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Remember when YouTube used to strike channels for misleading titles and thumbnails?
Kai Cenat made waves with a video called ‘I Quit’ where he announced that he is, in fact, not quitting.
And MrBeast can have a thumbnail like this and still get 113 million views despite him being tied up in a gasoline soaked building not appearing in this video (a stuntman did it and was loosely tied to a chair, not on the ground, and there didn’t appear to be any gasoline):
I digress. ‘Old man shaking his fist at clouds’ moment.
I watched Kai’s video, so I’m happy to share what he really said and why I think it signals a maturation in the industry amongst top talent.
Also in this edition:
🧾Creators Get Their Own Bill of Rights
🏋🏽♀️ Ashton Hall was the Second Fastest Growing Instagram of 2025
📲 Threads Beats X on Mobile
🌎 Meta Lays Off 1,500 on Metaverse Team
💪🏼 Jobs from Amazon, Epic Games, and Apple
🎭 …and a dank meme from yours truly!
Let’s get into it.
NEWS:
Kai Cenat’s Second Act
TLDR:
Kai Cenat’s ‘I Quit’ video re-branded him as a premium clothing designer.
The highly-edited, beautifully-shot, reality show-style video showed a sharp contrast to his lofi lives, signaling a move in his career from amateur to pro.
Kai realized very early (he’s only been streaming for 5 years) that influence needs to be a means to an end, and if you don’t find your purpose while you’re at the top of your game it may pass you by.
I was being cheeky in the intro. I think this was not only a great move for Kai Cenat, but a move too many creators make too late.
First, let’s break down the video:
Intro: Kai Cenat manages the ‘I quit’ messaging by explaining that he is going to quit holding himself back, and will do that in the form of launching his clothing brand.
The Product: Kai in Italy working hands-on with his clothing designers and manufacturing, learning the craft and showing off concepts.
Soul-Searching: Kai Cenat talking to his family, friends, and announcing at the Streamer Awards (I saw that live!) that he needs to follow his heart, ending with his announcement on one of his four acceptance speeches that night (!!!) that he’s launching this brand.
Mentorship: Law Roach, the famous fashion entrepreneur who works with the coolest Gen Z celebs, drops knowledge about how to grow a fashion company from denim to dominance.
The ‘Why’: The music builds, Kai announces the name Vivet for his brand, brings in street artists for the brand, talks about how he wants it to be perfect, rings in the New Year with his crew, then drops an Eminem sound alike with a quote that you can do whatever you put your mind to.
CTA: Calls to action that he was uploading on a secret channel with a end slate link (already has 448k subscribers).
In other words, it was a really great 23 minute commercial for Vivet.
Should we all be so lucky to have a creator that understands how to seize a moment like this.
My three biggest takeaways:
You only get a few ‘huge announcements’ so make it count. I grew up with parents who read me ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’, and I feel like the last 20 years of the creator economy has been full of ‘The Creator Who Cried EPIC!’ If you say everything is a huge announcement, nothing is huge announcement. Even if you’re Sabrina Carpenter or MrBeast, you’re good for maybe two HUGE announcements per year. So make it count. By breaking format, angling the video as a big life moment, making the production television-quality, and answering all of the questions someone may have about why his clothing brand is different from everyone else’s, he created the roadmap for how creators should announce big things.
You have to move audience when you have the influence to do it. If Kai waited until Mafiathon 8 to make the announcement, when the views may be 20% what they are now and he’s rolling out a Kardashian for the fourth time, this may not have made the splash it did. The moment to take a big swing is when you’re at peak influence. The fact that every digital media source wrote about this, his new channel exploded with views, search traffic around Vivet charted, and huge creators were doing reactions to this video proves that this was the moment. The vast majority of creators wait until they’re on the down swing to pivot, and that’s why most pivots crash and burn.
True entrepreneurship is the evolution for creators. Michelle Phan did it. Jake Paul did it. MrBeast did it. Now Kai Cenat is doing it. Entrepreneurship is cool. And profitable! Grind a brand deal for a million bucks and you get a million bucks. Bring a million dollars of value to a brand you own that not only has a growth engine behind it, but may trade at 10x revenue someday, and you’ve done a heck of a lot better for yourself. Creators are waking up to this fact, and Kai Cenat was unique in that his announcement dug into going through the ‘hard stuff’ of entrepreneurship instead of just yelling, “I make tacos now!’ like most creators do.
As we build Stealth Talent, we’ll be sharing this announcement often.
It’s not just a video. It’s a roadmap for creators that want something more.
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FAME & FORTUNE
What creators, brands, governments, and platforms are making waves this week in the name of fortune, fame, and fun?
🧾Representative Ro Khanna introduced The Creator Bill of Rights in Congress as a framework to protect and support digital workers. Now it needs bi-partisan support to get on the floor. Support it here! https://creatorbillofrights.com
🏋🏽♀️ Fitness creator Ashton Hall was the second fastest growing Instagram account in 2025 (behind MrBeast) beating out Trump, Mamdani, the two Kirks, Sabrina Carpenter, and even Instagram itself. Looks like having a god-like body is en vogue again!
📲 Similarweb has reported that Threads is now beating X in daily active users on mobile devices, though X is still dominating microblogging on desktop. But, I mean, c’mon, who’s still tweeting with a keyboard?
🌎 Is Meta going to change it’s name to Artificial now? Zuck’s domain has laid off 1,500 on their metaverse team so they can reinvest in their AI and wearables ambitions. Maybe they shouldn’t have invested billions of dollars developing legs for their avatars?
JOB BOARD
Amazon is one of the biggest advertising networks on the internet, closing in on Meta in U.S. digital ad spend. This is an incredible opportunity to jump into a role to show how creator’s can play a part in this ecosystem.
Epic Games is so much more than just Fortnite. It’s an entire gaming storefront with some incredible titles. And this role will help define the social media voice for so many of these young-yet-storied franchises, including getting gamers back on the Fortnite train!
Apple has had nearly 50 years of epic, memorable ad creative. But now the best stuff for brands lives on their own socials, not on Super Bowl commercials. Being able to translate Apple’s design-forward brand onto social platforms would be a ton of pressure but a lot of fun.
MEME ZONE
Mailbox money? Yes please!
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Until next time, protect yo rep.