It’s a marketer’s worst nightmare.
You spent hours crafting the best copy and the most epic graphics. Your team edited together the perfect video that you just know will get the clicks, likes, and engagement for a new company product. You are all set to hit publish when….the compliance team shuts it down.
Womp. Womp.
Marketing teams are trying to come up with catchy and creative campaigns that abide by not only company policies, but also industry, federal, or state regulations.
Following her own experience as a product marketer in the fintech world, Durham, North Carolina-based entrepreneur Austin Carroll thought there had to be a better way to get marketing campaigns done. So she launched Warrant, an AI agent for brand and marketing compliance.
The goal is to help teams get tailored feedback on customer-facing content, be it website content, social posts, sales decks, email campaigns, or videos. The platform makes it so that “compliance is part of the drafting process” and acts like an all-knowing compliance officer, Carroll explained to Hypepotamus. Throughout the content creation process, Warrant checks copy and images not only against company policies, but also hundreds of federal and state regulations. This is particularly important for companies building in fintech or other highly regulated industries like real estate or insurance that could face major sanctions or fines for any misleading marketing.
Warrants’ AI helps teams build their new marketing campaigns based on “brand risk, brand tolerance, and brand voice,” Carroll added. “It gets more tailored over time to your company.”
Instead of just giving AI a list of regulations, Warrant has lawyers and compliance officers who have translated those regulations, and related sanctions, into what it actually means to the marketing world. This ensures that the Warrant platform is realistic and up-to-date with its compliance suggestions.
Building Tech & Compliance Tools For Marketers
Carroll got the idea for Warrant after joining Brex, a popular fintech, as a Senior Product Marketing Manager. Within days of starting, Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, sending shock waves across the startup banking world. It was also a major opportunity for Brex, if they were able to capture new customers looking for other banking options.
Carroll said that in the immediate aftermath of the SVB crisis, she spent the weekend on a large Zoom call trying to get approval for marketing campaigns that could help Brex “capture the moment” and get in front of potential new customers.
“We didn’t know what we could say or couldn’t say. So we needed to have lawyers and compliance officers on the phone. We needed to analyze risks live,” she added. “I remember thinking, this is such a colossal waste of everyone’s weekend,” since she thought the compliance information could be open and available to marketing teams throughout the creative process.
Building Warrant In The Southeast
While still a young startup, Warrant already has a strong footprint across the Southeast. Carroll started the company in Durham, North Carolina, and her CTO Daniel Chopson, is based in Atlanta. Hypepotamus readers will know Chopson from his time as the CTO and co-founder of local venture-backed startup cove.tool, where he built AI tools to interpret federal, state, and local regulations for architects.
Following a recent $720k pre-seed funding round, Carroll moved to Chattanooga to build and scale Warrant from inside Brickyard, the “insulator” designed for early-stage founders to be heads-down and focused on scaling their business without distractions.
Alongside Brickyard, Warrant’s investors include Capitalize VC, Triangle Tweener Fund, Vast Ventures, and a “network of strategic angels, including executives from Brex, Slope, and current regulators,” according to a press release.
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Photos provided by Warrant