Index Creator Summit: The Evolution of Creator Monetization

While the tools for making and distributing media across the internet have been around for a while, the financial and digital infrastructure required to make money from online creativity is only just emerging. As the ‘creator-as-business’ model gains momentum, hear from some of the most thoughtful and engaged voices now pushing for the maturation of the creator economy.

Index Ventures’ partner Mark Goldberg opens by noting that Index thinks of creators as the ‘new small businesses’ – a thesis Sima Gandhi, co-founder and CEO of Creative Juice, agrees with, as she works to give creators access to capital and to design tools that allow investors to take bets against creatives in order to jump-start their growth. Harry Stebbings, the prominent podcaster and founder of 20VC, talks about how he used ‘hustle’ to overcome the pinch-points in investors’ understanding of his business, while James Berdigans, co-founder and CEO of Printify, talks about the value of expanding direct commerce with your audience. Andrew Lipp, co-founder and CEO of EQL, discusses how their platform manages ‘hype drops’ of merchandise for brands, identifying ‘true fans’ over scammers and figuring out which user will return the most value to the business. The dialogue shifts to whether creativity and entrepreneurship are in tension with one another; why podcasting and VC investing are more similar than they first appear; and ends with reflections on the new revenue mixes that are likely to emerge in the creator economy of tomorrow.

Watch the full summit and hear from all 24 speakers who discuss the creator phenomenon.