• Conduct rigorous market research to surface new opportunities across public funding ecosystems and continue to hone in on ideal customer profiles. • Analyze regulatory landscapes, policy trends, and local/state/federal funding programs to inform market entry strategies and best paths to navigate partnership within a priority state or region. • Build and maintain a pipeline of market hypotheses and concepts for exploration and begin testing them in assigned territory. • Partner with B2B Marketing to develop new business opportunities from the ground up (0→1), using creativity, curiosity, and deep ecosystem scanning. • Engage with state and local stakeholders to uncover unmet needs and explore alignment with Guild’s capabilities. • Leverage and develop frameworks to assess opportunity fit, strategic value, and long-term scalability within the Guild ecosystem. • Make go/no-go recommendations based on market traction, financial viability, and mission alignment. • Design and lead early engagements to validate demand, feasibility, and ROI of new market opportunities. • Develop hypotheses, pilot concepts, and test value propositions with state funders, partners, and beneficiaries. • Support the development of new business models and funding structures aligned with Guild’s impact and financial goals as it relates to state and local buyers. • Translate validated opportunities into actionable go-to-market plans in collaboration with marketing, product, learning marketplace, government affairs, and operations teams. • Define and track key success metrics and leading indicators of market traction - as defined by revenue and total education spend. • Support initial GTM execution by providing tight feedback loops on market positioning, possible opportunities, and where and if local engagement and advocacy would be needed. • Partner with internal teams (e.g., Finance, Legal, Policy, Product) to ensure new ideas are viable, scalable, and compliant. • Help structure strategic partnerships that align with new market goals. • Serve as a thought partner to senior leadership, offering clear, data-informed recommendations.