Clark Benson is a serial 🏷️#entrepreneur and the current CEO of Ranker; a digital publisher and platform for crowdsourced rankings. Ranker is one of the Top 50 websites in America, per Quantcast. Benson has founded 5 other businesses, including eCrush which was acquired by Hearst at the end of 2006, as well as Almighty Music Marketing/New Releases Now.

He co-owned a now-defunct record store, Off/Beat Music in Redondo Beach, CA from 1996 to 2001. His angel investments include Jumpcut, purchased by Yahoo in 2006. He co-wrote 'College: Your Guide To The Best Five Years of Your Life', published in the mid-90s.

Ranker’s current board members include Draper Associates investor Joel Yarmon. Ranker has raised $7.5 million 3] in venture capital, including Benson’s initial stake. Investors include Draper Associates, Rincon Venture Partners, Lowercase Capital, Wavemaker, BullPen Capital and various angels, like [Factual founder Gil Elbaz and Ryan Steelberg.

Clark and I had the opportunity to work together when he hired 📝Ghost Influence to develop a 📝Reddit Marketing strategy for Ranker. While most of the engagement was spent overcoming the failings of the intern who last attempted such an endeavor, I was enamored by Clark's mastery of systems building and the warmth of his heart.

Contexts

• 🏷️#clark-bensor (this is the 📝Root Memo)