I work with TikTok’s biggest creators (1M+ followers).
The Creator Economy is about to go through its first Nuclear Winter. ☠️📉
Here’s why 👇
💉Post-COVID Summer:
Everyone’s outside. Which means Video Views across TikTok & YouTube are down 30-40% from peak pandemic levels.
a
Which means creator ad revenue is down 30-40%.
🤕Creator Burnout:
No one is talking about this enough. The content creation hamster wheel is _AWFUL_ on mental health.
My bet is that we’ll see steady-state churn mirroring the restaurant/SMB industry.
💰Too much VC hype:
There’s too much capital chasing too few quality creators.
The total creator market (especially the ‘creator middle class’) still needs 2-3yrs to catch up to a sizable TAM.
🏆Fierce Competition:
Expect the vast majority of creator startups to flame out in the next 1-2yrs.
Heavyweights like Patreon and Kajabi raising $bn+, and every YC company adding ~creator~ to their tagline.
So where would I invest? GMV-based businesses are going to be a bumpy ride this summer.
I’d bet on companies working with well-established creators, and not mass market tools serving every pandemic ‘one-hit-wonder’.
Dig deep into creator retention and word-of-mouth virality.♻️
If you want to stay up-to-date on the Creator Economy, follow me for my weekly learnings:
🎵 Growing my own TikTok account (40k+)
🎨 Building for the internet’s biggest Creators
💸 Angel investing in Creators 𝘢𝘯𝘥 Creator startups
