--- title: Financial Tools to Power the Creator Economy description: Financial Tools to Power the Creator Economy --- # [Financial Tools to Power the Creator Economy](https://www.nlopchantamang.com/trends/signals/signal/financial-tools-to-power-the-creator-economy) Written by [Amy McMillen](https://www.nlopchantamang.com/trends/signals/author/amym) | Mar 30, 2021 3:15:41 AM ***Source: ***[***Harris Poll Survey***](https://www.businessinsider.com/american-kids-youtube-star-astronauts-survey-2019-7)****** **The Signal:** Forget outer space, kids want to be stars -- [30%](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/02/forget-law-school-these-kids-want-to-be-a-youtube-star.html) of kids want to be YouTubers when they grow up, almost 3x more than astronauts. Earning income as content creators is now a reality for [50m+](https://signalfire.com/blog/creator-economy/) people, nearly [3x](https://www.recreatecoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/ReCreate-2017-New-Creative-Economy-Study.pdf) more than in 2017.  Creators were previously treated as individual entities monetizing from one platform (e.g., YouTubers, Instagrammers, TikTokers). Now, many of those individual creators have grown into full-fledged businesses, productizing and diversifying in numerous ways.  These are known as [multi-SKU creators](https://hunterwalk.com/2020/12/01/why-a-paid-newsletter-wont-be-enough-money-for-most-writers-and-thats-fine-the-multi-sku-creator/). Entire ecosystems are emerging to support multi-SKU-creator businesses. In this Signal, we’ll look at the often-ignored back office of financial services for creators.  Source: [Sacra](https://sacra.com/research/beacons-ai-storefront-multi-sku-creator-v2/), emphasis on Back Office by us **The Opportunity: **BitClout, Clubhouse, and NFTs may be getting all the headlines, but as we reported in August 2020, [fintech enablers](https://trends.co/signal/how-to-capitalize-on-the-billion-dollar-open-banking-industry/) are the next unicorns, with the industry expected to grow from ~$7.3B in 2018 to ~$43B by 2026. When it comes to financial services for creators, opportunities include: **Accounting and Taxes: **Full-time creators combine the individual nature of freelancers and the complexity of small businesses, establishing a need for a TurboTax or QuickBooks for creators.  Such tools could model bookkeeping software for startups. For example, [Pilot](https://pilot.com/) caters to startups by offering services midsize companies often lack, like on-demand CFO services or help with claiming R&D tax credits. Source: Pilot’s website Specific creator-centric features could incorporate the following: - Collating tax policies across platforms (e.g., [YouTube’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeKEtf8A3FU) updates in reporting -- check out [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwBmHRCln5s) on tax tips for YouTubers with 25k+ views). - Help with determining what counts as income sources, including product gifting, affiliate links, and more.  - Guidelines on what business expenses count as tax write-offs, including technology, trademark and copyright fees, and marketing costs. **Income Share Agreements (ISAs): **Two of the biggest roadblocks for creators are funding and education.  Enter Income Share Agreements, which offer funding for education that students pay back after they get a job. A [Lambda](https://lambdaschool.com/) for creators has enormous revenue potential -- there are [almost 2x](https://www.statista.com/statistics/627312/worldwide-developer-population/) as many creators as software developers worldwide, and YouTube alone has paid out [$30B+](https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/26/22249329/youtube-susan-wojcicki-letter-creators-monetization-transparency-policy-covid-misinformation) to creators over the last three years. One existing ISA model is [Podfund](https://podfund.com/), which grants podcasters between $25k and $150k along with mentorship, community, and technology for growth. Creators retain 100% of ownership while sharing anywhere from [7-15%](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wwop02ovIBYhCtPlpNA5pvwXohlpttXt1UouToRCdKM/edit) of income for 3-5 years. Similar models could be applied across creator mediums, focusing on growth and scalability. **Revenue Sharing: **The rise of creative collaborations (e.g., the [Every](https://every.to/) bundle or [The Audio Collective](https://audiocollective.co/) for Clubhouse) brings with it a whole host of financial questions around splitting earnings and/or ownership.  One startup solving for this is [Stir](https://usestir.com/), which is valued at [$100m](https://www.theinformation.com/articles/andreessen-horowitz-wins-deal-for-creator-economy-startup-stir-at-100-million-valuation) and about to raise a Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz.  Stir combines financial and audience data across platforms and collaborators, and easily splits revenue between YouTube, Shopify, Newsletters, Podcasts, and Twitch.  Source: Stir's website There’s still room to apply Stir’s revenue-sharing model to other creator platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and blogs.  Stir helps with revenue sharing but doesn’t address company equity, meaning there’s also an opportunity for a creator-first version of [Carta](https://carta.com/).  Carta makes it easy for companies, investors, and workers to manage startup equity agreements. They've achieved [$150m](https://www.theinformation.com/articles/revenue-climbs-at-carta-a-vc-favorite-now-valued-at-6-9-billion-after-private-stock-sales?shared=59fe0ad4f5ea75df) ARR and are valued at ~7B. 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