Eligibility note: Our German launch is supported by the EXIST Gründungsstipendium and ego.-Gründungstransfer startup grants. These programs set their own eligibility rules, including a recent affiliation with a recognized German university (currently enrolled, or graduated within the program's qualifying window). We are happy to walk serious candidates through whether they qualify. If you are not affiliated with a German university, this particular role may not fit, and we encourage you to follow our journey.
Location: Germany (Magdeburg / Berlin / remote within DE)
Role: Co-founder, equity partner, full-time
Start: Immediate
About BluePen AI
BluePen AI is building the world's first screen‑free AI tutor, an intelligent pen that teaches children in their own language, inside their own notebook. No screens. No distractions. Just learning.
We are preparing our launch in Germany in partnership with Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg and the Saxony‑Anhalt Department of Industry, on the EXIST Gründungsstipendium, ego.-Gründungstransfer pathway and other similar grant pathways. Funding is not yet confirmed, and we are fully transparent about that stage.
Our founding team is deliberately structured across India and Germany. We will walk serious candidates through the full picture during our conversations.
The Role
We are looking for a co‑founder who is a commercial builder at heart. Someone who can sell, position, and open markets. Not a strategist who only makes slides, but an operator who gets a product into people's hands and money into the bank.
This person will be our commercial navigator inside the German education market. Someone who understands how German buyers actually decide, where the budgets sit, and how a young company earns trust with schools, parents, and partners.
This is not a junior marketing hire. This is a co‑founder seat for someone who will own go‑to‑market from zero. That means early B2B sales into schools and districts, early D2C sales and marketing to parents and students, pricing, channels, and the partnerships that turn a product into a business.
You will define how BluePen AI reaches the market, who we sell to first, and how we win them. Grounded in real German buying behaviour, shaped by what actually moves a German parent or a German school, and validated through early revenue, not theory. You will sit at the strategy table as a co‑founder alongside the CEO and CTO.
Responsibilities
* Navigate the German education market end to end on the commercial side: who buys, how budgets flow, procurement and approval realities, Fördervereine, and the decision‑making structures that determine whether a product gets purchased
* Own early B2B sales into schools, school districts, tutoring chains, and education providers, starting in Saxony‑Anhalt and expanding across Bundesländer
* Own early D2C sales and marketing to German parents and students: positioning, messaging, channels, and the first repeatable path to a paying customer
* Build and own the go‑to‑market strategy: target segments, pricing for the German market, sales motion, and the sequencing of B2B versus D2C
* Build the early revenue base: run pilots that convert, define commercial metrics, and turn interest into signed customers and recurring revenue
* Develop and maintain relationships with German commercial stakeholders: school administrators, distributors, retail and channel partners, parent communities, and ecosystem players
* Co‑lead grant applications (EXIST, ego.-Gründungstransfer, BMBF, EU Horizon, and similar), especially the market, business model, financial, and commercialization sections
* Represent BluePen AI in business forums, startup events, partner conversations, and customer meetings where German fluency and firsthand market understanding are essential
* Translate market and customer feedback into product and pricing decisions alongside the CEO and CTO: what buyers will actually pay for and why
* Shape BluePen AI's commercial positioning and brand voice in the German market
What We Are Looking For
* A commercial builder. Someone who can look you in the eye and say “I can sell this and build the business around it” and back it up. You think about customers, channels, and revenue not because a job requires it, but because you cannot stop thinking about how to make a product win.
* Full professional fluency in German (native or C2 level). You understand the German market from the inside and know how German customers think, decide, and buy.
* English proficiency at B2 or above. You will work and make decisions with your co‑founders in English.
* A recent affiliation with a recognized German university, in line with EXIST and ego.-Gründungstransfer eligibility rules. An MBA or Master’s in Business, Management, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, or a closely related field, with an MBA preferred.
* Real experience in sales, go‑to‑market, marketing, or business development. Ideally with early‑stage, startup, or zero‑to‑one exposure where you owned outcomes, not just tasks.
* Practical understanding of the German commercial landscape: how B2B sales cycles work, how procurement and budgets function in the public and education sectors, and what it takes to win a German consumer.
* Genuine instinct for customers and markets. Not just frameworks, but a feel for what makes people buy.
* Roots in the German business, startup, or education ecosystem. Ideally with connections to universities, founder networks, distributors, or school and parent communities. People you can call who will answer.
* Comfort on stage and in rooms with customers, partners, and decision‑makers. You will be BluePen AI's commercial voice in Germany.
* Complementary strengths to our existing team. We have the tech and the founding vision. We need someone who breathes go‑to‑market and revenue.
* Excellent personal fit: we are three people who will make hard decisions together for years. Chemistry comes before every checkbox.
What We Offer
* Meaningful co‑founder equity, vested over four years with a one‑year cliff
* Once the EXIST Gründungsstipendium is secured, a monthly founder stipend funded by the program for the duration of the grant
* A real seat at the strategy table, not an advisor or consultant role
* Formal co‑founder title for the entity once established
* A mission that compounds: the first AI product designed to return attention to children, not steal it
* Two co‑founders who have built together before and know exactly what a third great partner looks like
Important: Please Read Before Applying
This is a full‑time co‑founder role. Under the grant rules, participants cannot hold other active employment beyond 5 hours per week during the 12‑month funding period. If you are currently in a full‑time role you are unwilling or unable to leave after selection, this is not the right moment for you, and that is okay.
We are transparent about our stage. Today the compensation is co‑founder equity, with the EXIST founder stipend added once that funding is secured.
How to Apply
Send a short note to gputech@trybluepen.com answering:
1. If you were handed BluePen AI tomorrow, how would you win the first 100 paying customers in Germany, and how would you scale from there? Tell us how you see this product growing.
2. Your honest take on the single hardest part of getting a new product into German schools or German homes, and how you would approach it.
3. Your honest take on why you, right now, are in a position to take this leap.
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