ContraMinds Labs starts from a simple observation: People don’t fail to think like owners on their own. They are taught not to.
Most employees don’t lack founder instinct. They learn, over time, that exercising it is costly.
As organizations grow, they reward caution more than judgment. Authority increases, but the scope of risk narrows. Initiative becomes something to manage, not encourage.
So people move up the ladder while quietly lowering their ambition - not from apathy, but from repeated exposure to incentives that make ownership irrational.
People filled with hope, optimism, and potential are hired into narrow roles, evaluated on blunt metrics, and placed inside systems that optimize for predictability over growth. Over time, curiosity is dulled, judgment is outsourced, and their ambition starts to sunset quietly. Not because people lack talent but because the system has no use for it.
We don’t want to build that kind of company.
Which is why we’re not recruiting employees.
We’re recruiting Fellows.
Employees Take Roles. Fellows Take Risk.
Most companies hire employees. Employees accept jobs. Jobs come with titles, ladders, and implied promises of permanence. They are designed for stability and to reduce risk… for the company first, and sometimes for the individual.
Fellowships do the opposite.
A fellowship is explicit about risk, time, and intent. You are not here forever. You are here to build, learn, and compound capabilities… fast. The relationship is honest from day one. No career theatre. No vague “growth opportunities.” No pretending that loyalty emerges from indefinite tenure.
At ContraMinds Labs, we think this clarity is a feature, not a bug.
We run the company more like a professional sports team than a traditional organization. Real players. Real stakes. Clear seasons. You train, you play, you improve… or you don’t. Nobody is here to “keep a seat warm.”
This doesn’t mean chaos. It means commitment.
What We’re Building
ContraMinds Labs exists to shape a billion careers by aligning Purpose, Mindsets and Practice in a world that increasingly rewards shallow output and surface-level competence.
Our work spans products, content, systems, and ideas, but the through-line is always the same: helping knowledge workers become more capable, not just more credentialed.
That ambition requires builders, not box-checkers.
Which brings us to the fellowships.
The Fellowships
We’re opening a year-long full-time fellowship for two ambitious individuals. Both roles are core to how ContraMinds Labs operates. Both are founding-team roles in every sense that matters.
Visual Design Fellow
This is not a “make things pretty” role.
As a Visual Design Fellow, you’ll work across websites, products, and visual systems. You’ll translate abstract strategy into research-based concrete design decisions. You’ll think in systems - spacing, hierarchy, restraint, rhythm - not just screens and assets.
Your work should make people feel something before they consciously process what they’re seeing. You should care about clarity more than cleverness, and coherence more than novelty.
If you enjoy being close to decision-making, shaping how a company presents itself to the world, and iterating fast without waiting for permission, you’ll feel at home here.
Content & Research Fellow
This role is about velocity with substance.
As a Content & Research Fellow, you’ll move across ideas, domains, and formats. You’ll turn thinking and deep research into tangible assets - writing, media, narratives - that actually move customers and consumers, not vanity metrics.
This is not about chasing algorithms or padding word counts. It’s about distillation. About understanding what matters, articulating it clearly, and shipping consistently.
You’ll work closely with the founders. You’ll see how ideas turn into products, positioning, and strategy. And you’ll be expected to execute with both range and discipline.
Why a Fellowship Model?
Because we’ve seen what bad systems do to good people.
We’ve seen smart, curious professionals slowly reduced to task executors. We’ve seen jobs turn into entitlements and frustration masquerade as stability. We’ve seen companies manage humans the way spreadsheets manage rows.
We don’t believe that’s inevitable.
A fellowship makes the deal explicit: you are here to grow as much as you are here to contribute. The company benefits from your energy, perspective, and output. You benefit from exposure to owning strategic outcomes, responsibility to deliver value, and accelerated learning across the board.
At the end of the year, you leave sharper than you arrived—whether or not you stay on.
That honesty is rare. We think it’s overdue.
Who We’re Looking For
We’re looking for people with roughly 0–3 years of experience.
You’re competent, but not yet “validated.”
You can do the work, but haven’t been handed the big stage.
You may have been overlooked because you didn’t go to the right school, work at the right company, or follow the expected path.
That doesn’t bother us.
We care more about how you think, how you learn, and how you respond to responsibility than where you’ve been stamped before.
The Commitment
These are year-long fellowships. They are demanding. You will be expected to think, build, and take ownership.
In return, you’ll get proximity to real decisions, real work, and real standards. You won’t be sheltered. You won’t be micromanaged. And you won’t be invisible.
We’re not promising comfort. We’re promising growth.
If that sounds like the kind of year you want to have… Apply here: https://tally.so/r/RG5erd