Want to Know the (Value-Generating) Future of the Creator Economy: Look to Shonduras

When I made a deal with Shaun McBride 2 years ago, it wasn’t for his reach on Snapchat or his devoted following on YouTube. I partnered with Shaun and his consigliere, Sean Holladay, because they were high-performers focused on building things of value in the Creator economy beyond collecting AdSense and sponsorship money.

In the time since, I’ve watched them diversify Spacestation from a scrappy video production studio into a cash-flowing Influencer marketing agency, a talent management company, an eSports team, a product licensing unit and a venture fund. They’ve done it all by remaining true to their core competency: leveraging the influence of unique Creators to launch adjacent products and businesses.

Working with Shaun & Sean demonstrated the way forward in the Creator space is bigger than monetizing talent as billboards. It is recognizing the Creator as the ultimate entrepreneur - hard-working, charismatic and highly-adaptive people who command the attention of millions across various platforms through their mastery of marketing and messaging - and supporting them as they build products and businesses that will delight, inform, entertain, support, etc their legions of fans.