Lead a venture from day zero inside an AI-first venture studio Some of the strongest entrepreneurs never get the seat that would prove it. They've been in the early-stage room before as a founding product manager, a first general manager, or the third hire who ended up running half the company. They've shipped real things.

They've sat across from customers and learned what nobody else in the building knew. They have an instinct for what could be a company and what shouldn't be. But they haven't gotten to lead one yet.

If that's familiar, this is for you. The Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) program is a 6-month fellowship with Renaissance Philanthropy in partnership with Gitwit Venture Studio and part of the new Northwest Arkansas Innovation Fund from Renaissance Philanthropy. You will be part of Gitwit's new Northwest Arkansas office.

This program is designed for the operator who has already been close to the work of building a company, and is ready to step into the seat that runs it. This is not your typical fellowship. It's not a research role.

It's not the version of EIR where you spend six months refining your own thesis. We're a problem-first studio. We find the problems.

You'll lead the work of turning one into a real company. You'll learn by doing the actual job: customer discovery, market validation, prototype direction, early sales, investor pitching, the whole sprawl alongside the partners, engineers, and design partners that make the studio engine run. From Gitwit’s Perspective Gitwit is an AI-first venture studio.

We find problems worth solving, validate them rigorously, and build AI-native companies from the ground up. We're on pace to launch 15+ ventures in the next four years. We're opening our Northwest Arkansas office in Bentonville in Summer 2026, and as we expand the studio engine, we want to find the region's hidden entrepreneurs.

The operators we know are out there, doing impressive work as the second-in-command or running real things on the side, who would thrive in a CEO chair if they got the chance to step into it. The Entrepreneur in Residence Fellowship is that chance. The EIR Fellowship is also a structural investment in the NWA ecosystem.

The more experienced venture leaders this region has, the stronger the next generation of companies built in Northwest Arkansas will be. The venture studio and its ventures will be the hands-on classroom that enables a real-world education and the muscle memory that will drive long-lasting impact on venture generation and employment in the region. This is the closest thing to running an early-stage company before you actually have one.

From day one, you'll be doing the real work of venture creation: talking to users, pressure-testing the problem, shaping the product, selling early, and figuring out whether what's in front of you deserves to become a company. That includes: Leading customer discovery. Getting in front of real users and design partners.

Asking sharper questions than they're used to. Learning what the market actually says, not what you wish it said. Doing first-person market research.

Going deep into a problem space. Talking to operators, buyers, and adjacent players until you understand the terrain better than anyone we could hire to brief us on it. Shaping the product.

Working closely with engineers, designers, and partners to take a concept from raw idea to working prototype to product in users' hands. Running early sales. Pitching to design partners and prospective customers.

Closing them. Learning what makes them say yes, what makes them stall, and what makes them walk. Building the pitch.

Sharpening the story to investors, partners, and future hires the way an early-stage CEO has to. Helping decide what's real. Sitting at the table when we decide whether a concept becomes a feature, a product, or a company, and bringing the conviction (or the cold water) that comes from doing the work.

Operating across the full surface area.