Welcome to the final installment of our four-part series exploring our criteria for creator investments and the questions that guide our diligence process. So far, we’ve covered how we evaluate the creator, their community, and the category. To recap:
The creator: We back creators who act like founders. They are obsessed with their niche, magnetic leaders, and driven to build scalable businesses, not just personal fame
The community: We look for passionate, deeply engaged communities bonded by shared values or psychographics, not merely large follower counts
The category: We seek niche, durable, and investable categories — either clearly defined verticals or broader lifestyle-driven worlds — with meaningful whitespace for company building
Today, we’ll discuss the level of traction we look for when determining if a creator has reached a scale that aligns with our investment mandate. From our earlier overview:
Scale / traction: Follower counts have lost some signal, but traction and heat still matter. For most opportunities we like to see ~200k–2M+ followers and $500k+ in annual advertising / platform revenue. If the creator is generating revenue off‑platform from product sales, that serves as even stronger proof of conversion. While these numbers guide us, they aren’t hard and fast rules.
To simplify, let’s consider the three distinct components within traction:
Follower count: Creators should be growing at a fast clip and have at least 100k followers on their primary platform (not aggregated across multiple)… and speaking of: platform matters. TikTok, for example, tends to be less indicative due to its emphasis on discovery and algorithmic recommendations over sustained follower engagement. YouTube is typically important, while Instagram, X, or podcasts are significant in certain niches. A robust newsletter list can also serve as meaningful signal
Advertising revenue: This includes revenue from brand partnerships, sponsorship deals, platform revenue like YouTube’s AdSense, and even affiliate revenue. Ideally, creators generate over $500k annually from these sources as it’s the most common creator revenue type
Off-platform revenue: Revenue earned from creator-owned products, separate from advertising streams, provides powerful evidence of community engagement and commercial potential. Although not necessary (we do invest in creators pre-launch), off-platform revenue demonstrates both audience willingness to spend and the creator’s operational capabilities
If you’re more visually inclined, my colleague Billy Parks, came up with the helpful graphic below to illustrate this “middle class” of creators we are targeting. This group is of a size where $1m-$3m of investment capital significantly accelerates business growth.
As emphasized earlier in this series, these numbers are not hard and fast rules. We’ve met creators with fewer than 200k followers earning upwards of $3m from their own product sales. Conversely, we’ve seen creators boasting millions of followers struggle to monetize effectively. Our goal here is to outline our typical sweet spot rather than enforce absolute standards. Ultimately, we care more about growth potential than current scale alone.
And that is all to say: if you know creators who might fit our criteria, or you are one yourself, please reach out! We’d love to connect.
Best,
Megan
P.S. Read more from the archive here