The creator economy is evolving fast, and ad revenue alone isn’t cutting it anymore.YouTubers are launching product lines, acquiring startups, and building actual business empires. In fact, MrBeast’s companybought fintech startup Step, and his chocolate business is out-earning his media arm. This isn’t just one creator’s strategy. For many, it’s the new playbook.
On this episode of TechCrunch’sEquitypodcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Rebecca Bellan unpack how creators are diversifying beyond ads, what happens when influence becomes infrastructure, and whether this model can scale beyond the top 1%.
- How Date Drop raised “a few million” on the idea that one curated match per week can fix college dating burnout
- Ex-Tesla VP Drew Baglino’s $140 million raise for solid-state transformers powering AI data centers
- The handshake that didn’t happen: Sam Altman and Dario Amodei’s awkward moment at India’s AI summit
- India’s $200 billion AI infrastructure push and why its first AI IPO flopped
- ByteDance’s Seadance 2.0 and whether AI video tools democratize creativity or just create an endless flood of slop
Source: Techcrunch
