Ari
Founder and Managing General Partner of A.R.I., approached Pink Shark in 2021 looking to educate media and investors on a little-known “alt” that was about to take off called venture debt. Since that initial meeting, and through his consistent media presence he has established himself as a leading voice in venture debt securing ongoing columns with Venture Capital Journal and BuiltIn. He’s also lent his expert commentary to Barron’s, Business Insider, TechCrunch and Wall Street Journal
01
The Challenge
Investors like to invest in what they know. They’re skeptical, and if their buddies aren’t all investing in similar vehicles - then usually they’ll wait on a good deal simply because “they don’t know.” As the venture landscape has changed dramatically in the past few years, so has the funding options for founders. On paper, the venture debt funds being led by Managing General Partner Zack Ellison were the best funding options - but due to a lack of venture debt education the media, investors, and the general public were slow to adopt.
02
The Strategy
Education is PR’s best look. And with A.R.I. our goal was to educate the public (via the media) and repeatedly share the fundamentals of venture debt, how it works, who it benefits and how both founders and investors are positively impacted by venture debt deals. Being both founder and investor friendly and essentially low-risk for both groups, the media was eager to ask questions and Zack was the only expert with answers.
When you’re breaking an industry into new innovation, it’s critical to “plant the flag on the moon." We aggressively positioned Zack as the leading expert in venture debt, focusing on op-eds and expert commentary in popular finance and startup publications. We worked to build the public's trust in both Zack and venture debt at the same time.
03
The Results
With ongoing columns in Venture Capital Journal, Builtin and commentary and coverage in prestigious publications like Barron’s, Business Insider, and TechCrunch, Zack Ellison and A.R.I. became the foremost leaders and most trusted names for founders in venture debt. He’s gone on to close several funds, support diverse funding initiatives for women and people of color, and is the leading accessible voice in all of venture debt.
