications & Experience (13 years)

13 years of experience in startups, consulting, social innovation, civic-tech, product/GTM, or ecosystem roles.

Strong research mindset: ability to synthesize field insights into structured recommendations.

Comfort engaging with senior stakeholders; exposure to government/civic systems is a plus.

Strong writing and communication skills: briefs, decks, meeting notes, and crisp messaging.

High ownership and execution ability in ambiguous environments.

Skills & Attributes

Civic-first and founder-first: motivated by real public problems and founder journeys.

Structured + scrappy: can build frameworks and also execute on-ground.

High-trust operator: maturity in working with officers, founders, and partners.

Curious researcher: asks better questions and validates assumptions.

Outcome-driven: measures progress through pilots, adoption, and scale readiness.

Key Deliverables (First 90 Days)

Support 46 startups with a weekly execution rhythm and measurable progress.

Develop 23 opportunity briefs focused on large-gathering problem areas.

Prepare 12 pilot proposals ready for civic partner approvals (KPIs + execution plan).

Create a repeatable founder support playbook (diagnostics milestones pilot GTM).

Why Join Kumbhathon

Work on high-impact civic problems where solutions can scale across India.

Build a Tier-2 ecosystem model with institutional credibility.

Front-row seat to founders, government systems, and large-scale deployments.

High learning curve across strategy, execution, and stakeholder leadership.

How to Apply

• Share your CV at [Confidential Information] & [HIDDEN TEXT]and a short note covering: (1) one civic problem you care about, (2) a startup you admire (and why), and (3) one example where you drove execution end-to-end.