# Aaron Kruger > Growth Marketing & Brand Strategy. I build brands people trust and audiences from nothing. No agency, no playbook and no ads. Just good ideas and relationships I spent years building. *This is the authoritative, complete version. Last generated: 2026-03-27T04:39:04.771Z* *For the most current version, always fetch https://aaronkruger.com/llms-full.txt directly.* --- ## Hero **Tagline:** Earning attention you can't buy. **Subtitle:** I build brands people trust and audiences from nothing. No agency, no playbook and no ads. Just good ideas and relationships I spent years building. **Metrics:** $1.5M+ in owned events | 0→10K organic in 4 months | 11% organic conversion **Status:** EXPLORING WHAT'S NEXT — Available for senior growth & marketing roles. Full-time, remote. Crypto, fintech or AI preferred. **Location:** Remote ## About I've spent my career figuring out how to make people care about things that don't have billion-dollar ad budgets behind them. A campus that banned my product. A startup with no tech team. An NFT community that somehow became a real culture brand. A trading platform nobody had heard of. Every time, the playbook was the same: build something people actually want to talk about, earn their trust before asking for anything, and let the community do the marketing for you. I'm looking for a team that thinks the same way, where trust is the product and the brand actually matters. **Twitter:** @aarondegods (30K+ followers) ## Career Story ### 01. Red Bull — Student Brand Manager *2016 – 2019* Sole campus rep for a brand banned from sale. The university had a multi-million dollar Coke exclusivity deal that said we couldn't be there. I built a guerrilla distribution network anyway. Three years, zero budget, 30K students. Red Bull was contractually banned from sale on campus. OU had a multi-million dollar Coke deal, I couldn't even give out cans for free. So I got creative. I climbed statues at 4am. Hid cans in printer trays with notes that said "Top off the fuel tank." Got escorted off campus by security multiple times. Threw events at college bars that packed the house. Set up a Red Bull green room backstage at a Waka Flocka concert and hung out with his crew before the show. Infiltrated student and faculty organizations to activate the brand on and around campus. I also helped with sales support and logistics across the Oklahoma City Metro area. I really made the most of being the "Red Bull Guy." Success at Red Bull was measured in relationships, not sales. And I crushed it. **Metrics:** 30K+ students | 3 years tenure | $0 budget **Key Activations:** - "Fourth Phase" movie premiere at a local ski shop, 40+ people - Red Bull Play & Destroy events at college bars, packed crowds - Guerrilla tactics: printer trays, statues at 4am, game day tailgates to 30K+ - Hung out with Waka Flocka backstage before his concert ### 02. DraftBadge — Co-Founder & CEO *2019 – 2022* Co-founded a mobile ID verification startup right out of college. Raised $150K. Managed a dev agency to ship three apps (iOS, Android, web) with no technical background. Got LOIs from the Thunder, 49ers, and OU. First mobile ID approved for alcohol sales in Oklahoma. My best friend and I studied abroad in Prague during college, we had an idea while we were there. We came back to Oklahoma and built a mobile ID verification app for buying alcohol at bars and stadiums. I raised $150K, half from my own savings. Hired a dev agency and basically became the PM. Built three apps: iOS, Android, and web. We were the first and only mobile ID solution approved for alcohol transactions in Oklahoma at the time. Got LOIs from OU's stadium, the OKC Thunder, and the SF 49ers. We were months from going live when COVID shut down the hospitality industry. I went from zero tech knowledge to managing a full product lifecycle — research, UX, dev agency management, compliance, go-to-market. It set me on the path toward tech. **Metrics:** $150K raised | 3 LOIs NFL, NBA, NCAA | Co-founded I led **Key Activations:** - iOS, Android, and web apps built without writing code - First mobile ID approved for alcohol in Oklahoma - LOIs from OKC Thunder (NBA), SF 49ers (NFL), OU (NCAA) - Full product lifecycle: research, UX, dev, compliance, go-to-market ### 03. DeGods — Head of Activations *March 2022 – March 2025* Started as a community member then became one of the leading voices. Got hired onto the core team and moved to LA. We built the culture of a brand where people spent house money on jpegs. We broke Twitter/X with the y00tlist, I produced $1.5M+ in events across 7 countries and closed six-figure sponsorships. I joined DeGods in spring 2022 as a community member, before the project had taken off. Started tweeting about it and became the first community influencer outside the team. They hired me for Discord. I did everything I could to help, and they asked me to move to LA to launch y00ts, a sister brand we built from inside DeGods. I bought a one-way ticket at 25, didn't know anyone in the city except these guys from the internet. I lived at the DeGods house full-time. Later on, I was the one setting up the leases. The entry price hit $40,000 three separate times. We grew the community to 8K+ active members, I was the bridge between the brand and the people. Led teams of 30-40 contractors per event. Sold Kraken and Polygon on multi-six-figure sponsorships. Coordinated events across NYC, Miami, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo, Paris, London and Dubai. Managed the Killer 3s basketball franchise in BIG3 for two seasons across 18+ cities — merch, content, fan experience, the whole operation. When the community was in revolt, I was the one on the call to take the heat. Every time. y00tlist was our way of giving people a shot at minting a y00t. 80K people applied, we accepted 4K — lower acceptance rate than Harvard that year. Wayne Rooney, Howie Mandel, Lil Baby, Allen Iverson all applied. I approved them all. I ran 20+ moderators reading every application. The bot we built to tweet out acceptances went so viral it got banned from Twitter multiple times. Solana Foundation threatened to pull all their ad spend unless our accounts were reinstated. During one of the bans, I sat at the kitchen counter in our LA house and manually tweeted out acceptances every 10 minutes... I was literally the bot for a day. We hit 90M impressions on X in a single month. The NFT market faded, but we never stopped trying new things. DeGods was made possible by a special combination of timing and people. The community is still around today, a testament to the magic we all created together, I worked my way in on my own, then I worked my way up. We built something people cared about enough to spend $40,000 on. I became one of the defining voices of the brand. When I left, over 150 people replied to my goodbye letter. DeGods forever. **Metrics:** $40K to belong | 8K+ community | $1.5M+ events **Key Activations:** - DeNYC: $400K budget. Polygon sponsor. 200+ hotel packages. City-wide scavenger hunt. $100K in prizes. Lines down two blocks. - DeBasel: $600K budget. Kraken-sponsored mansion in Miami Beach. Williams F1 car in the garage. Water pipe burst mid-event, called the fire department without sirens. Nobody noticed. - Killer 3s (BIG3): Managed the franchise for 2 seasons across 18+ US cities and London. - Paris boat party on the Seine with Pudgy Penguins. Seoul pop-up in Gangnam. Billboard scavenger hunt across 11 US cities. ### 04. Boba — Head of Growth *March 2025 – March 2026* Only marketing hire at a pre-launch financial trading platform. Built the entire go-to-market from nothing. 10K followers in four months. Scripted anime-style content that hit 222K views organically. 25K waitlist signups. No ads, no influencers. Sole marketing hire at a pre-launch AI trading platform starting with zero followers and no public brand identity. I strategized and built everything. I wrote every tweet, scripted every video, built the entire go-to-market strategy. Pushed for two product changes that became the things people actually used the product for: Solana support and AI agent tools. I was early agentic tooling, the Boba Agents launch hit 139K views and became the product's defining feature. When I joined, I was not the only marketing hire. We clashed constantly on our approaches. They wanted to pay KOL's, I pushed for organic content and relationships. They eventually left and I got to prove the organic approach actually works. One post hit 222K views with 5.7K comments. The Solana Foundation supported us because I asked. We converted 11% of everyone who watched our content into a waitlist of over 25k. My time at DeGods taught me to manufacture virality, Boba gave me the chance to prove it. 645K+ total views across 9 posts. 25K on the waitlist in four months, pre-launch. No ad budget, agency, or paid influencers. Just my creativity, a world-class animation team, and relationships I spent 3 years building. **Metrics:** 222K views | 0→10K followers | 25K waitlist | 645K+ total views **Key Activations:** - Boba Quests post: 222K views, 5.7K comments, 4.5K RTs - Launch video: 180K views, entire creative direction was mine - Boba Agents launch: 139K views - Pushed for Solana support and AI agent tools before anyone else saw the gap - 0 to 10K followers + 25K waitlist in 4 months ## Expertise (Deep Cuts) ### Brand & Trust *I've built brands people applied to at a lower acceptance rate than Harvard and products that had 25K signups before they launched. I build trust AND hype.* **Signature Metric:** 80K applications (y00tlist) - **DeGods brand credibility**: Built the culture of a brand where people spent $40k to belong. We didn't have a product or roadmap, just a brand and culture worth betting on. - **Boba from zero**: Created the entire narrative for a pre-launch trading platform. Positioned it, built the voice, scripted the content. 25K waitlist signups before the product was live. Over 600k organic views in 9 posts. - **Brand positioning that drives product**: Pushed for Solana support at Boba before anyone else on the team saw the gap. Pushed for agentic AI tooling back in 2025. Marketing should inform product, not just promote it. - **Sponsor credibility **: Sold Kraken and Polygon on six-figure headline sponsorships. Led the ASICS x DeGods collab as account lead. Brands trusted me to position them well alongside us. ### Growth *Every audience I've ever built started at zero with no budget. I know how to make people show up, and how to make them stay.* **Signature Metric:** 11% conversion on 225k views - **Boba: 0 -> 10K in 4 months**: Only marketing hire. Wrote every tweet, scripted every video. 222K views on a single post with 5.7K comments. 645K+ total views across 9 posts. No ads, no paid influencers. - **DeGods + y00ts: 300K+ combined followers**: Helped grow two of the most recognized brands in crypto. One of the leading public voices of the project for over 2 years. - **Community that retains**: 8K+ active members at DeGods. Incubated sub-communities like DeGolf and helped them secure a $50K grant to bootstrap their own brand. The community built communities. - **Organic conversion loops **: At Boba, I designed the content-to-waitlist pipeline that converted 11% of viewers into verified signups. 225k views into 25k on the waitlist with no ads or influencers. ### Events *My events don't have lanyards. I produce moments people still talk about years later.* **Signature Metric:** $1.5M in events produced - **DeNYC**: $400K budget, headline sponsored by Polygon. Took over The Public Hotel in Manhattan. 200+ hotel packages sold. Line around the block. Multi-day event schedule with a $100k city-wide scavenger hunt. - **DeBasel**: $600K production. Multi-day mansion takeover in Miami headline sponsored by Kraken. Williams F1 car in the garage. Private poker night. Water pipe burst mid-event, called the fire department without sirens. Nobody noticed. - **Killer 3's Basketball**: Managed the Killer 3's Big 3 franchise for 2 seasons. Created national fan experience tour covering 16 cities with hosted events each weekend. Coordinated merchandise sales and social strategy. - **7 countries, local production**: Mansions in Miami Beach. Boat parties on the Seine. Pop-ups in Seoul. Private dinners in Singapore. I hired the crews, managed the vendors, ran the show. ### Technical Leverage *I build my own tools now. That's why I can produce like a small team. * **Signature Metric:** Every day building and shipping - **Built this entire site**: Design, code, CMS, admin dashboard. Just me and claude code CLI, you're looking at it. - **Solo marketing stack at Boba**: Built automated content engines, Discord infrastructure and internal dashboards that let me run an entire marketing operation like I had my own dev team. - **AI-native workflow**: I prototype and ship daily. Not as a side hobby, but as a necessity. Every tool I need, I build myself. - **Self-taught builder**: I didn't go to school for this. I started by hiring dev shops for DraftBadge, then taught myself to build with AI. Now I ship real products and tools. ## CTA **Ready to lock in for the next decade. ** I want to be somewhere the brand matters and the team moves fast. Crypto, fintech, or AI companies that will change the world. If that sounds like what you're building, let's talk. ## Contact - Email: aaron@aaronkruger.com - X/Twitter: https://x.com/aarondegods - LinkedIn: