Ari Kaufman has led startups, turnarounds, and early-stage companies for 20 years. He has successfully raised private and institutional capital and has achieved successful exits, including two IPOs. His visionary leadership is complemented by his ability to attract and hire strong teams that execute.

Ari is the Founder and CEO of Spout, which is committed to safe water for everyone, everywhere. Spout is a smartphone-enabled device that identifies potential water contaminants - such as lead - in real-time for both the consumer and utilities via the cloud. Spout is working with water utilities to identify critical issues and prevent future catastrophic events like that which occurred in Flint, MI.

In 2012 Ari engineered the management buy-out of Placeable with the financial support of a private equity firm and most recently sold that company to a strategic acquirer. As the President of InfoNow-LocationInsight, he automated local search management. As founder, he successfully sold the interactive lead-generating advertising firm ThinkAcquisition to a global strategic agency. As General Manager for LookSmart, he managed the paid search platform responsible for $250 million in revenue. As Chief Strategy Officer, he led PrecisionIR’s IPO on the London Stock Exchange. He introduced first-party ad serving while at MatchLogic and as a founder of Zacks.com, he pioneered the online advertising industry with the first fully ad-supported web site in 1996.

Ari has proven that he builds winning cultures that promote ownership and accountability. His Own Your Shit mantra has received accolades from some of the most prestigious publications. Ari is considered a beacon for talent and a true nurturer of people.

As a New York transplant living in Denver, Colorado with his wife and three children, Ari studied Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University. While his dog is incredibly well-trained, Ari is not a veterinarian.