Rho is the business banking and finance platform for startups and scale-ups — business checking, corporate cards, AP/bill pay, expense management, treasury, and now incorporation and invoicing, all in one place. Its LinkedIn program is unmistakably founder-led and brand-forward: a signature 'Customer Spotlight' campaign that literally buys its customers billboards in Times Square, a self-aware 'Lock In' brand campaign, near-daily posts from CEO Everett Cook and other Rho leaders, partner perks, and cheeky brand-voice ads. Paid for by Rho (legal entity Under Technologies Inc), the whole program is built on personality and community rather than feature lists.
How Rho advertises: Rho's advertising runs on two engines: its people and its customers. The flagship is the 'Customer Spotlight' — Rho puts a customer's brand on a Times Square billboard and then boosts that customer's own celebratory LinkedIn post as a Rho ad. The teardown shows four of these (Windmill's 'AI Performance Reviews' billboard with the founder Brian Distelburger's 'almost none of it is as insane as what I saw in Times Square' post; Kruiz's 'our dream just came true'; Sunrise AI's founder recalling looking up at those same blocks as a kid; and the offer creative itself — 'Want to see your company up in the bright lights? Open a Rho account and we'll pay for your billboard in Times Square… Design support included' — naming past recipients Dune and Dirty Water). It's a repeatable, high-volume format that turns customers into media. The second engine is founder/team voice: CEO Everett Cook posts constantly and in-character — launching the tongue-in-cheek 'Lock In' brand campaign ('our marketing team is unhinged'), shipping 'Rho Incorporation' ('so you don't get caught like Erik did with the Sharks'), and running satirical spots like 'Ending founder AI psychosis' — while other leaders (VP Nicolas Khonaysser) add earnest, human 'my bank is my best partner' posts. Around those, Rho drops partner perks (up to $4,000 in ElevenLabs credits), cheeky brand-account one-liners ('we believe it would be wise for US-based startups to speak to a member of our team today ;)'), recruiting/follow ads, and straightforward product launches (Invoicing). The consistent thread: Rho is 'The New Standard for Business Banking,' sold through community, humor and spectacle rather than spec sheets.
A founder-led, brand-forward program anchored by a repeatable Times Square 'Customer Spotlight' — community and spectacle over feature lists.
| Format | What Rho uses it for |
|---|---|
| Customer Spotlight (Times Square) | Rho buys customers billboards and boosts their celebratory posts — a signature repeatable format |
| Founder & team posts | constant, in-character posts from CEO Everett Cook and other Rho leaders |
| Brand-campaign & satire videos | the self-aware 'Lock In' campaign and spots like 'Ending founder AI psychosis' |
| Partner perks & product launches | credits with partners (ElevenLabs) and feature launches (Incorporation, Invoicing) |
| Brand-voice & recruiting ads | cheeky one-line brand-account ads and follow/recruiting ads |
Live Rho creatives with their full ad copy (verbatim), format, theme and CTA.
"Verbatim: "Our new Lock In campaign begins today, and there are three things that I'm certain about: 1. Founders really like seeing their questionable life choices validated on the side of a vehicle. 2. Our customers can reach a human at Rho faster than these trucks can go 0 to 60. 3. Our marketing team is unhinged." CEO Everett Cook launching the branded 'Lock In' truck campaign for founders."
"Verbatim: "I built a company for 18 years, took it public, and almost none of it is as insane as what I saw in Times Square yesterday." A promoted post from Brian Distelburger (Co-Founder @Windmill & @Yext) with a photo of Windmill's 'AI Performance Reviews' billboard ('dear times square, do you have 20 performance reviews to write? we can help') and the Rho 'Customer Spotlight' team below."
"Verbatim intro: "Today we're embarking on one of Rho's most ambitious efforts yet: Ending founder AI psychosis. How?" A tongue-in-cheek campaign video (a mock-clinical spot opening on 'Founders,') that uses satire to talk about the AI-hype overwhelm founders feel — brand comedy in service of Rho's founder-first positioning."
"Verbatim intro: "Rho loves ElevenLabs so much we gave it a job...and Erik Zeug is not thrilled. Announcing a new perk for Rho customers: Up to $4,000 in Eleven[Labs credits]..." A partner-perk creative, CTA "Claim your $4,000 in Elevenlabs credits today" — Rho bundling third-party value into the account rather than selling its own features."
"Verbatim intro: "ZERO SLEEP. 2,500 MILES. PURE ADRENALINE. It's been almost 3 weeks since we watched our company light up T[imes Square]..." A promoted post from Brad Pauer (Co-Founder & CEO @ Kruiz), whose Times Square billboard reads 'our dream just came true' — another entry in Rho's Customer Spotlight series, this time as video."
"Verbatim: "Hot/ Crazy take — One of my best startup partners wasn't a VC, angel, or advisor. It's was my… Bank - Rho." A promoted post from Nicolas Khonaysser (VP, Partnerships & Strategy), praising a banking team 'so genuinely invested in its founders' with specific name-checks — earnest, human advocacy from inside Rho."
"Verbatim intro: "6 million new U.S. businesses launched last year. Today, we're launching Rho Incorporation to 10x that number." CEO Everett Cook announcing that founders can incorporate a C-corp and open a Rho account in the same tab in ~10 minutes ('so you don't get caught like Erik did with the Sharks'), thanking product partner Soxton.AI."
"Verbatim: "For one reason or another, we believe it would be wise for US-based startups to speak to a member of our team today about their banking needs ;)" A brand-account text ad whose entire creative is one dry, winking line — Rho leaning on tone of voice rather than imagery (a nod to macro uncertainty around banking)."
"Verbatim: "Want to see your company up in the bright lights? Open a Rho account and we'll pay for your billboard in Times Square, just as we did for startups like Dune and Dirty Water. Design support included." The productized version of the Customer Spotlight — the offer that generates all the customer posts, over a Times Square video, CTA 'Get Started.'"
"A LinkedIn Follow Company ad — "Get the latest jobs and industry news… %FIRSTNAME%, explore relevant opportunities with Rho" with a 'Visit life' button. A different objective in the same program: employer-brand and recruiting, using LinkedIn's personalization merge field."
"Verbatim intro: "Thirty years ago, I was a scrawny high school kid working at a pharmacy after school, doing deliveries to suits around Midtown -- walking these same Times Square blocks and looking up at the billboards." Deepak Shrivastava's post over Sunrise AI's Rho-sponsored billboard — a third Customer Spotlight, thanking Rho 'for backing founders and showing up in real ways.'"
All creatives shown belong to Rho (rho.co, 'The New Standard for Business Banking'; ads paid for by Rho / Under Technologies Inc) and are reproduced verbatim from the LinkedIn Ad Library for commentary and analysis. Named individuals appear in Rho's own creative: Rho team members Everett Cook (CEO & Cofounder) and Nicolas Khonaysser (VP, Partnerships & Strategy); and Rho customers/partners featured in the Customer Spotlight and perk creatives — Brian Distelburger (Windmill), Brad Pauer (Kruiz), Deepak Shrivastava (Sunrise AI), plus Dune and Dirty Water named as prior billboard recipients, Soxton.AI as an incorporation partner, and ElevenLabs (with Erik Zeug) in the credits perk. Rho runs the Times Square 'Customer Spotlight' as a repeatable, high-volume format, so several distinct creatives here share that billboard treatment — shown deliberately to illustrate that signature model. Digital Astronauts is not affiliated with Rho.
Rho's signature move is buying customers a Times Square billboard, then boosting their own excited posts about it. It runs this Customer Spotlight as a repeatable, high-volume format — the same idea (billboard + founder post) recycled across many startups. Making your customers the star, on a stage they'd never buy themselves, generates authentic advocacy at scale.
The spectacle isn't just PR — it's an offer: 'Open a Rho account and we'll pay for your billboard.' Turning your best organic moment into a concrete acquisition offer (with the past winners named as proof) makes the whole campaign self-perpetuating.
CEO Everett Cook posts constantly and in-character ('our marketing team is unhinged,' 'so you don't get caught like Erik did with the Sharks'). A distinctive, willing-to-be-silly founder voice does brand work no polished corporate account can, and it scales trust with other founders.
From the 'Lock In' truck campaign to a mock-clinical 'Ending founder AI psychosis' spot to a one-line winking text ad, Rho competes on tone. In a category as dry as business banking, being consistently funny and self-aware is a genuine differentiator.
Instead of listing product specs, Rho advertises perks like up to $4,000 in ElevenLabs credits. Packaging partner value into the account reframes 'a bank' as 'a founder's operating system' — and gives every ad a concrete, non-commodity reason to sign up.
We build LinkedIn and paid programs for high-consideration B2B and fintech buyers — measured on pipeline, not impressions.
Book a free ad auditWith a founder-led, brand-forward program paid for by Rho: a signature 'Customer Spotlight' that buys customers Times Square billboards and boosts their posts, constant in-character posts from CEO Everett Cook and other leaders, brand-campaign and satire videos ('Lock In,' 'Ending founder AI psychosis'), partner perks (ElevenLabs credits), product launches (Incorporation, Invoicing), cheeky brand-voice one-liners, and recruiting/follow ads.
That Rho is 'The New Standard for Business Banking' and is genuinely founder-first — banking, cards, AP, expense, treasury, incorporation and invoicing in one place, sold through community, humor and spectacle (most vividly, putting its customers up in lights in Times Square) rather than feature lists.
Because the Customer Spotlight is its signature, repeatable acquisition format: Rho pays for a customer's billboard, the customer posts about it, and Rho boosts that post as an ad — then offers the same deal to prospects. The many near-identical billboard creatives (Windmill, Kruiz, Sunrise AI, Dune, Dirty Water) are one high-volume format, not separate concepts.
Turn customers into your media by giving them a stage they'd never buy themselves; productize that flywheel into a concrete offer; let a distinctive founder voice carry the brand; use humor and self-awareness as a moat in a dry category; and bundle ecosystem/partner value instead of listing features.