I’m Ben Winters. I live on the Puget Sound in North Seattle with my wife, Taylor, and son Sebastian. Together, we spend time between the saltwater and the mountains.

I’ve made a career as a creative that understands business, focusing on media and emerging technology. Taking what I’ve learned and earned from my ventures, I’ve applied it as an investor. Currently, I’m in the process of discovery. What’s the next wave? 

So far, I’ve trialed and errored and sometimes succeeded in three big waves. 

Wave one was in stock media. I co-founded a stock media brand and marketplace (Punch & UpperCut), which Getty Images successfully acquired. 

Wave two, digital agency. I founded the highly-recognized WINTR (2009-2018), serving enterprises and startups. The team that we assembled was a formidable technical and creative force. We made whatever we could design and code, from art to apps, for enterprise brands to sexy startups. As a result, we won awards; our efforts were covered in FastCompany Design, Wired, the New York Times, and many others. It was an exciting thing to create. I had a life-changing health crash during this ride leading to a short period of status quo and, ultimately, a sale to Ideoclick, an Amazon-focused firm. 

Wave three, e-commerce. While at Ideoclick, I initially established ad-products offering, gaining the position as the #1 Amazon Advertising agency partner (2020-2022). We successfully raised a series-A investment from Accenture Interactive and GLP Capital Partners during this time. The company hit rough tides with the surge to scale brought on by Covid and the natural contraction of business as buying behaviors normalized. Post-Covid, I accepted a board appointment as turnaround CEO to find an acquirer and attempted to beat the odds. 

For the last decade, I have been an investor in real estate and, more recently, an investor and advisor in startups.