Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR)

Sanabil Studio builds companies from the ground up. We bring together industry expertise, technology, and hands-on venture building to turn bold ideas into businesses. When a venture proves its potential, we help it scale.

We’re building ventures across fintech, capital markets, real estate, B2B marketplaces, and consumer. Our Entrepreneur in Residence track is an open invitation to builders who want to co-found one of them. Bring us what you’ve built, how you think, and the problems you want to solve next. Together, we’ll explore where you could have the most impact as a founder.

What You’ll Own As a Co-founder

• Turn a validated thesis into a live business with paying customers. Help navigate licensing and regulatory milestones where the venture requires them.
• Own a core part of the business end to end, from setting strategy and doing the early work yourself to delivering results and building the team.
• Make company-level decisions with your co-founders on what to build, where to focus, and how to use limited resources.
• Shape the culture and operating rhythm from day one, then hire the people who will help carry it forward.

What we look for

• You bring an unfair advantage. You know something about a market that others overlook, have earned the trust of customers or partners, or bring a rare capability that helps you build faster. You can show how you’ve turned that edge into a result, whether that meant winning an early customer, unlocking a partnership, or solving a problem others struggled to crack.
• You’ve built from zero. You’ve started a company, helped build an early-stage business, or launched a product or business line. You can explain what you personally owned, what changed because of your work, and what you learned.
• You bring depth in a function the venture needs. You have hands-on expertise in either sales, marketing, product, technology, finance, risk, or operations. You’ve led a team or owned a business line.
• You turn uncertainty into action. You get close to customers, test assumptions quickly, and make decisions with the evidence available. You can move between strategy and execution in the same day.
• You think like an owner. You understand how your decisions affect the whole business. You can disagree constructively, change your mind when the facts change, and stay accountable for outcomes.
• You can build in Riyadh. You’re based in Riyadh or willing to relocate.

Prior founder experience, an active sector network, or hands-on experience navigating Saudi regulatory and market infrastructure can be valuable, depending on the venture. That might include work with SAMA, CMA, REGA, SIMAH, Nafath, or ZATCA.

How Founder Discovery Works

• Tell us what you’ve built. Apply once and share something you helped take from idea to reality, the decisions you owned, and what you want to build next.
• Explore where you could make an impact. We’ll discuss the problems you’re drawn to, how you’ve handled real building decisions, and which venture could benefit from your strengths. Where there’s a promising fit, we may work through a live venture problem solving together.
• Meet the people you could build with. Spend time with potential co-founders and the studio team. Explore how you’d make decisions together, divide ownership, and handle the first set of priorities.

What a strong first year looks like

You’ve moved the venture from thesis toward launch and early traction, with milestones that reflect its stage and regulatory path. You’ve built the core capabilities your function needs, made progress visible through a clear operating rhythm, and earned your co-founders’ trust by making sound decisions and following through.

What Sanabil Studio Brings

• A researched starting point. A validated thesis, market research, and early evidence you can build on and challenge as you learn.
• A team that builds alongside you. Hands-on venture support from day one.
• An operating backbone. Support across legal, finance, Human Capital, hiring, IT, and governance.

Tell us what you’ve built and what you want to build next.