Building Big Businesses with Creators with Emily Herrera
December 29, 2022
AI Summary
5 min readBuilding Big Businesses with Creators
Emily Herrera works at Night Ventures, the venture arm of Night Media, a company that manages some of the biggest creators on the internet. The fund's structure is unusual: roughly 50% of its limited partners are creators themselves—people like Mr. Beast and others on Night Media's roster, plus creators from outside the ecosystem who wanted exposure to venture without becoming full GPs. Herrera describes the arrangement simply: "The creators are our bosses."
The fund invests across consumer categories—healthcare, education, real estate, general CPG—but the real thesis is about figuring out the best use of creators in the venture ecosystem. That could mean creators as angel investors, as limited partners, or as a research channel: getting close to creators, understanding their communities, and investing off what those communities need.
The Hard Reality of Creator-Backed Products
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:49) **What is Night Media & Night Ventures** - Emily explains the structure of Night Media (creator management) and Night Ventures (the VC fund), including the three GPs and the fund's focus on consumer companies.
- 2 (04:13) **The Product Studio Model for Creators** - Discussion of how Night Media incubates products with creators, moving beyond the original framework.
- 3 (07:51) **Hot Take #1: The Danger of One-Off Creator Deals** - Emily warns creators against working with individuals who lack long-term domain expertise and capital for sustainable businesses.
- 4 (11:07) **The Power of Creator Collectives & Community Fatigue** - Discussion on why a collective of creators is better than a single creator for a brand, and the risk of community exhaustion.
- 5 (16:25) **Hot Take #3: The Changing Definition of a Creator** - Emily argues the definition of "creator" is evolving as younger audiences value the person over the content.
- 6 (22:29) **Case Study: Marcus Malone & The Power of Patience** - Emily highlights a smaller creator who builds trust by being slow to release products, ensuring high quality.
- 7 (25:20) **Should Everyone Be a Part-Time Creator?** - Emily and Greg discuss the pros and cons of becoming a part-time creator in 2023.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Today, Greg is joined by Em Herrera, an investor at Night Ventures. In this conversation, Greg and Em talk about how content creators and startups can amplify each other through partnerships.
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LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Production Team:
https://www.bigoceanpodcasting.com
Emily Herrera:
https://twitter.com/emilyhxrrera
https://www.emilyherrera.com/
SHOW NOTES:
0:00 - Intro
4:14 - How creators can partner with VCs
14:04 - How Dunbar's Number applies to communities (Isenberg's Number)
16:28 - How creators can connect with younger audiences
30:50 - Should everyone be a part-time creator?
37:11 - The four types of creator businesses
52:30 - Compensation models for creator partnerships
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