COY Creator

The Creator Economy Is at a Crossroads Platforms are shifting, AI is flooding feeds, and audiences are losing trust. Brands are pulling back, Gen Z is scrolling past, and misinformation is pushing people away. This article sums up exactly what we’re solving at COY. Creators need to stop renting their brand and start owning it. Build beyond platforms. Own your audience. Secure your future. #CreatorEconomy #OwnYourAudience #BuildBeyondPlatforms

When your partners do the marketing for you... Check out the image, where the amazing Lexy Panterra (https://lnkd.in/dZHVDtvP) shouts the benefits of COY Creator to her creator peers and 2.5M followers. At COY we're building the most creator-friendly, creator-centric company in the ecosystem. 2025 will see a massive shift of talent from sites like OnlyFans, Cameo and Patreon to talent-owned platforms where they own all their own fans' data, set their own prices, don't need to promote any 3rd party (COY is a white-label, backend solution) or deal with the random stigma of these other services. Creators looking to build sophisticated fan monetization engines should be in touch with me! And those helping creators build communities should also be in touch. COY is your best partner for this.

Picking back up from my last post on throwing myself back into being a software founder. TL;DR — “Software is eating the world" and Parker Conrad’s Compound Startup concept got me off the bench. Mark Andreessen coined the phrase in 2011 to highlight how software would fundamentally change how we do everything. (https://lnkd.in/gFVRQiUx) It’s hard to argue with that now. Netflix reshaped entertainment (and took down Blockbuster), Facebook redefined connection (and took down MySpace, Evite, and Flickr), and countless other companies have followed suit. Software continues to reshape how we live, work, and engage with people and data. In the last 15 years, we’ve seen huge shifts in how we consume and interact with content. The iPhone in 2007 marked a turning point for mobile, and now AI is driving another, as computers automate tasks at an unbelievable pace. These innovations require major venture investment, which has fueled the rise of unicorns and record-breaking funding rounds. But here’s the curveball—watch Parker Conrad’s clip on the Compound Startup (https://lnkd.in/gS7-RpKT) first. Now that you’ve watched the clip… I would argue that WAY too many startups are getting funded over a single feature that has no business being a company. The investment landscape has enabled too many solutions chasing too few problems. Not every company needs to or should be a $1B business. There’s nothing wrong with a solid, cash-flowing operation that adds value and creates jobs. Investors must share some of the blame here with founders as new funds, emerging managers, and accelerators are flooding the space, but not all are capable or add real value. One exit doesn’t qualify you to take 7% of a company for $150K just because you say you are the next YC. I found Parker’s concept really interesting and inline with my own thinking that a correction is needed where we get back to a more rationale place of a handful of companies chasing a given space. I’m not against competition, but some ‘founders’ might be better off joining an existing company to bring their killer feature to market. Not every idea warrants the resources to become a standalone company or industry leader. Starting a company is REALLY hard, and getting through the early years is even harder, but that’s a good thing. We need our smartest minds tackling the toughest problems, but the rush to build $1B startups isn’t realistic. On the flip side, big companies move too slow, but that’s a conversation for another post. Stay tuned for my next post where I dive into the creator economy and the COY story. Hopefully the long form story gives you the insight into my journey back into the fray. COY Creator #creatoreconomy #creator #compoundstartup #softwareiseatingtheworld

Jab, Cross, Monetize ?? The creator economy isn’t just about online content—it’s about real-world experiences too. Events like Creator Clash show how creators can bring their communities together in ways that go beyond the algorithm. More of this needs to happen. Creators should have more opportunities to connect, collaborate, and build something bigger than just content on a screen. #COY #CreatorEconomy

Software founders are a little insane… TLDR -- Learn more about what got me off the investor bench and back in the startup founder game. Mobile messaging --> creator monetization! Friends and investors have been asking what made me jump back onto the operating side with COY every time I catch up or pitch. So, I figured I’d just put it out there to give me one less question to tackle. As many know I started a mobile messaging technology company in 2005 called Waterfall. We helped brands build their mobile subscriber CRM to complement/augment their digital strategies and engage subscribers at scale in a personalized way. Yes, mobile was once a separate and new channel to engage believe it or not and there was also no iPhone then. The mobile ecosystem was extremely fragmented and no brands had mobile budgets or staff allocated. But, we knew that email was being absorbed into marketing departments as they had all picked their email SaaS solution provider. There wasn’t a doubt in our minds that the same would happen with mobile. In hindsight, we were five years early, but our vision was spot on still to this day. We ended up selling to a public company in 2016 and I thought I would just be an investor for the rest of my career. Started my family office, TMW Capital, where i split time between real estate and early stage tech investing. I got married, got a dog, bought a house….life was good. Then, the pandemic hit! Once the new normal settled in and life opened back up, I just couldn’t get motivated to keep doing the same thing day in and out. The market for how a business engaged its customers had changed so drastically. Even the fundamental concept of what was and wasn’t a business was new as the creator economy basically born during the pandemic spawned millions of new businesses. Gone were the days when kids wanted to be pilots, firefighters, policemen, lawyers or doctors….they just wanted to be the next Mr.Beast! This next generation of creators (…and AI) were beginning to engage in such new and exciting ways. Ecosystems were being invented and re-invented in record time. I just felt the itch and urge to get back in to the fight as there is little that can compare to the rush you feel as a software founder when you knock down a wall that everyone tells you CAN'T be knocked down. We, software founders, are a little screwed up in the head as you need to be in order to run the gauntlet (especially again) required for getting a company off the ground. But, I felt my calling again when I saw creators struggling with many of the same challenges we solved for brands in the mobile channel. [TO BE CONTINUED SOON…as I am writing in between the 1000 things I need to do while still in founder mode.]

2025 is going to be a game-changing year for the creator economy. A little backstory on why I’m so passionate about the creator economy: I’ve been obsessed with this space for as long as I can remember. I still remember asking for my first camera for Christmas, eager to create YouTube videos. That passion led me to study film and television, eventually working on some incredible projects. But even while working in traditional media, I knew the real future was digital. It wasn’t just about storytelling—it was about being part of the shift happening in the creator economy. Then I got an email from Thomas Drew about COY Creator, and everything clicked. Long before the TikTok ban controversy, I saw a growing problem. Creators were building audiences on platforms that could shut them down overnight. Strikes, throttling, and shadowbanning were real risks that left creators with little control. That’s exactly why COY exists. The creator economy is at a turning point, and 2025 will be the year we send shockwaves through the industry. #CreatorEconomy #COY #CreatorsFirst

?? We're excited to welcome King Bach to COY! ?? From dominating Vine as the most iconic creator on the platform to building a massive following across social media, King Bach has always been a pioneer in connecting with audiences. Now, he’s taking things even further with COY. With COY, creators like King Bach can manage their content, engage directly with fans, and grow their businesses, all while staying in full control of their brand and data. Welcome to the team, King Bach. We can’t wait to see what’s next! #CreatorEconomy #CreatorsFirst #COY

Want to break free from the algorithm hamster wheel? Check out this article with COY's Head of Creator Success, Jacob Shwirtz, on building sustainable creator businesses that go beyond platform dependencies. #Creatoreconomy #COY

TikTok’s future in the U.S. hangs in the balance as a Supreme Court decision sets the stage for a potential ban this Sunday. National security, free speech, and millions of creators’ livelihoods are on the line. What’s next for the app that changed the digital landscape? #TikTokBan #CreatorEconomy #COY

Even Politicians Fear the Comments Section ?? With the “divest-or-ban” law set to take effect on January 19, creators and users are speaking out about the rushed legislation. Even some lawmakers who supported the bill are feeling the heat, proposing delays as public opinion shifts. This moment serves as a reminder of how critical it is for creators to diversify and safeguard their livelihoods. The dependency on any single platform comes with risks that are hard to ignore. It’s a pivotal time for the creator economy, one that raises questions about the balance between regulation, innovation, and independence. #CreatorEconomy #TikTokBan #COY