Entrepreneur, dealmaker & strategic advisor.
Ben is a startup leader, published academic and strategic thinker with a knack for seeing to the heart of what’s most important.
Building & selling Memory Lane
Memory Lane’s patented AI biographer revolutionized the way people capture, share & pass down their most cherished memories.
Now a part of Storied, the world leader in family storytelling, our groundbreaking memory capture tech is powering meaningful moments of connection across generations worldwide.
Scaling Riva HQ
66% of Americans never negotiate pay, collectively leaving $188b on the table each year – and individually losing out on ~$1m in foregone wages over the course of an average career.
Riva, a venture-backed startup, used HBS expertise to help workers negotiate with their employers to maximize their comp. As CEO, Ben took over the company pre-revenue, found product/market fit, and scaled to $1m run rate in 6 months
Backed by Newfund Capital, Ulu Ventures and Pear VC, Riva sold to Teal HQ in late 2022 after securing over $100m in incremental salary across 5,000+ users.
Research at Harvard
Social media has transformed marketing, politics, news & culture – but at the most senior levels, negotiators from diplomats to business leaders have all but neglected the role that the internet can play in shaping or derailing their most important deals. Working with Professor James K. Sebenius, Ben broke new ground exploring this space.
Ben regularly guest lectures at HBS on the perils & potential of social media, and his work is published via the Program on Negotiation, a consortium including the Law School & MIT.
Countering Radicalization
Leaders across government, newsrooms, major social platforms, startups and the Fortune 500 are at a loss on how to adapt to the chaos of the Information Age.
Building on digital expertise from fighting ISIS recruitment for the White House (Ben’s first job out of college) to corporate crisis management and building groundbreaking social intelligence tools, RPS – a boutique strategy shop Ben founded – helped make sense of polarization & virality.
Negotiation Consulting
Widely considered among the world’s foremost advisors on complex negotiations, Lax Sebenius LLC – a strategy & capability building firm where Ben served as Vice President – works with leaders in the highest levels of business and government to achieve superior results in their most important deals.
Training for Congress
The Program on Legislative Negotiation, where Ben serves as a regular instructor, works to train legislators from the U.S. Congress and their senior staff to negotiate more effectively on a bipartisan basis, using materials & methodologies from Harvard Kennedy School in conjunction with American University.
