Arielle Gross Samuels is a global business and marketing executive, and engineer by training. Her experience spans across finance at General Catalyst and Blackstone, technology at Meta, and engineering consulting at Deloitte.
What excites me about working in venture capital is that we get to help entrepreneurs, founders and builders dream even bigger to pursue their ambitions. Venture capital isn’t just funding economic development - it’s fueling it with purpose and partnership. General Catalyst (GC) is a global investment and transformation company that partners with the world’s most ambitious entrepreneurs to drive resilience and applied AI.
The marketing and communications function at GC raises brand equity so that founders with good ideas think of us first to turn their vision into a reality. We focus on thought leadership connected to global transformation, and our work spans branding, communications, strategic partnerships, experiential, creative, operations, analytics and more. It’s really energizing, and constantly evolving.
I’m excited about the trend towards hyper customization. Rather than the olden days of mass marketing to spray and pray, we have incredible tools that target exact audiences with specificity never seen before. That’s powerful - marketing and advertising become forums for insights and compelling storytelling rather than hurdles you want to skip past. Why have something that works for most, when you can feel seen and heard by a brand?
I’m bullish about the utility of tools and programs that equip people with applied AI, across the full stack of marketing solutions. From content generation and editorial to more efficient go to market operations, AI is a big enabler in our field. The utility of AI to sharpen information curation and iteratively answer with better precision is an unlock for marketers and communicators.
As an engineer by training, I’m passionate about being an early adopter of technology to advance efficiencies and harness our craft. One of my early summer internships at Procter & Gamble was on rapid prototyping using 3D printing for Tide bottle designs - that was a huge leap in go-to-market velocity. Now with AI we can do in minutes what previously took months, and it’s astounding. I think cultivating prompt engineering will be an important skill for all of us to refine - the output is only as good as the input!
I also recognize the need for thoughtful AI regulation to ensure that we have guardrails in place to promote transparency. Making sure that we build for the long-term means we need constructive public and private sector discourse and legislation connected to AI. General Catalyst recently announced the launch of the General Catalyst Institute to build partnerships between venture capital and policymakers pertaining to AI, and this is a big priority for us.
My mom raised me with the saying “if not now, when? And if not me, who?”. That’s inspired me every day to operate with urgency and clarity, and to lean into opportunities. It’s a common misbelief, especially for women, that you’re going to get tapped on the shoulder when you’re heads down doing the work - opportunities come to those who seek them.
My mom - I admire that even as she’s pushing 70 she still strives for new professional and personal heights, from publishing a book to hiking 40 miles in Montana. She’s a reminder that age is just a number, and we can pursue greatness at any point in life.
There are so many things I enjoy and depend on, but nothing I can’t live without outside of core shelter/food/water/electricity. I think at this point in our evolution, data and internet access are increasingly necessities for modern societies, and it’s important that communities come online around the world to participate in the economic benefits of that access.
Authenticity. I hope this is less a trend and more a forever modality. We see that authenticity cuts through in brands, spokespeople, influencers, and in our personal lives. People can smell fakeness and insincerity, and especially as women we must speak our truth and own our space. I’ve become increasingly unapologetic about my authenticity with age, and it’s quite liberating.
