Alex
Founded in 2016, Creator.co is one of the first platforms to combine influencer marketing, affiliate programs, social commerce, and NFTs into one easy-to-use experience.
Creator’s success is fueled by the premise that 92% of consumers trust advice and opinions from influencers over any other type of advertising.
But most marketing teams don’t have the time or resources to scale their influencer strategy, and that’s where Creator.co comes in: we make it easier for brands to develop and launch their influencer strategies.
At the same time, we help influencers build their personal and professional personas and give them tools to connect with brands that align with their goals. We are also embarking on an initiative to provide creators with the knowledge and community to build their businesses within Web3. Our first foray into NFTs supports this goal.
Tell us about yourself?
During the first few years of my career, I worked as a category buyer at Best Buy Canada, allowing me to work with incredible brands, such as Fitbit, Samsung, Garmin, and Sony.
During that time, I developed and deployed omni-channel marketing strategies that opened my eyes to how powerful the creator economy and influencer marketing would be for building long-term success as a brand. From there, the idea for Creator.co was born.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Don’t worry about the things you can’t change or impact, stay focussed on moving forward and you’ll avoid getting stuck. Inaction or indecision will kill all momentum.
What problem does your business solve?
The Creator Economy is fragmented on web2, and web3 for Micro Influencers, and SMEs (small medium enterprises) – ultimately leaving the largest segment of the Creator Economy underserved.
Most Creators drive 77% of their revenue through brand partnerships – yet the majority of players in the Creator Economy either a.) cater to the 14% of Influencers, or b.) facilitates only 22% of the earnings the average creator makes.
This presents a once in a generation opportunity to consolidate features, services, and payments while improving the user experience to drive better results for SMBs and Micro Influencers in the Creator Economy.
In other words, we make it easier for creators and brands to connect, collaborate, grow, and earn more money.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
During my time as a buyer at Best Buy Canada, I watched dozens of high-profile brands work with influencers of all capacities. The effectiveness of those campaigns was unparalleled compared to some of the other, older style marketing strategies that brands heavily relied on in past years.
The way influencers worked collaboratively with brands to create relatable content, build trust, and humanize their offerings was something traditional advertising could not accomplish.
I saw the promise of e-commerce, influencer marketing, and the future of the metaverse, and I knew that we could help thousands of brands and millions of influencers develop symbiotic relationships on a larger scale.
What is your magic sauce?
Our mission is to help creators and brands collaborate, grow, and earn more together. We have a few ingredients that make up our secret sauce:
- Our Creator Community. With over 150,000 registered Influencers, we are one of the worlds largest community of Influencers and that allows our team to reach more brands, and attract even more creators.
- Our Account Managers who work closely with our clients to help build strategy, manage expectations, and deliver results for our clients by selecting and working with the best Creators in the game.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
Creator.co will evolve as more brands and influencers dive into web3. Today, it’s collaborations and affiliate programs. Tomorrow, it’s NFTs, and Creator Coins.
We will be an Ecosystem of features built for Creators and Brands to collaborate, grow, and earn more money on web2, and web3. The mission stays the same, but the company will navigate through the creator economy as technology evolves.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
COVID-19 was a significant challenge as it forced us to pivot how we operated and built our business. But we focused on being agile and findings new ways to work collaboratively.
Today, the new face of work requires leaders to think differently and gain new leadership skills such as agility, resilience, empathy, and inclusive leadership, while keeping an eye on the future. It’s a significant challenge but one I am excited to continue to focus on.
As we move into helping our community embrace the metaverse, we have seen challenges related to understanding what this all means.
While, for many people, the concept of Web3 seems futuristic, the truth is that it’s much more real than we think. As we continue to seek out opportunities within this segment, we also need to educate our community on the opportunities and the risks.
Are there any risks associated with Web3? How do our influencers protect their brands and their digital equity? As a partner in this transition, we must help keep our communities educated and informed of what lies ahead, which means we have to be one step ahead of the game.
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
There are various ways to get involved. Brands looking for better ways to collaborate with Influencers can sign up and chat with our Brand Partnerships team to see the Influencers we have and how we can build a program dedicated around their success.
Creators can sign up for free and explore hundreds of collaboration opportunities right now! https://creator.co/creator-signup/?utm_source=Earned-Media&utm_medium=PR&utm_campaign=BestStartup Interview &utm_content=creator-beststartup
This summer, we’re also launching our first NFT, providing another entry point to content creators. The Creator Passport NFT is designed exclusively for creators and features resources and unique offerings for passholders.
This NFT isn’t a one-time benefit for holders; it will expand and grow over time as the creator community develops and grows.
We’re really excited about the environmental impact our community will have by joining this drop – over 1 million trees will be plated upon sell out (verified on the blockchain) .
The Creator Passport NFT is focused on utility (valuable features and resources are unlocked within Creator.co for holders) but also has some Passport NFT holders also receive access to an exclusive, personalized Creator.co domain, preferred brand collaborations, educational webinars, a community discord, priority access to the highest paying campaigns, entry into premier events, and first access to affiliate programs.
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