Arista Vault
A luggage-tech founder we partnered with on equity terms instead of fees — because we knew the deck was Shark-Tank-bound.
Equity, not retainer. When we believe, we own the upside.
01 The Bet
Arista Vault is a luggage-tech brand built around smart hardware. The founder came to 98 with a small budget and a big appointment in his calendar: he was Shark-Tank-bound, and the brand needed to look ready before the cameras rolled.
We knew two things: (a) the product was good, (b) the moment was real. Standard agency arithmetic — bill hours, ship deliverables, walk away — would have undersold what the work was actually worth. So we proposed a different shape.
02 The Deal
Instead of a flat fee, we negotiated an equity-based partnership. The founder kept cash; 98 took a stake. If the brand went up, we went up with it. If it didn't, we'd have spent our time anyway. Same operating system. Different asset class.
This isn't how most agencies price. Most agencies price as if every brief has the same expected value. The Arista bet was a lesson — for some deals, the right model is alignment, not invoicing.
03 The Work
Pre-Shark-Tank, the work was about getting the brand camera-ready. Sharper visual identity. A storyline the founder could tell in 90 seconds. Social cadence dialled up so the audience that arrived after the TV moment wouldn't land on a dead grid.
Post-show, the work shifted to capacity — turning attention into orders, orders into reorders, reorders into a real brand conversation. The TV moment is the door. The brand has to be the room.
04 What This Proves
Pricing as alignment. An equity-based agency engagement only works when both sides actually believe in the brand. We didn't propose this to every client. We propose it to the ones we'd put our own money behind.
Pre-show prep matters more than the show. Founders prepare the pitch. Brands prepare the surface. The brand surface — the grid, the website, the founder's social — is what the audience inspects after the cameras stop.
Cross-pollination, again. Like the Ishant talent contract opens doors for brand clients, the Arista equity deal teaches the agency a different muscle: how to make brand decisions when fee structure isn't the constraint.
Sourcing. This is the case record as published in Ninety-Eight’s archive; the same data renders the case file on the landing page, so the two cannot disagree. Reach is combined follower reach — the sum of the follower counts of the handles that posted — not impressions, not views.