Samurai Labs

From the Beginning

Project Overview

Full Case Studies Below

Brand Strategy Final Project

Reframed Samurai from “stealth AI” to a mission-driven brand using archetypes and growth frameworks. The work clarified the company’s story around courage and protection while informing future positioning. See Full Case Study

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Proactively Solving Roadblocks

Built a real-time outreach dashboard for co-founders, board members, investors, and potential investors, creating a single source of truth for GTM progress and accountability, preventing ongoing team disruption. See Full Case Study

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Branding: Meet Sam

Inspired by sci-fi and RPG culture, I created Sam, the friendly AI Street Samurai, as an avatar that brought brand personality into an otherwise flat technical product. See Full Case Study

Meet Sam

The Future of Gaming

Developed a narrative forecast of where gaming, subsequent experiences and ecosystems were heading, I used visual storytelling, pop-culture references, and the reveal of Sam to align the team on brand and audience. See Full Case Study

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Project Details

Company

Samurai Labs

Initial Role

Senior Director, Go-to-Market – 4 months

Promotion

Vice President, Creative Development

Responsibilities

A/B Testing, Automation, Brand Strategy, Branding, Brand Evangelism, Brand Partnerships, Community Building, Content Strategy, Copywriting, Creative Direction, CRM, Data Mining, Deck Creation(Internal & External), Discord Server Creation & Ownership, Discord Content Strategy & Outreach, Discord Bot Integration, Demand Generation, Investor Q/A (for due diligence), Email Outreach & Follow Up, Fund Raising, Growth Marketing, Innovation, Investor Q/A (for due diligence), Marketing & Go-To-Market Strategy, MarTech, Paid Advertising, Planning, Public Relations, Product Design, Product Development, Product Management, Product Ownership, Project Management, Provisional Patents (7+), Rapid Prototyping, Research, Sales, SEO, Strategic Partnerships, Training AI Models, UX/CX, Video Production, Video Post-production, Web Design, Web Development Show more

Brand Strategy

Professor Scott Galloway - Final Project

Why it mattered

Samurai’s story leaned “stealth AI,” cold and technical. It needed a frame people could feel.

Challenge / Objective

Reframe positioning around protection and cultural relevance so the brand travels across audiences.

Execution

Applied archetypes and growth frameworks; mapped category culture cues; built a protection/courage narrative with messaging for site and decks.

Impact

How reframing the story made Samurai emotionally legible and persuasive; it became the narrative spine for site, outreach, and partner work.

Results: reused across site/decks; stronger feedback; clearer investor conversations.

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Proactively Solving Roadblocks

GTM Outreach Reporting and Automation

Why it mattered

Random after-hours requests for traction numbers derailed work; there was no single source of truth and confidence suffered.

Challenge / Objective

End ad-hoc reporting; provide an always-on, investor-ready view of outreach → replies → meetings with consistent definitions.

Execution

In my first week I audited CRM, email and LinkedIn automation, calendars, and sheets; normalized tags; stitched the data; shipped a live, auto-refresh dashboard with investor-ready exports within days.

Impact

How a single source of truth ended fire drills, restored focus, and improved decision speed and trust.

Results: fewer pings; faster updates; board-ready snapshots on demand; hours saved weekly.

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Meet Sam

Your Friendly Neighborhood Street Samurai

Why it mattered

The product felt abstract and technical; the brand needed an approachable persona that resonated with gaming culture.

Challenge / Objective

Create an avatar to give the product a human center; root it in sci-fi/RPG (where AI’s cultural language lives), make it a non-traditional samurai, clearly “from cyberspace,” and deployable across site, decks, and Discord.

Execution

Design Sam for an internal reveal in the Future of Gaming presentation; pull from Blade Runner/Snow Crash/Shadowrun and broader cyberpunk cues; document usage so it works from Discord icon to hero art; later adapt the name to S4m for the bot.

Impact

How introducing Sam gave the brand a gaming-native center, made the product relatable, and reinforced a playful yet protective voice across channels.

Results: higher recognition; easier storytelling; consistent use across site, decks, and Discord; quicker creative decisions.

Meet Sam

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The Future of Gaming

A Narrative Forecast to Align Brand and Audience

Why it mattered

The team needed a shared, culture-savvy view of where the video game industry was heading, and how Samurai should show up for players, studios, and partners.

Challenge / Objective

Build a narrative forecast that connects industry shifts to Samurai’s mission; align creative direction with gaming culture; introduce an avatar that could carry the story.

Execution

Created a cinematic deck that blended research, visual storytelling, and pop-culture references; mapped trends to brand implications; revealed Sam in context; outlined clear moves for site, Discord, and prototypes.

Impact

How forward-thinking creative direction, branding, and narrative came together through visual storytelling and cultural references, aligning the team and speeding adoption of the new direction.

Results: strong internal approval; direction reused in site updates, Discord, and prototypes; clearer messaging; faster decisions.