Ari Zebersky on the origins of Negosh – and plans to grow the industry

Ari, it’s great to connect. To kick us off, for anyone new to Negosh, talk me through what the company does?
We’re an online licensing marketplace that connects brands with licensees globally – for collaboration fielding, territory expansion and product category extension. It’s effectively a platform where licensees can finally get access to established brands and emerging brands to make deals with.

How did you come to launch Negosh?
I was born into the licensing industry – my family founded a toy company. When they first started, it was quite a process to get in front of the right licensor. They had to knock on doors, connect with the right people and eventually they were able to get a deal with WWE – but it took a lot of hard work because no-one knew who they were. That experience kind of always stuck with me, especially as I grew into an entrepreneur.

You mentioned giving licensees access to established and emerging brands. Does Negosh also give licensors access to both established and emerging licensees?
I always liked the sweet spot of licensees that don’t know their licensees, right? Manufacturers with a large audience that have never gone into licensing. That’s what Negosh can do – find that emerging licensee and bring them to the forefront of these established brands, or even sometimes these emerging brands… And then vice versa.

How do you ensure the marketplace features the right caliber of licensees and brands?
The chicken and the egg problem! In the beginning, I’ll admit it was a struggle. We had to get the right brands on-board and it was hard. Without the right brands, we couldn’t get the right licensees, so it took time to build up the marketplace. Over time, people started to recognise the value of it and both the licensee and licensor sides started to grow.

And aside from the connecting aspect, how involved is the Negosh team in the process?
Negosh vets every licensee and licensor before they are able to join the platform, and although we don’t negotiate on anyone’s behalf, we do ensure licensees are connected with the best brands for them. For example, the NFL is not a perfect fit for every licensee out there, nor does the NFL want to see proposals from every licensee out there. So when we talk to an emerging licensee, we set expectations with them. The first brands that come to mind for them are Pokémon and Disney! And maybe we can get them to that level, but we guide them through the start of the process and curate those brands that are a good fit.

How important is it for the industry to find these emerging licensees?
The large brands will always dominate the industry and will likely be represented by the legacy licensees who are proven performers. That being said, today’s commerce environment is experiencing a shift that is resulting in many new entrants on the licensee side, Negosh is here to help them enter more easily.

Fewer consumers are walking through the aisles of legacy department stores and malls, and main street mom and pop shops cannot compete with the price point or convenience offered online. Instead, consumers are scrolling the ‘digital aisles’ of Amazon storefronts, Target and Walmart online Marketplaces, Instagram and TikTok shops… Brick and mortar salespeople cannot compete with your trusted social media influencer. Think about how quickly licensees who are online sellers were able to capitalise on the Labubu trend.

And Ari, what makes this all the more impressive is your age. Have you run into any unhelpful judgements? Or are people excited about working with someone your age that’s already done so much?
It’s either a really good thing or a really bad thing – there’s no in between! In a lot of cases, it’s really good and people are impressed most of the time. People are willing to take a chance because we are a start-up, bringing new technology into this industry. And what’s more normal than a twenty something year old disrupting an industry? People are used to that; everyone knows that opposing new ways of doing business is a good way to get left behind.

When we hop on zoom calls or go to meetings, yes, people are surprised by our youthful faces… But we quickly see that they respond to our enthusiasm, passion and forward-looking approach on how to bring more people into licensing, make it easier to connect and propel the industry forward into the future. And of course we receive pushback, often from the most established players, but that usually has nothing to do with our age.

“It’s our third BLE and we want to come in with a bang.”

But then there are some cases where younger isn’t better. Some licensees or licensors see us and see greenness – or they’ll see newness in a negative way and want to stick with the traditional ways. We recognise that those who want to stay with the traditional ways are probably not going to be the right fit for Negosh. If someone is judging us based off of our youthfulness and how excited we are about the industry, they’re probably not going to be our best fit.

Absolutely. And did growing up around entrepreneurs shape your path to setting up Negosh?
Entrepreneurship was kind of in my blood. When I was 10 years old, I was looking to file a patent for magnetic buttons to assist people with Parkinson’s – to help them button up their pants. I was learning how to code at 12. I started a 501(c)(3) charity when I was 16… So I was always coming up with new ideas and growing up around entrepreneurs was the best crash course.

Amazing! Before we wrap up, BLE is on the horizon. What do you have planned for this show this year?
We’re super pumped for BLE. It’s our third BLE and we want to come in with a bang. We’ll have Negosh folks walking the floors and we have some amazing meeting set up. I think we have finally solidified ourselves as a force within the industry. People recognise us now and say hi – they definitely were not doing that at our first BLE… They were like: “Who are those schmucks?”

Ha! There’s every chance they were talking about the Brands Untapped team. Last question, what helps you have ideas for where Negosh goes next?
Well, unfortunately my, my mind just doesn’t stop! But newly created products, especially those that go through Negosh, always inspire me – and make us look at where to focus our efforts. For example, we just helped make happen a Bob Ross Fortnite game that smashed it. It was the number one most engaged game. It reached 11,000 concurrent players. It was the number 12 game in Fortnite, beating out Epic’s own games. It was amazing and that success has created a sense of focus for our sales team and partners to get involved in those kinds of activations.

Fantastic. A huge thanks Ari, see you at BLE!