Choose the opportunity
I learn how the business makes money and where work gets stuck, then narrow the field to the AI bets worth funding.
AI transformation · Product building · Founder experience
I help leaders decide what AI should do, then I help get it built.
I help leaders choose the AI opportunities worth funding, turn them into product direction, and stay with the team until the work ships.
How I got here
At nativ.ly, I helped GIPHY, Medium, Nextdoor, The Ringer, and The Players' Tribune turn new audience behavior into ad products brands could buy. I built the Midwest into the company's highest-earning region and personally drove more than 60% of revenue at peak. We were inventing the product and selling its first deal at the same time.
Then I co-founded PAKT. We raised $2.5 million, built the product, onboarding, regulatory infrastructure, and distribution model from scratch, and beat the industry click-to-apply benchmark by 15 times. We ultimately sold the business. The insurance market hardened at exactly the wrong moment, so PAKT did not become the company we had imagined. It was still an extraordinary run that proved I could raise capital, recruit a team, build through adversity, and find an exit.
I later helped launch advertising partnerships for Sherwood Media inside Robinhood. Today I run Ai Architechs, where I help leadership teams choose and ship AI products. Cosmo captures the context behind employee AI use so leaders can see what is working and what to build next. I also built Steady and created the Boardroom prototype independently.
How I work
How I get AI products into use.
Get the product built
I turn the chosen opportunity into product direction and keep business, product, and engineering moving toward a shipped release.
Learn from real use
I track adoption and results, then use the evidence to improve the product and decide what to build next.
Selected experience
The record behind the current AI work.
The current practice rests on years of founding PAKT, opening the Midwest for nativ.ly, and helping Sherwood Media launch advertiser partnerships.
$2.5Mventure funding raised
Raised $2.5M. Built the product. Sold the company.
Sam co-founded PAKT during COVID and led product, fundraising, regulatory work, hiring, partnerships, and go-to-market through the company's sale. PAKT created a custom Texas insurance product and built the onboarding and distribution platform that let publishers and community brands become licensed partners and earn recurring commission. It proved the model during one of the hardest personal auto insurance markets in decades.
- 15× click-to-apply versus the industry benchmark
- Custom Texas insurance product and original onboarding flow
- Embedded distribution for publishers + community brands
- Company founded and sold
nativ.ly
60%+of company revenue personally driven at peak
Built and sold early advertising products for emerging platforms.
As nativ.ly's third partner, Sam built the Midwest into the company's highest-earning region and led its platform and brand partnerships. The team helped emerging platforms design, price, and sell their first native ad products. At peak, Sam personally drove more than 60% of company revenue.
- Early ad products for GIPHY, Medium, The Ringer, and others
- Sam sold the first GIPHY + Ringer partnerships to State Farm
- GIForade earned Cannes Bronze + Clio Gold
Sherwood Media / Robinhood
Launchearly advertiser partnerships
Helped launch advertising partnerships for Sherwood Media.
At Sherwood Media, Sam helped turn Robinhood's audience and Sherwood's editorial proposition into advertiser products and an early partnership pipeline. He worked across leadership, editorial, product, and revenue to launch the offering.
- Early brand-partnership pipeline
- Executive narrative + go-to-market plan
- Launch work across editorial, product, and revenue
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