Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR)

About the Role Lenskart is looking for an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) — someone who has built something from scratch, felt the weight of ownership, and knows what it takes to go from zero to one. This isn't a traditional corporate hire. We want ex-founders who bring first-principles thinking, bias for action, and comfort with ambiguity into a high-growth, execution-heavy environment. The EIR will work directly with leadership on 0-to-1 initiatives, new business lines, or high-priority strategic projects — with the mandate and autonomy of a founder, backed by Lenskart's scale, data, and distribution. What You'll Do Own a defined charter (new initiative, business line, or strategic project) end-to-end — from problem definition to execution to scale-up Operate with founder-like ownership: make decisions fast, build lean, iterate based on real feedback rather than process Work cross-functionally with category, ops, tech, and leadership teams to unblock execution Build and pitch business cases, structure ambiguous problems into workable plans, and drive them to measurable outcomes Act as a thinking partner to leadership on emerging opportunities, market shifts, and internal innovation bets Potentially build and lead a small team as the initiative matures Who We're Looking For Minimum 2 years as a founder or co-founder of a venture — startup experience is a plus but not mandatory 5–15 years total experience, combining founder time with either operating, consulting, or high-growth company experience D2C background strongly preferred — prior founder or operating experience in a direct-to-consumer business (retail, fashion, F&B, beauty, consumer tech, or similar) where you owned customer acquisition, unit economics, or category growth firsthand A track record of building something from the ground up — raising capital, acquiring customers, hiring a team, or navigating a shutdown/pivot all count as relevant proof points Strong first-principles problem solving; comfortable operating without a playbook High ownership mindset — treats company problems like personal problems Excellent stakeholder management — can navigate a large organization while retaining founder-speed instincts Willingness to be based out of Delhi NCR or Bangalore What Makes This Role Different Direct access to leadership and real business mandates — not a rotational or shadow program Autonomy to define how a problem gets solved, not just execute someone else's plan A path to owning a P&L or a full business unit based on performance Exposure to Lenskart's scale (retail, tech, supply chain, and consumer data) — distribution most standalone D2C founders never get to work with