Measure Studio

Measure Studio provides AI-powered social media insights for brands, agencies, and media companies.

With automated performance benchmarking and computer vision analysis, we help you identify what about your content strategy is working (and what can be improved).

Customers include JD Sports, Future, Vox, Now This, BBC Studios, IGN, Wave Sports & Entertainment, Jubilee, The Obama Foundation, and more.

Key features:
• All of your social media data in one place, so you're not juggling databases, tabs, or spreadsheets.
• AI computer vision to auto-tag your library, so you can view your content the way social media algorithms see it.
• Automated benchmarking to align your team on content performance.
• Hourly data for all new posts and stories, so you can measure early results and take action. 
• Intuitive, powerful filtering and auto-grouping across your social media accounts for granular reporting.
• Fully featured on both desktop and mobile, so you can access your data from anywhere.
• Supporting Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, and Snapchat Story Studio.

Book an intro call to learn more:
https://www.measure.studio

Co-Founder & Board Member

Quartermast Advisors

Quartermast Advisors is a boutique M&A advisory firm, specializing in media, technology, and the creator economy. We help founders navigate every step of the M&A process and maximize their outcomes.

Visit https://www.quartermast.com or get in touch to learn more.

Founder

Creator Economy Jobs

Creator Economy Jobs is the premier job board for creator economy companies and candidates.

🙋‍♀️ CANDIDATES: Looking for a job in the creator economy?

Sure, you can wade through hundreds of career pages and job postings. Or you can use CreatorEconomyJobs.co to easily browse open roles across our industry.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get the latest jobs delivered to your inbox each week: https://creatoreconomyjobs.beehiiv.com/subscribe

👩‍💼 HIRING TEAMS: We want to help you find great candidates to join your team!

Post a job on our site for free: https://creatoreconomyjobs.co/submit

Sponsor - Want to promote your job listing? We offer sponsorships at the top of our site and via our weekly newsletter. Visit https://creatoreconomyjobs.co/pricing or email us at info@creatoreconomyjobs.co to learn more.

Creator Authority

Creator Authority is the one-stop shop for LinkedIn influencer campaigns. Learn more at https://creatorauthority.co.

Partner & Board Member

VidCon

VidCon is the premiere conference for the online video industry.

Advisor

Papercup

Papercup's AI technology creates a synthetic, human-sounding voice to translate videos into any language.

Nobody Studios

Venture studio that is radically rethinking how companies are built.

Angel Investor & Advisor

Everyset (formerly Castifi)

Everyset is a SaaS platform for film & TV production teams to seamlessly hire, manage, and pay performers.

Brandwatch

Brandwatch is the world leader in consumer intelligence, social media management, and influencer marketing.

SVP, Strategy (on Garden Leave)

Various Startups

Alts (alternative assets fund & investment community): https://alts.co/
Donut Media (automotive digital publisher): https://donut.media/
Fast Travel (taxi management software): https://fasttravel.no/
FlashFomo (creator merch marketplace): https://www.flashfomo.com/
Kaukus (political meetings & voting software): https://www.kaukus.no/
Nobody Studios (venture studio): https://nobodystudios.com/
Pair AI (video-based education platform): https://pairai.com/
RYSE (motorized window shades): https://www.helloryse.com/
The Experience Resorts (all-inclusive luxury resorts): https://theexperienceresorts.com/
True Made Foods (sugar-free condiments): https://www.truemadefoods.com/
Unbanked (fintech solution built on blockchain): https://unbanked.com/
Xigxag (reinventing audiobooks): https://xigxag.co.uk/

Angel Investor

Co-Founder @ Measure Studio 📈 AI-Powered Social Media Insights

I’m a serial entrepreneur focused on digital media, technology, and the creator economy.

As Co-Founder of Measure Studio, we provide best-in-class social media analytics for brands, agencies, and media companies. Our focus is improving the way social media professionals work with data, so that organizations can maximize content performance and audience engagement.

Prior to Measure Studio, I was the Co-Founder & CEO of Paladin, an influencer marketing platform that was acquired by Brandwatch in March 2022. I then served as SVP Strategy at Brandwatch, helping to lead the integration effort as well as strategic planning and corporate development initiatives.

I'm also the Founder of Quartermast Advisors, a boutique investment bank that helps founders navigate the M&A process and maximize their outcomes.

💬 I'VE BEEN FEATURED IN:
- Business Insider
- Digiday
- Forbes
- PRWeek
- The Information
- TheWrap
- Tubefilter
…and more

📢 I'VE SPOKEN AT:
- Consumer Electronics Show (CES)
- Digital Entertainment World (DEW)
- Digital First
- Digital Hollywood
- DMEXCO
- Social Media Week
- VidCon
- Youth Marketing Show (YMS)
…and more

James Creech

Influencer marketing acquisitions surged during the pandemic (2020–2023) but declined sharply last year.

So far, 2025 has been noticeably busier, with 15 IM deals announced to date.

Across the broader creator economy, M&A activity has been even stronger, with 72 transactions closed through Oct. That's already surpassed 2024's annual total, so we expect a record 100+ creator economy acquisitions by year-end.

So why the temporary slowdown in IM acquisitions last year?

A few likely factors:
• A tougher macroeconomic environment and higher cost of capital post-ZIRP.
• Political and economic uncertainty during the 2024 election year.
• Buyers taking time to digest the flurry of deals from 2020 to 2023.

Interestingly, while U.S. influencer marketing deals declined sharply, European activity remained steady. And overall creator economy M&A still hit record highs in 2024 despite the IM slowdown.

It’s an exciting time for the influencer marketing space and the creator economy at large. The continued momentum around M&A dealmaking shows just how far the industry has come and how much opportunity still lies ahead for entrepreneurs, capital allocators, and creators.

Thank you Jasmine Enberg and Kaya Yurieff for highlighting our report! Their Scalable Pod newsletter is my go-to resource for staying up to date on the creator economy.

Make sure to subscribe if you're not already! https://lnkd.in/edCfhiwc

Co-Founder, Measure Studio 📈 AI-powered social media insights.💡 Founder, Quartermast Advisors 🤝 We help entrepreneurs maximize their M&A outcomes. 🚀

Avinash "Avi" Gandhi

Creator Logic

Business Intelligence for the Creator Economy. Join 44,000+ Creators and executives getting news, interviews, and analysis on the products, companies, and people shaping the space. - http://www.creatorlogic.com

Founder + Content Creator

The one-stop shop for LinkedIn influencer marketing campaigns.

Point72 Ventures

I advise the Point72 Ventures Consumer team on their Creator Economy and adjacent investments, and offer insight to their portfolio companies on product, partnerships, and go-to-market strategy. 

Point72 Ventures is an every-stage global VC fund that focuses on fintech, deep tech, and enterprise investments. Since 2016, Point72 Ventures has invested more than $1 billion in over 100 early-stage companies.

Influencers.club

Atmosfy

Partner with Creators

Go-to-market consultancy for the Creator Economy. Ran Creator acquisition campaigns, negotiated Creator partnerships, and hosted Creator-focused events. 

Sold my stake to my partner to focus on Creator Logic and full-time content creation.

Patreon

I hired and led a team of 20 Creator Partnerships managers to acquire and launch some of the biggest Creators, including top 100 TikTok, Twitch, and YouTube Creators, onto Patreon. We worked closely with Product, Marketing, Operations, Legal, and Finance to execute large-scale campaigns and develop processes to make our Creator Partnerships motion more efficient and effective.

Head of Creator Partnerships

Wheelhouse

I launched Wheelhouse DNA, leading a team of 15 producers and talent managers to make award-winning audio and video content in partnership with top-100 Creators across YouTube and TikTok. My responsibilities included hiring, firing, and managing the team as well as sourcing, pitching, negotiating, and managing partnerships with our largest Creator partners.

We won a Streamy, created the #2 Original on Spotify, and put the Hype House on Netflix.

EVP, Digital & Executive Producer, Wheelhouse DNA

I was hired to build a strategy to expand a strong television production business into digital media.

Digital Strategy Consultant

Self-Employed

I helped client companies with entertainment partnerships and influencer marketing.

Partnerships, Strategy, and Business Development Consultant

SameTable

I led a small team to acquire 1,000,000+ app downloads, primary through influencer partnerships in the US, EU, and Asia.

VP Marketing

Building Creator Logic, the Bloomberg of the Creator Economy. Join 28,000+ Creatorpreneurs becoming their own managers through interviews, frameworks, and case studies at CreatorLogic.com. DM to partner.

My mission is to build the Creator Middle Class through content and products that help a million Creators, solopreneurs, and side-hustlers earn more from their content - no matter their audience size!

I've spent 15 years helping Creators monetize, as a talent agent, manager, producer, and executive at companies like WME, Wheelhouse, and Patreon. I've seen nanoinfluencers make six figures and watched million-scale Creators go bankrupt. The difference between the two is how they approach their businesses - their "Creator logic"!

Our first product is the Creator Logic newsletter, which currently reaches 28,000+ Creators.

We also produce short-form video across social (@thecreatorlogic) and have brought together over 500 Creators to date at meetups in Southern California, New York, Baltimore, and London.

If you're interested in exploring ways we can work together, please don't hesitate to message me or reach out via email - avi@creatorlogic.com.

Thanks!

Avi Gandhi (Creator Logic)

Advising companies on how to win through Creators. Founder @ Creator Logic, the Bloomberg of the Creator Economy. DM to partner.

No alternative text description for this image

I'm hiring a part-time Operations & Community Manager for a new business I'm launching in Q1 2026. 

$50/hr, 10-20 hours/week. In success, it'll become a full-time role with significantly higher comp.

Fair warning: I have extremely high standards.

I'm also a great boss and mentor (so I've been told).

The people who work for me go on to crush it in their careers. Former direct reports of mine now own management companies, produce commercials, market for billion-dollar brands, run Creators for billion-dollar platforms, lead special projects at billion-dollar startups, and own successful businesses of their own. 

This is a self-funded, bootstrapped startup. 

If you want a regular job with a checklist of tasks, it ain't for you. 

If you want to build the Creator Middle Class and (hopefully) get rich doing it, then read the listing below and follow the instructions to apply.

I always get a ton of applications when hiring, so I cannot possibly respond to everyone. If I don't respond to you, it's for 1 of 2 reasons: 

1. Wrong fit - nothing personal, just not exactly what I'm looking for
2. You didn't follow directions. 

You can increase your response rate dramatically by:
- Reading the qualifications list in full
- Following the directions exactly
- Emphasizing how you fit what I am looking for

By the way, this is the case for any job application. I'm just saying the quiet part out loud. 

I will start reviewing applicants next week. Until then, Happy Thanksgiving!

Ops & Community Manager JD

10 years ago, when I was a WME agent, if you had asked me if I would ever be Creative, I would have said “Hell no”.

Not because I had anything against Creatives - my entire life at that time was built on representing them.

But because I didn’t believe I was Creative.

A decade later, I’ve since:

- Developed and produced shows that won Streamys and charted on Spotify 

- Created over 1300 pieces of content for an audience peaking at nearly 100,000 human beings

- Built, branded, and launched half a dozen revenue streams with content I produce as the backbone

To top it off, yesterday, I made a quiche.

I know that doesn’t seem related, but the point is that I went from the mindset of a Connector to the mindset of a Maker.

Once you become a Maker, all hard things start to feel a lot easier.

It really is true what they say:

You can just do things.

Are tabletop games the new coffee brands (for internet Creators)?

- $1,458,469 raised on Kickstarter by Pokemon YouTuber aDrive for his trading-card game Elestrals 

- CircleToonsHD raised $729,197 on Kickstarter for Fool's Blade, a tabletop fantasy card battler (I bought it, it's fun!)

- Veritaseum's first product in nearly a decade will be a tabletop trivia game called Elements of Truth. It's raised $175,999 on Kickstarter in a single day.

- Critical Role, the top D&D live play Creators, launched an entire tabletop gaming company including a brand new RPG system to rival D&D

- Escape the Night by OG YouTuber Joey Graceffa raised $573,408 on Kickstarter

There are many more.

So why is this happening? There are a few variables at play: 

1. Tabletop games are becoming mainstream. 

My guess is that this is related to the fact that alcohol consumption among adults 18-34 has declined nearly 10 percentage points in just 2 years.

Tabletop games provide a meaningful way to socialize without requiring booze. 

2. Tabletop games provide a blank canvas for Creators to build worlds and develop fandoms.

The simplest consist of grids, colored pieces, and rule sheets.

The most complex have hundreds of characters and items, lore books full of backstories, and instruction manuals that take hours to decode. 

These more fleshed-out worlds keep players coming back excited to learn more and to do so with their friends. 

They drive the formation of entire communities and deepen fandoms through the power of friends playing together. 

If you're a Creator with a world in your head, a tabletop game can be a cooler and more powerful way to build and express that world than trying to write a book or draw a graphic novel. 

3. The economics are great.

Tabletop games consist of printed paper and cardboard and simple plastic or metal objects like dice, miniatures, tokens, etc.  

That's it. 

The bulk of the cost is fixed upfront, in developing the brand, lore, and game system. There are now a number of companies that collaborate with Creators to do this on a regular basis. 

But the variable costs are very low. 

I don't have exact numbers, but my educated guess is that even the most expensive games - that cost $400 or more for the set - only cost $20-$30 to manufacture. 

As a result, you can raise money on Kickstarter with a high margin to cover the cost of development + production and still make a profit. 

That's much harder for products that have lower margins. 

This is all very similar to coffee - coffee is mainstream, coffee can be easily branded to fit the Creator's world, and the economics of coffee are fantastic. 

Today, there are over 40 Creator-branded coffees.

I have no doubt that we will see dozens more tabletop games launched by Creators in the coming years. 

Would you buy a Creator tabletop game? Why or why not?

Building the Creator Middle Class and advising companies doing the same. Founder @ Creator Logic - the Bloomberg of the Creator Economy reaching 53,000+ Creators and execs. DM to work together.

Influencer marketing is for rookies. Everyone starts somewhere, but if your entire Creator strategy is "pay to post," you're leaving money on the table.

The companies that really understand this space aren't just buying posts. They're finding ways to work with Creators that build actual long-term value.

Here are 6 ways (plus 2 bonuses) to work with Creators beyond sponcon:

1. Affiliate Programs

Turn Creators into commission-based salespeople. They only make money when you make money.

Gymshark built a billion-dollar brand this way - through hundreds of Creators who had real incentive to drive sales.

2. Equity & Advisory Positions

Give Creators actual ownership in your company.

Michelle Phan didn't just promote Ipsy - she was brought in as a partner, given a co-founder title, and built it into a $500M+ beauty empire.

When Creators have equity, they're not promoting your product. They're building their investment. 

The Ownership Economy is on the rise. 

3. Hire Creators as Employees

Bring them in-house for marketing, customer success, or product roles.

They already know how to make content that converts. Give them your resources, your brand, and your distribution.

4. Co-Created Products

Not just slapping their name on your existing product. Actually developing new products together.

Dunkin' Donuts and Charli D'Amelio created "The Charli" - a custom drink that became Dunkin's biggest digital launch ever. App downloads went up 57% the day it launched.

5. Creator-Led Brands

Launch entire brands or sub-brands with Creators.

Nike didn't just pay Michael Jordan to wear their shoes. They built the Jordan Brand - which does $6 billion in annual revenue today.

That's the difference between a sponsorship and a partnership.

6. Bring Creators to Your Events

Invite Creators to conferences, client dinners, and industry events.

I did this with a client last year. They brought me as "their Creator" to an industry conference.

Generated 4-5 leads for $50K+ packages in a single day.

Bonus#1 - Product Advisory Councils

Ask the people with audiences what their communities actually want before you build anything.

Creators talk to your target customer every single day. They know what's missing in the market better than any focus group.

Most companies should do this but aren't. 

I'm working with a client on building one right now. Will report back.

Bonus #2 - Your executives can become Creators too.

Your founder sharing the real story. Your head of product showing what's next. Your customer success lead teaching best practices.

Every company is already a brand channel - most just haven't figured out how to act like one yet.

One of these 8 approaches will work better for your business than just paying for posts.

Which are you going to invest in?

P.S. Need help figuring it out? DM me, I reply to every non-spam message.

8 ways to leverage Creators (without pay to post)

Retailers with $100M+ budgets spend 46% on traditional media. Car brands spend 71%...and yet, US adults spend almost 2x the time on digital media. (WARNING: Math!)

Time spent on social is roughly the same as time spent on TV ~ 2.25 hours.

And I think it's safe to say that at least half - probably more - of that time is spent consuming Creator content. 

US TV ad spend is around $60 billion.

US influencer spend is around $10 billion.

That's 6:1 when it should be 2:1. 

This actually makes sense, but not how it should:

1. The best sales reps with the longest careers and deepest C-suite relationships at big brands and ad agencies are still selling TV and news spots. 

2. The C-Suite execs making budget decisions built their careers when a Super Bowl ad was the pinnacle of marketing achievement and "digital" meant banner ads. 

Many still think of YouTube as cat videos and influencers as "kids" on the internet.

3. Traditional media measurement sucks, and that actually creates less risk for the people buying it. 

When you have all of the view and click data, bad decisions are laid bare for all to see. 

When Nielsen is still tracking TV views based on a bunch of randos with black boxes on their consoles, marketing execs can still get away with, "Look at the big celebrity we had in our spot!"

It makes sense because of industry inertia and a lag in adaptation, not because the economics are good. 

So where does the money go?

- Agencies of Record get billions
- TV networks get hundreds of millions
- Production companies get tens of millions

Meanwhile, social and influencer teams get... the leftovers. 

If they're lucky.

But there are signs the old foundation is starting to crumble:

- Unilever's new CEO increased influencer spend to 50% of its marketing budget 

- Traditional media sales execs are jumping ship to digital - not by choice, but because billionaire consolidation of traditional media companies means brutal layoffs and few opportunities to get re-hired

- YouTube was a major sponsor at MIPCOM - the conference that's been the holy grail of TV distribtion and advertising for 40 years - and "stole the show" according to The Hollywood Reporter.›

If you joined the Creator Economy after 2020, it might feel like we're reaching maturity - like the gold rush is ending and we have reached the plateau.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

We're watching the old guard desperately cling to what they know while the new economy builds itself right under their noses.

The vast majority of Fortune 500 companies are still just experimenting, treating Creator partnerships like experiments instead of strategy.

When they finally wake up - and they already are - the Creator Economy won't just be PART of The Economy.

The Creator Economy will BE The Economy.

What other signs are you seeing that The Economy is waking up to Creators?

YouTube logo on the beach. Title and subtitle say MIPCOM CANNES Announces Major YouTube Presence in 2025
MIPCOM CANNES to bring the global creator economy into the heart of the
world’s largest television market in October

Most social media analytics are BS and Spotify Wrapped is proof.

My Top 5 tracks don’t actually reflect the songs I like.

Instead, most of them reflect the songs and artists my daughter likes.

She’s 2.5. Of course she doesn’t have her own Spotify. She listens on mine.

But Spotify doesn’t know that.

They don’t know that she calls Lumiere, the theme song from Expedition 33 (Game of the Year and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise), “Ding Dong” and always wants to start her mornings by dancing to it.

They don’t know that I actually hate the song Mamma Mia but my father in law graciously played it on repeat for my daughter, so now I have to as well.

They don’t know that she’s single-handedly going to revive Avicii (RIP, GOAT).

And if a brand targeted me based on these tastes, they’d be wasting their money.

This applies for every platform. There’s a 100% chance my favorite YouTube channel is MsRachel.

Except obviously it isn’t. (though I am a big fan of all that she does)

Running Creator partnerships and influencer campaigns based purely on the metrics is a recipe for disaster. 

Numbers in a dashboard rarely reflect the reality of who an audience is, what they want, and why they consume.

Have you found the same?

Can you name a single tentpole franchise Netflix has taken all the way?

I can’t, and now I’m really bummed about their acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery.

Look at the pattern: 

Netflix does a great job with the first few seasons, and then once all the new subscribers are milked out of the property, they move on.

Examples:

- The Crown
- House of Cards
- The Witcher
- Sense8
- Money Heist
- Marco Polo
- The OA
- GLOW

All started strong with passionate fandoms.

All canceled, defunded, or just left by the side of the road to creatively rot.

And none of them exploited and franchised the way a real studio would, to give fandoms the merchandise and IP expansions we want.

Netflix’ acquisition of Warner - if it goes through - will be great for them but terrible for consumers.

Dozens of massive franchises will be leveraged as headlines to drive new subscriber acquisition, before being discarded like used laundry.

I saw it with my favorites like Sense8, Marco Polo, and The Witcher.

I’m dreading it with One Piece, one of my favorite franchises.

And I’m afraid for Batman, Superman, Harry Potter, and all the other great IPs that are about to be put to pasture.

Are you?

We let people test drive $50,000 cars but make them buy $500 courses blind. Make it make sense.

Pop.Store fixes this backwards logic; I partnered with them for this, and 5 other reasons:

1. PREVIEW BEFORE PURCHASE

My Creator Monetization Crash Course lets you watch:
- Video 1 - Free
- Videos 2-3 - Just your email
- Video 4-9 - $20

By the time you pay, you've watched 3 full lessons. You know exactly what you're getting. I even put the paywall a few seconds in, so you can watch the first bit of video #4. 

Don't spend time, energy, and money on trying to convince someone to buy your course. 

Let it sell itself.

2. DOUBLE MONETIZATION BUILT IN

Why charge $100 when you can charge $20 and make more?

I embed affiliate links directly in my course videos. Students buy recommended tools, I get commission. Everyone wins.

Most course platforms don’t have built in affiliates, and getting additional course materials is a headache. 

Pop.Store said "why not both?"

3. BE WHERE YOUR AUDIENCE IS

Remember that $497 course you bought in 2022? 

Neither do I, because it's buried in some login I forgot.

Pop.Store courses live in your bio link. Your audience doesn't need a new app, new password, or new habit. They just go to your profile like always.

4. AI THAT ACTUALLY DOES SOMETHING

They can turn you into a digital product- upload your photo, their AI creates avatars, and you can put them on sale. 

Or here’s a wild one: Pick clothing from their affiliate partners and it generates video of you wearing them while walking the runway.

Pop.Store is using AI to let their Creators live in the future.

Meanwhile, everyone else has a crappy chatbot that write worse than you do.

5. BUILT BY PEOPLE WHO ALREADY WON SOCIAL COMMERCE

Pop.Store is owned by CommentSold.

CommentSold powers social selling for massive brands. They're not some college buddies vlogging about their company retreat.

They already know how to turn content into money. Now they're bringing that expertise to individual Creators.

BONUS - HOLISTIC MONETIZATION CAPABILITIES

Pop.Store covers 4 of the Big Six Creator monetization methods:

- Affiliates
- Membership
- Products
- Services

I wouldn't be surprised if they add brand deal and UGC opportunities in the future.

Want to learn about each of the Big Six - what they are, how they work, pros and cons, who succeeds, and how to start?

Watch the first 3 videos of my Creator Monetization Crash Course FREE - Link in my bio.

And if you're ready to stop selling courses like it's 2020, check out Pop.Store itself.

What outdated course platform "feature" drives you the most crazy?

6 Creator problems Pop.Store fixes

“Influencer” vs “Creator” is a gendered debate - and somehow, Creator business platforms have become gendered along the same lines.

Course platforms are dominated by hustle culture - they all do big partnerships with dudebros who worship billionaires and drink raw eggs while journaling at 4am. 

They market to “Creators” and often talk down on “influencers”. 

Ironic, isn’t it?

Women use these platforms too, but the vibe is unmistakably masculine.

Meanwhile, lifestyle monetization platforms index almost entirely female…but they're stuck with the unnecessarily pejorative “influencer platform” branding. 

Their value prop is to enable people with influence to use that influence - and they largely cater to powerful female Creators.

No courses, digital products, or coaching…just brand deals and affiliates.

Somewhere along the way, the industry decided:
- Men = courses and coaching
- Women = lifestyle brands and affiliates

WTF?

Pop.Store is the first platform I've seen that rejects this binary, which is part of why I chose to partner with them.

They let Creators sell, say, a makeup course AND earn affiliate commissions on the products they teach about. 

In the same place (double monetization!!)

Even the name signals something different: "Pop.Store" evokes “pop culture”, audiences for which have always skewed female (e.g. E! News, PopSugar, People, etc.)

But the product itself works regardless of your gender, creative identity, or business model!

I'm not a woman, but it’s pretty obvious that this dichotomy is limiting Creators of all genders.

The most successful Creators already monetize multiple ways. 

They create and sell and influence and educate.

Pop.Store just built the first platform that acknowledges this reality instead of forcing people to choose (usually, and weirdly, along gendered lines.)

Have you (or anyone you know) ever felt like you had to choose between being taken seriously as a Creator vs. being seen as “just an influencer”?

Hustle Bros - sell your own products and services, influencers sell other brands' products and services, and pop.store meets in the middle

If someone ever doubts the value of brand, just ask if they’d rather give their kid a muffin or a cupcake for breakfast.

Then show them the ingredient lists for both.

Most dealmakers don't know this thing that operators do (I've been both):

Complexity creates risk. 

Sometimes, when negotiating a deal for Creator Logic, I’ll focus on creating alpha by chopping up terms and negotiating them individually. 

It’s a habit I learned from my days as a talent agent.

For example, maybe instead of just a 10% commission on sales, I want a 10% commission on sales from posts that are boosted, and a 15% commission from sales that are not boosted. 

Do you see what I'm doing? 

By increasing the value of individual increments within a single deal term, I can increase my profit.

If I drive $100,000 worth of sales, 10% is $10,000.

If I drive $100,000 worth of sales and 50% was from boosted posts and 50% was not, then by increasing the commission on unboosted posts to 15%, I can make $12,500 - an extra $2,500.

From a dealmaking perspective, the smart thing to do is chop up terms and negotiate incrementally. 

From an operating perspective, though, this creates a ton of headache.

- How do we track sales from boosted posts vs. unboosted posts? 
- Is it possible to automate separate payments given our product and tech stack?
- If it's not possible, who on the team will do it? 
- If it's not someone on the team, how much will it cost to pay someone to do it? 
-  How much time does it take to actually execute this for one deal?
-  If we replicate this deal, how much time and money will it take per deal, and how many deals could we do?
- What else are we missing?

At one company I worked at, two operations managers quit because our product didn't have the capability to change commissions. 

And yet, before I started, someone negotiated dozens of bespoke commission deals.

Everyone one of those required manual accounting, calculation, triple-checking, and payment processing once a month.

It was so painful and tedious that it broke everyone who touched it.

Some dealmakers might say, "That sounds like your problem." 

To them, I would say "Aren’t incorrectly calculated fees, delayed payments, and missing money your problem too?"

Doesn't it benefit both parties when delivery from both sides are clear, easy, and fast?

Now, whenever I start to revert to incremental dealmaker thinking, I remind myself about something I never did as an agent:

I'm going to have to execute on that deal.

Just because it's possible doesn't make it smart.

Do you have a story where a deal that seems great ended up causing more pain than it was worth?

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The Battle

James Creech

Avi Gandhi (Creator Logic)

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The Battle

James Creech

Avi Gandhi (Creator Logic)

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

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