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Sharing good ideas.

A strategic communications firm and venture partner for institutions and people changing how the world works.

Clients & Partners
Social Science Research Council CCNY Moynihan Center Uncommon.org Spoonful Clarity Foundation

What We Believe

"The world has no shortage of good ideas. It has a shortage of good ideas that get heard."

We started Ajax because we believe that how you say something is inseparable from whether it matters. Strategy without communication is a plan nobody follows. Communication without strategy is noise.


We bring both. And we stay until it works.

How We Show Up

Three practices. One firm. Aligned incentives.

Some clients need one. Most need two. Founders get all three — plus something most firms won't offer: we vest in your success.

Strategy

We work with established organizations ready to take their impact to the next level — auditing tactics, conducting landscape analyses, advising on team structures, and delivering plans teams can actually use.

Explore Strategy →

Studio

Where ideas become experiential. Social posts, presentations, reports, full campaigns — we help put your brand ethos in front of the audiences who need to see it.

Explore Studio →

Ventures

We partner with founders and leaders at the ground floor of their ideas — building the pitch materials, go-to-market strategy, and brand foundations that help secure funding and win audience.

Explore Ventures →

The Work We Support

Work at the intersection of people, power, and possibility.

We don't require a cause to work with you. We do require that your work makes someone's life better.

Access

Food, water, shelter, healthcare, education, connectivity, and economic mobility. Resources that should be available to everyone.

Accountability

Algorithmic justice, data privacy, fair markets, antitrust, and the governance of powerful systems that affect people's lives.

Representation

Whose stories get told and whose voices get amplified — civil rights, racial justice, and the closing of gaps left open too long.

Ready to Work Together?

Tell us what you're building.

Whether you're an institution that needs a strategic partner or a founder who needs someone to stay until it lands — we want to hear from you.

About Ajax Ideas Lab

We consider the public our number one client.

Ajax was founded on a simple frustration: too many organizations doing genuinely important work were being outrun by louder, better-funded voices with less to say. We exist to close that gap.

"The organizations best positioned to create change are often the worst positioned to communicate it. The gap between a good idea and a heard idea is almost always strategic, not creative."

— Anthony Jackson, Founder

The Founder

Anthony Jackson

A decade building narrative infrastructure for institutions that shape public life — and a track record of turning expertise into equity.

Anthony has led communications strategy for global research institutions, directed digital and PR teams on advocacy campaigns, chaired the board of an international nonprofit, and partnered with founders to build the strategic infrastructure that raises capital and moves people.

Ajax Ideas Lab
Founder & Principal · 2021 – Present
Boutique communications and strategy consultancy spanning philanthropy, academia, civic tech, consumer, and enterprise.
BerlinRosen
Account Supervisor & Sr. Account Executive · 2020 – 2021
Led digital and PR teams on earned media, press strategy, and digital campaigns for civic and advocacy clients.
Social Science Research Council
Digital Communications Associate · 2017 – 2020
Brand strategy, digital channels, audience engagement, and analytics for a leading global research institution.
Uncommon.org
Chairman of the Board · 2023 – Present
Led full governance restructuring, federated US and Zimbabwe entities, and unlocked the organization's largest-ever multi-year capacity grant.
Hamilton College
BA, Africana Studies & Government · 2015
President, Student Assembly. Chair, Voices of Color Lecture Series. Also studied at Charles University, Prague.

Our Values

What we stand for.

The public is our client.

Every engagement is evaluated against a simple question: does this make something better for someone? We believe in things, and we work with people who do too.

Good communication is a justice issue.

Access to effective strategy has always been unevenly distributed. Organizations with resources tell better stories. We work to change that equation.

Depth over volume.

We work with a small number of clients at any given time — intentionally. We would rather do fewer things well than many things adequately.

Skin in the game.

For our Ventures partners, we don't just advise — we invest, in the original sense of the word. Our success is bound to yours.

Ajax Strategy

Ready to grow.

We work with established organizations and teams ready to take their impact to the next level — auditing outreach tactics, conducting landscape analyses and stakeholder interviews, advising on team structures, and delivering go-forward plans that teams can actually use. No 600-page decks.

What We Do

We don't just build your strategy. We execute it.

Strategic Communications Planning

Discovery through deployment. Stakeholder mapping, audience analysis, channel audits, KPI benchmarking, and phased tactical planning. Not a document that lives in a drawer — a plan that moves.

Narrative & Messaging

The true version of your story — not the committee-approved one. We find the frame that resonates with funders, partners, press, and communities.

Earned Media & PR Strategy

Target outlet identification, journalist relationship development, pitch strategy, and press infrastructure. Coverage that compounds, not one-off hits.

Executive Communications

Message development, briefing preparation, and coaching for leaders who need to show up with clarity and confidence in high-stakes rooms.

Digital Strategy & Channels

Channel prioritization, content systems, performance tracking, and iteration. We manage the channels that matter and help you let go of the ones that don't.

Growth & Audience Development

Expanding reach into new audiences, deepening engagement with existing ones, and building the measurement infrastructure to know what's working.

How We Engage

Three ways to work with Ajax Strategy.

Retainer

Ongoing Partnership

For organizations that want a true long-term partner. Ongoing strategic support scoped to your needs and reviewed regularly. The continuity that makes the work better over time.

Project

Defined Scope

Clear deliverables, real timelines. For strategic planning processes, funding narratives, campaign launches, and major organizational moments.

Advisory

Senior Thought Partner

A senior strategic thought partner without a full engagement. For leaders in transition or organizations approaching a major decision.

Ajax Studio

Ready to share.

Ideas are not meant to live in drive folders. Our studio practice is where they become experiential — expressed through logos, color, typography, and imagery. Whether it's a social post, presentation, report, or full campaign, our team can help put your ideas and brand ethos in front of the audiences who need to see them.

What We Build

We build the team you don't have, for the moments when you need it.

We partner with a network of copywriters, project managers, PR professionals, and advertising experts — assembled around your specific moment. You may not have the team to pull off the campaign, the launch, or the rebrand. We can build one for you.

Brand Development

Who you are, what you stand for, and how you say it — consistently, across every channel and touchpoint. Brand systems that travel from your website to your annual report.

Marketing & Campaign Creative

Social media assets, email templates, digital advertising, event materials, and campaign creative — designed around your strategy, not in spite of it.

Stakeholder Presentations

Pitch decks, board presentations, funder reports, and executive briefings that communicate clearly, hold up under scrutiny, and make the people delivering them look prepared.

Content Development

Copywriting, editorial planning, and content systems for organizations that need to produce consistently without burning out. We write in your voice, for your audiences.

Website Strategy & UX

Information architecture, content strategy, and UX guidance for digital presences that work as hard as the organizations behind them.

Custom Team Assembly

For the campaign that requires more than Ajax alone — we build and manage the specialist team your moment requires, then step back when the work is done.

Ajax Ventures

Ready to build.

We partner with founders and leaders at the ground floor of their ideas. Together we build the pitch materials, go-to-market strategy, and brand foundations that help secure funding and win audience.

Mission, product, brand, team, capital, and operations are all being assembled at once. This is where the stakes are highest. And where the right outside partner makes the biggest difference.

What We Actually Do

We function as your fractional CMO — with equity in the outcome.

We are not ghostwriting your pitch deck. We look at the landscape before we touch the language. Where are your competitors positioned? What are the actual habits of your end users? What does the market look like — TAM, SAM, SOM — and where is the real opportunity?

The narrative is the output. The strategy is the work.

Mission & Positioning

At the founding stage, your mission isn't just a values statement — it's a strategic asset. We help you sharpen it, test it, and build everything else around it.

Market Strategy

Competitive positioning, TAM/SAM/SOM, consumer behavior, funder mindset, go-to-market approach. Where you lead. Where you play. Where you partner to grow faster.

Brand Architecture

Name, identity, voice, and visual system — built to hold up through funding rounds, pivots, and growth. Brand systems that travel.

Investor Narrative & Fundraising

We build the narrative, pressure-test it against funder expectations, and help you show up in the room with clarity and conviction.

Founding Team & Org Design

Who you bring in, when, and in what capacity shapes everything. We advise on team composition, role definition, and organizational structures that scale.

Embedded Execution

When you need Ajax in the room — not just on the call — we're there. We function as an embedded team member for the moments that require it.

How We Work

Built around alignment. We don't win unless you win.

01

We invest expertise

Our engagement goes far beyond advice. We work inside your company — strategically and operationally — as part of your team.

02

We earn equity

We take common stock, just like your founding team. Our stake vests alongside our engagement — our incentives are yours.

03

Every deal is bespoke

We structure around what works for the founder and the stage. No templates, no off-the-shelf terms. We build the engagement your company actually needs.

Who We Back

We are selective.

We look for founders building something that matters — in any category where strategic market and communications work is load-bearing for growth. We do not filter by sector. We filter by whether our work will be decisive.

  • Past proof of concept with real traction, but not yet legible to institutional investors
  • Building something where brand, positioning, and go-to-market directly drive growth
  • Needs a strategic partner for the journey, not a vendor for a moment
  • Clear path to exit — acquisition, raise, or recap — within 3–7 years
  • Building something that makes someone's life meaningfully better

Get In Touch

Let's talk.

We're a small team by design. When you reach out, you hear from us — not an intake form, not a junior account coordinator.

Tell us what you're building. We'll tell you honestly whether we can help — and how.

Email
Use the form to reach us directly.
Working With
Institutions, nonprofits, mission-driven companies, and founders with ideas that deserve to be heard.

Send a Note

Tell us what you're working on.

Whether you're an institution looking for a strategic partner, a founder who needs someone to build the strategy behind your story, or an investor interested in the Ajax Ventures model — we want to hear from you.