Sponsored by RockWater

Last week was a brutal week of layoffs. My heart goes out to my friends at Paramount and Amazon.

At least the CEOd are finally admitting AI has something to do with it instead of parroting the ridiculous line that AI will be a net positive for workers.

You know…what Sam Altman is still trying to get us to believe…

In the meantime, creators are starting to get some huge valuations.

Steven Bartlett has built one heck of a brand for himself as a B2B influencers with B2Creator chops.

And Slow Ventures agrees, helping push him to a $425m valuation with an undisclosed investment.

What does this say about how creators should build their companies?

Also in this edition:

💃🏻 Ms. Rachel Lands the Cover of Glamour

☀️ Bluesky Hits 40m Users

🇺🇸 Mamdani Briefs Creators, Cuomo Joins Logan Paul

🏞️ Adobe Max Goes Next Level With AI

💪🏼 Jobs from Rob Has a Podcast, Kling AI, and Monster Energy

🎭 …and a dank meme from yours truly!

Let’s get into it.

NEWS:

Creators Get Valued Like Mega Corps

TLDR:

• Creators have marketing super powers

• Building brands first is impossible for non-creators, but valuable

• The most valuable creators operate like holding companies

Let’s talk about Oprah.

In the 80’s, she was a popular daytime talk show host, but so was Sally Jesse Raphael and Phil Donahue.

In other words, billionaire status was not a forgone conclusion.

But she used her diehard middle-aged female audience to absolutely nail a suite of brands from book clubs to Weight Watchers to the programming from Harpo Productions, OWN, and O Magaine.

She walked so MrBeast could run.

And now we’re seeing huge valuations not just for massive creator brands like Rhode Beauty and Sincerely Yours, but creator hold cos like Steven Bartlett and MrBeast.

So how should creators build in this direction?

Remember Your Super Power is Marketing

Let’s be clear: anyone can start a candy brand like Feastables.

Raise money, have a point of view, make chocolate.

Not that hard.

But selling it is another matter.

Same with Rhode Beauty. Do you think it would have made it into Sephora if Hailey Bieber wasn’t pushing it?

Or would Steven Bartlett have such success around his marketing and education companies if they weren’t ‘Steven Bartlett companies’?

They need great operators. All companies do. But their cheat code is marketing.

Building Brand First

On that note, imagine Feastables launched without MrBeast.

You see the package at Walmart.

What is this? Chocolate for kids? Why would I pick that over a trusted brand like Hershey’s?

But when you have MrBeast’s name and colors on it, the brand immediately means something.

It’s cool factor for young boys.

It’s gamified.

It’s fun.

Imagine if Coca-Cola was able to be the number one cola brand in the world before they made their first bottle.

That’s what creators can do for products they launch.

Companies Can Feed Each Other

Steven Bartlett built his brand portfolio in a smart way.

Starting with Social Chain, the social media marketing company, gave him deep insights into virality and cost-effective growth.

Then Flight Story, the investment arm, knows how to find companies with smart marketing strategies and/or help with the knowledge of Social Chain.

ThirdWeb then allows simpler web3 builds tha that Social Chain can help market and Flight Story can invest.

FlightCast, the video podcast platform, can then achieve more reach and data around B2B initiatives that feed all of this.

It’s not just ‘Steven is a smart business person’. It’s ‘Steven has a defensible portfolio where everything built derisks everything else he’s built’.

It’s very Oprah.

SPONSORED BY ROCKWATER

Have you thought about selling your creator business?

RockWater advises owners in the creator economy on the sale of their business. We have the largest buyer network, and negotiate the best deals possible for our clients. We’re proud to be the industry’s top M&A advisor.

We recently advised on the sale of Feedfeed, a social media publisher and creator network, to People Inc., a publicly traded media co. We’ve also advised Click Management (sale to GameSquare), Lionize (an IM platform, sold to gen.video), Long Haul Mgmt (sold to Wasserman), Bottle Rocket Mgmt (sold to Night), Bounty (a UGC platform, sold to gen.video), and more deals are in the works.

If you want a POV on your company’s valuation and readiness for a sale, reach out to to chris@wearerockwater.com to setup an intro call.

FAME & FORTUNE

What creators, brands, governments, and platforms are making waves this week in the name of fortune, fame, and fun?

💃🏻 Ms. Rachel, the YouTube child education star turned Netflix star turned activist was featured on the cover of Glamour magazine as one of their ‘Women of the Year’. Further proof that actually taking a stand for something can help your influencer career more than standing on the sidelines to be ‘safe’!

☀️ Bluesky, the Twitter clone marketed as a company that isn’t run by a madman just hit 40m users. That’s still under 10% of Twitter (X) but growing!

🇺🇸 The brutal NYC mayoral race is going all-in on creators as Zohran Mamdani had a creator briefing and Andrew Cuomo is attempting to flank him on the right by podcasting with Logan Paul. Looks like politics isn’t done with social media stars anytime soon!

🏞️ The Adobe Max conference last week was full of AI announcements, including one incredible demo where someone was able to put a light source inside of a picture of a pumpkin and have it shine outward. The announcement was cool, but the explosive reaction of the graphic design nerds in the audience was even better.

JOB BOARD

SPONSORED: Fractional GM | Rob Has a Podcast

"Rob Has a Podcast", pictured here selling out in NYC last week, is seeking a GM to lead them into 2026.

The founder will be a celebrity cast member on Peacock's "The Traitors" and the community of 9000+ paying patron members, and 21MM annual downloads is looking for an operational leader. Is that you or someone you know?

Global Creator Community Manager - North America & Europe, Kling AI

Ai is growing fast, and this role will let you ride the wave. Kling AI is working with top models to break the video code for creators. And being the North America and European arm of this Chinese company will give you the ability to provide a larger voice in breaking these valuable markets.

Senior Social Media Manager, Content Creator, Monster Energy

Being a social media manager for a stuffy, old school brand is absolute death. You have to try to get people to care about commercials. But for a cool brand like Monster Energy, you can tap into an edgier, younger tone that can allow you to ‘Liquid Death’-ify the brand online.