10 Ways Creators Are Like Startups

And NOT just influencers

Kate Ward
2 min readMar 17, 2021
Photo by Daniel Schaffer on Unsplash

The credo of One Day Entertainment is that:

“Creators and artists shouldn’t be treated like influencers, they should be treated like startups. They need managers who act like CEOs. Not agents.”

So today, I thought I’d write up a handful of direct / indirect similarities between startups and creator businesses that I think about often:

1. A creator’s brand is the product / platform. It exists separate from any one platform, maybe somewhere in between all of them.

2. Their videos, essays, and social posts are like features. Success isn’t hinged on just one. Some will lead to meaningful pivots, while others will crash and burn. All of it is helpful data.

3. The goal is to iterate obsessively until reaching creator-market fit. And then, to pour gas on the fire.

4. Content acts as top-of-funnel marketing for other features, products, and services. And it’s the best distribution on the planet.

5. The core metric of success is active users, or “true fans.” Think of all the ways someone can interact with a creator’s brand on a daily basis: by wearing a hoodie, responding to a…

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Kate Ward

Thinking deeply about how to make myself and the world a little better. & writing about creators mostly | email: kate@onedayent.com