Inside Create & Cultivate's $3M Festival With CEO Marina Middleton

October 6, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Inside Create & Cultivate's $3M Festival With CEO Marina Middleton

Create & Cultivate's flagship festival in Los Angeles draws 4,000 attendees, features headliners like Cardi B, and costs over $3 million to produce. The entire operation is run by a team of seven people. CEO Marina Middleton sat down with the Bossbabe podcast just days before the event to explain how they sell tickets without paid ads, why they don't pay speakers, and what it actually takes to build a tentpole event that becomes an industry institution.

The economics of a single-event business model

When Middleton and her husband acquired Create & Cultivate, the company was running 89 events per year. She made a strategic decision to collapse that into one flagship festival. "The festival is our tentpole event. It is what we focus on. Everything else that we do throughout the year is to drive back to festival," she says. Smaller events like supper club dinners and the Austin summit exist to keep the community engaged and demonstrate programming quality, but they all feed into the main event.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:56) **The Festival as the Central Product** - Marina explains how Create & Cultivate shifted from 89 events a year to a single tentpole festival that everything else drives toward.
2 (02:24) **Ticket Sales Strategy: Zero Paid Ads** - Marina details the five organic programs that sold 3,800 tickets without spending a dollar on advertising.
3 (07:17) **Security at Scale: 93 Guards and Cardi B** - Marina walks through the logistical reality of securing a $3M festival with A-list talent.
4 (08:43) **The "No Speaker Fee" Model** - Marina explains why A-list speakers like Martha Stewart and the Kardashians appear for free and how the value exchange actually works.
5 (10:23) **The Business Model: 90% Sponsorship, 10% Tickets** - Marina breaks down how a $3M event is financed by a seven-person team.
6 (13:10) **Operating as a Seven-Person Team** - Marina describes how a tiny core team manages a massive festival and how they maintain systems so brands never feel the small size.
7 (17:49) **The 18-Month Planning Cycle and Sprint Rhythm** - Marina explains the timeline and the anxiety of the last 45 days before the event.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

How do you sell 3,800 tickets to an industry-leading business event with zero ad spend and a team of only seven people?

In this episode, Create & Cultivate CEO and Partner Marina Middleton explains the fully organic growth strategy that has scaled Create & Cultivate into the biggest festival for women entrepreneurs and business leaders, from user-generated content to placing a strong focus on value in every asset. She reveals why she doesn't pay Martha Stewart, the Kardashians, or other A-list celebrities to speak at the event and her outreach framework for speakers, guests, and brands. Finally, she and Natalie break down the unique challenges women entrepreneurs face in friendships, marriage, and public perception.

In this episode, Natalie and Marina discuss:

(01:24) How We're Building a Tentpole Event for Women Entrepreneurs

(05:04) Are Paid Ads The Best Way to Grow From Scratch?

(09:08) Year-Round Organic Promotion for Create & Cultivate

(12:04) Putting On a $3 Million Event With a Seven-Person Team

(16:54) How to Provide Clear Value to Event Sponsors and Investors

(20:50) The Balancing Act in High-Achieving Marriages

(27:14) Identifying Fake Friendships as a Woman Entrepreneur

(31:47) How to Rebuild Your Relationship with Work and Success

(35:38) Is Social Media Killing Your Ambition and Burning You Out?

(40:31) The Unique Challenges of Running a VC-Backed Business

Marina Middleton is the CEO and Partner of Create & Cultivate, the largest events and media platform advancing women through access to resources, connections, and opportunities. A former corporate strategist turned bootstrapped founder and now VC-backed CEO, Marina has led the launch of the world’s largest festival for women in business and developed CONNECT, the largest AI-powered matchmaking platform for women, transforming how women network and collaborate. She has been featured in Forbes, Inc., and Business Insider, and regularly speaks on entrepreneurship, venture capital, business growth, and building inclusive communities.

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