Every Creator Is a Startup

 

For years, agencies treated creators as talent. Book the brand deal. Take the commission. Repeat. That worked when YouTube was mostly cat videos and TikTok was just a dance app. But here’s the reality in 2025: every creator is now a business in motion. Agencies that don’t recognize that are already behind.

Creators as Founders

Think about it. A YouTuber starts with daily vlogs. Soon they launch a podcast, collab with a skincare brand, release merch, maybe even sell a scripted series to Hulu. That’s not just talent management, that’s a full business portfolio.

Creators today look a lot like startup founders. Their product is their personality. Their seed funding comes from their audience. Their Series A is when brands start writing checks. And their IPO? Selling out arenas, building companies, or creating IP that lasts beyond them.

The best creators already play this game. Emma Chamberlain didn’t stop at YouTube, she built a coffee brand. MrBeast isn’t just doing challenges, he’s building restaurants, candy companies, and platforms. And then there’s Alex Cooper.

Case Study: From Creator to CEO

Alex Cooper started with a podcast recorded in her living room. Today, she has one of the biggest deals in Spotify history, her own network, and a pipeline of shows under her umbrella. That’s not just content, that’s company building.

She has the instincts of a founder. Building IP, negotiating distribution, expanding products, scaling an audience into something bigger than herself. If agencies had been thinking like long-term partners from the start, they’d be participating in the upside of Call Her Daddy rather than just earning commissions on ad reads.

Why Agencies Are Shifting

Negotiating one-off deals isn’t enough anymore. Creators need partners who help them scale, the same way startups need investors and advisors. Agencies have the perfect opportunity to step into that role.

The mindset shift looks like this:

  • Invest early in promising creators before they explode.

  • Incubate ideas, from brands and podcasts to tours and tech ventures.

  • Negotiate equity, not just fees. When a creator builds the next PRIME or Fenty, you want a seat at the table.

The Startup Playbook

Creators are already operating like startups, even if they don’t call it that. They test, pivot, and track metrics constantly. What they often need is business development, partnerships, and global scaling.

Agencies could step in here. Think of an accelerator model: mentorship, funding, and distribution in exchange for a share of the upside. That shifts the role of an agency from middleman to builder of culture.

Beyond Capitalism

I’m not saying this is all about capitalism. The upside of this shift is that consumers get to decide who they trust and where they spend. They’re investing in people they already feel connected to, not faceless corporations. Because these relationships start on social platforms as two-way conversations, there’s more room for accountability and authenticity.

The creators who will actually win are the ones who keep that closeness alive. If you lose touch with your audience, you risk retention, and no business model can survive without loyalty at its core.

When creators grow into brands, they have the chance to bake in values that matter: sustainability, inclusivity, social responsibility. Agencies that help build these businesses aren’t just chasing profits, they’re shaping the kind of companies audiences actually want in the world.

Why This Matters Now

Attention is the most valuable currency in the world, and creators hold it. Their audiences trust them more than ads, celebrities, or brands. The real opportunity isn’t just in representing them, it’s in co-creating businesses with them.

Agencies face a choice. Keep taking short-term commissions, or build long-term equity. One fades when the algorithm shifts. The other has the chance to scale into billion-dollar businesses with a conscience.

Final Takeaway

The creator economy is only getting bigger. Every kid with a phone is a potential founder. The agencies that thrive won’t just sign talent, they’ll help build companies that reflect the values of the audiences who built them in the first place.

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