Quantum Startup Founders (Venture Building with QAI Ventures)

**About the Opportunity**

This is an opportunity to **build a VC-backed venture with QAI Ventures** from the ground up, **not an employment role**.

We are looking for **Founders with a PhD or Postdoc** (or founder teams) in **Quantum / Physics** who want to build a company**,** based on their **own scientific work (publication or IP)**.

The venture-building process is anchored in **Basel (Switzerland)** and integrated into QAI’s global ecosystem.

This opportunity starts with a **2.5 month Discovery phase (part-time possible)** and can evolve into full-time venture building if validation milestones are met.

**About QAI Ventures**

QAI Ventures is the world’s most active Quantum investor and builder focused on **Quantum Tech, Quantum AI, and Advanced Computing**, supporting founders through structured execution across **product, management, and growth**.

We work with founders to transform **scientific breakthroughs into validated, investable ventures**, with early access to corporates, partners, and real market demand.

## Tasks

**The Venture Building Path**

We operate a systematic venture-building framework based on maturity progression and validated fit layers, where each stage is unlocked through demonstrated validation.

**Discovery 50 (2.5 months | Part-time possible)**

**Identifies market use cases with quantum potential**

A 2.5-month validation program focused on validating customer–problem fit by aligning early founder ideas with QAI’s corporate challenges, industry needs, and real-world use cases prior to PoC execution.

This phase focuses on:

• Translate your **scientific work (paper / IP)** into a clear, application-driven use case
• Define a specific **use case** and relevant **industry problem**
• Validate problem relevance through **engagement with industry stakeholders**
• Develop a **structured quantum advantage hypothesis**
• Explore **PoC opportunities**
• Assess **IP positioning and technical feasibility**

Support:

• Structured venture-building process
• Access to QAI ecosystem and industry cluster for **faster validation**
• Compensation: up to **15’000 CHF for 2.5 months (team-level)**

If successful, the venture progresses into the **Validate 125 phase (ca. 4 months)**, where execution shifts to full-time (with at least one founder fully committed), focusing on building and validating a working PoC with real customers, testing willingness to pay, and defining the business model and venture setup to achieve early traction. In the subsequent **MVP 350 phase (ca. 9 months)**, the company is incorporated, a customer-ready MVP is developed, PoCs are converted into first revenues, and go-to-market as well as fundraising activities are executed to scale the venture.

Each phase is **milestone-based**. Progression is not guaranteed; it depends on real validation and traction.

## Requirements

We are looking for **founders, not applicants**.

**Hard Requirements**

• **PhD or Postdoc in Quantum / Physics**
• A **scientific publication, research output, or IP** (can be in progress) that can serve as the foundation of a venture
• A clearly **identified problem** you want to solve (not just a technology)

**Founder & Team Expectations**

• Ideally, a **team of 2+ people** (not mandatory, but strongly preferred)
• Strong ability to **understand and lead the technical core**
• Willingness to transition into **full-time commitment from Validate phase**
• Financial ability to support yourself long-term (venture building is not a salary substitute beyond program structure)

**Mindset & Execution**

• See yourself as a **founder**, not only a researcher
• Want to build a **scalable company**, not extend academic work
• You value **structured execution** and actively engage with feedback and iteration
• Move fast: test, iterate, and engage with the market
• committed for the **long term**

## Benefits

You are supported by QAI Ventures across key venture-building areas, including **venture execution, technical development, product, scientific/IP strategy, and commercialization**.

This support is delivered by experienced venture builders who work hands-on with you to translate your science into a validated product, enable customer access and PoC execution, ensure technical feasibility and IP positioning, and drive commercialization and investor readiness; complementing your capabilities where it matters most. This senior team complements your capabilities to ensure **execution speed, validation quality, and investor readiness**.

Please share:

• Your background (PhD / Postdoc, field, institution)
• Your scientific work (paper, IP, or research direction)
• The problem you want to solve and why it matters now
• Your team setup (if applicable)
• Your availability (Discovery vs. full-time later)