Creator Co-Investment
Scale the opportunity—
without putting your capital at risk
Ballast Ventures selectively invests its own capital alongside established creators to scale paid-media activity.
Start a confidential conversationA capital-allocation decision
This isn't about whether you have the money.
The question is whether you should have to put all of it at risk to find out.
You may well have the ability to spend more and still decide, reasonably, that you don't want the next increment riding entirely on your own balance sheet. Performance can shift as spend rises. Marginal efficiency can decline. Results can be volatile even behind a campaign with a strong history.
You give up a defined share of the upside from the activity Ballast supports.
You do not personally carry all of the downside associated with going for the top-tier bonus.
The trust hinge
If Ballast's capital doesn't come back, you don't personally make up the shortfall.
Ballast participates in what Ballast invests in — not everything you've built.
Unrelated organic commissions, campaigns, brand partnerships, affiliate income, business assets, and personal assets remain outside the defined activity, subject to the final agreement.
Ballast invests in defined activity — not your entire business. If the funded activity doesn't produce enough qualifying proceeds to return the investment, Ballast bears that investment loss.
- No personal guaranteeYou do not personally stand behind Ballast's investment.
- Ballast absorbs the lossIf the funded activity underperforms, Ballast bears the unrecovered investment shortfall — not you.
- No reach into unrelated revenueNo claim on unrelated organic commissions, unrelated campaigns, existing content revenue, brand partnerships, unrelated affiliate income, business assets, or your personal assets.
- No equity, no ownershipBallast takes no equity in your business and no ownership of your audience, brand, content, or accounts.
Current proposed structure
Defined activity. Agreed economics. No claim on your business.
Ballast currently considers approximately $5,000–$10,000 of Meta advertising spend per approved opportunity or proven ad set.
You retain ownership of your business, audience, content, brand, and accounts.
No interest charge, personal guarantee, or traditional consumer credit check.
Capital may be deployed through a dedicated virtual card or another agreed mechanism.
Once Ballast's co-invested capital has been recovered, commission generated by the supported ad set is shared 65% to the creator and 35% to Ballast.
We do not touch your bonus.
You keep ownership and operating control of your business, content, audience, brand, accounts, voice, and posting schedule. Ballast participates only in economics tied to the activity it funds. Organic commissions, unrelated campaigns, brand deals, and other revenue stay yours. The structure described here is proposed and remains subject to a final executed agreement. No legal characterization is intended.
Applications
What could additional capital do?
Scale a proven ad set
Increase investment where existing performance suggests additional room to run.
Extend a strong campaign
Keep attractive performance working longer when the data supports it.
Lean into a strong window
Increase investment during a compelling seasonal or time-sensitive opportunity.
Make a serious run at the next tier
Where existing performance suggests incremental investment may justify the attempt.
Investment discipline
Proven performance is the prerequisite.
Ballast reviews actual results rather than a headline average: consistency, volatility, marginal efficiency, attribution quality, available scale, timing, seasonality, downside, and the expected economics of incremental spend. Variance matters as much as the mean.
Not every creator qualifies, and not every ad set qualifies. A tier deadline does not override investment discipline.
A higher Amazon incentive tier may create a reason to scale. It does not guarantee investment, continued spending, or tier attainment. "Top tier" means the highest economically attractive opportunity for the creator's actual circumstances — not necessarily the highest theoretical tier available.
How it works
Four operator-to-operator steps.
Share your performance
Confidentiality protections first, then read-only access to the relevant Amazon and advertising data.
Identify the opportunity
Ballast evaluates whether the data supports a case for additional investment.
Agree on the investment
Amount, activity supported, tracking structure, applicable economics, earning period, and other terms — all settled before capital moves.
Make the run
Ballast capital deploys into the agreed activity. You keep doing what you do best. Performance determines what happens next.
Diligence, process, attribution
Your creator link stays in place.
The existing ad, affiliate link, and creator tracking remain unchanged. Ballast provides the agreed capital, and you increase the budget on the approved asset.
Creator-link attribution
- Your approved ad, affiliate link, and creator tracking ID remain in use.
- Ballast provides the agreed co-investment, and you apply it by increasing the budget on the approved asset.
- The funds are added and the budget is increased on the same day. That date marks the beginning of the attribution period.
- The attribution period continues through the end of the month, plus 24 hours to capture qualifying purchases from items placed in a cart during the period.
- Commission generated by the supported asset is applied first to repay Ballast's co-investment.
- After the co-investment has been repaid, the remaining commission is shared according to the agreed economics.
The approved asset, budget increase, earning period, attribution tail, repayment mechanics, commission share, and settlement timing are finalized in the written agreement before capital is deployed.
Access & confidentiality
Read-only means read-only.
Ballast does not need to take ownership of your accounts to evaluate an investment. Enough visibility to verify performance and calculate agreed economics — nothing beyond that.
- Mutual confidentiality protections in place first
- Read-only Amazon Associates access
- Read-only advertising account visibility
- Review of relevant historical performance
- Ongoing reporting sufficient to calculate agreed economics
Established creators with measurable Amazon performance, meaningful paid-media history, an identifiable opportunity to scale, and enough data for Ballast to evaluate the economics.
You do not need to be short on cash.
Creator Co-Investment can make sense for a creator with $200,000 available, and it can make sense for a creator with far less. The variable is how the incremental risk is allocated, not what's in the account.
Behind Ballast
Built from operator experience.
Oscar Barbarin is the Founder and Principal of Ballast Ventures LLC. Most recently a Managing Director at Hawke Media, following the acquisition of his e-commerce marketplace agency, ARMR, he previously worked at Amazon and spent approximately a decade building and operating an agency focused on Amazon marketplace and e-commerce management. He has hands-on experience across Amazon businesses, creator commerce, paid media, and attribution economics. Ballast Ventures is an independent venture, and the capital it puts at risk is its own.
Questions, answered plainly
The things creators ask first.
Is this a loan?
Ballast puts its own capital into a defined advertising activity, recovers its invested principal from the qualifying economics tied to that activity, and participates in the agreed remaining economics. There is no interest charge, no personal guarantee, no traditional consumer credit check, and no equity in your business. This site makes no legal classification of the structure in either direction.
Do I personally guarantee Ballast's investment?
No. There is no personal guarantee under the current proposed structure.
What happens if the funded activity underperforms?
Ballast bears the unrecovered investment shortfall. You do not personally reimburse it, and Ballast has no claim on unrelated parts of your business. Terms remain subject to the final executed agreement.
Does Ballast take equity in my business?
No.
Do you control my content?
No. Ballast's investment conveys no ownership of your audience, brand, content, or accounts, and no say over what you post.
Does Ballast participate in everything I earn?
No. Ballast participates in what Ballast invests in — not everything you've built. After Ballast recovers its invested principal, commission generated by the supported ad set is shared 65% to the creator and 35% to Ballast. Unrelated organic commissions, unrelated campaigns, and other revenue stay yours.
Does Ballast take a share of my bonus?
No. Ballast's share comes from commission generated by the supported ad set. We do not touch your bonus.
How much does Ballast typically invest?
Approximately $5,000–$10,000 of Meta advertising spend per approved opportunity or proven ad set, subject to diligence.
Do I need to be short on cash?
No. This is about how risk and capital are allocated, not financial distress.
Do I need to already be running paid advertising?
Ballast is currently focused on opportunities with enough historical paid-media performance to evaluate actual results, consistency, volatility, and incremental economics.
How does Ballast decide whether to invest?
Actual performance, consistency, volatility, attribution quality, scale potential, timing, downside, and expected incremental economics. Not every opportunity is appropriate for additional investment.
What information do you need?
Relevant historical Amazon and advertising performance, with confidentiality protections established before read-only account access.
How are sales attributed?
Sales are attributed through your existing creator affiliate link. Ballast's funds are added and the budget on the approved asset is increased on the same day. Attribution is measured from that date through the end of the month, plus 24 hours to capture qualifying purchases from items placed in a cart during the attribution period.
What happens when the agreed activity ends?
Commission generated by the supported asset is applied first to repay Ballast's co-investment. Once the co-investment has been repaid, the remaining commission is shared according to the agreed economics. Final timing and settlement mechanics are defined in the written agreement before capital moves.
Next step
Already have something that's working? Let's look at the numbers.
If you're generating measurable Amazon performance and see an opportunity to scale, let's determine whether investing alongside each other makes economic sense.
Start a Conversation