Creators Are The New Founders and CEOs—It’s Time To Treat Them Like It.

Welcome to Creator Now & Next, where every week we talk about trends and news within the creator economy. In today’s edition, I talk with Megan Lightcap , Partner at Slow Ventures , about the firm’s recent eight-figure investment to help creators grow their own businesses and what this means for the future of brand partnerships.

For more insights like these as well as exclusive interviews with top creators and brands, check out the Creator Now & Next podcast available on all major streaming platforms.

This year, the creator economy officially entered its scale-up era. In February, Slow Ventures , an early stage VC firm that’s been making seed-stage investments in creators for the past three years, announced a first-of-its-kind $60 million Creator Fund designed to help creators expand their content into fully-formed businesses. 

And just last month, Slow led an eight-figure round for Steven.com, the media and ventures platform from Diary of a CEO host Steven Bartlett . Barlett’s goal—to create “the Disney of the creator economy”—reflects a growing ambition among creators to own their own businesses and ecosystems. And Slow’s backing shows they see real potential there too.

To understand how Slow is thinking about the opportunity, I spoke with Megan Lightcap , who leads the firm’s creator investments. Lightcap describes the shift as a natural evolution of what creators have always done best: “Growing a community and establishing yourself as a real voice of authority is inherently an entrepreneurial endeavor.” 

“The creators we are most excited to back think of themselves as founders as much as they do creators,” she continued. “They’re first-rate community builders who deeply understand why their audience attaches to them and their content, and they have unique insights about where the business opportunities lie within their niche.”

These qualities, Lightcap explained, allow creators to invert the traditional startup model to drive impact: "They grow community first, then layer on products and services that uniquely serve their audience. And ultimately, they are doing so with lower cost of acquisition, audience informed roadmaps, and higher customer lifetime value.”

💡 Why does this matter?

These moves mark a major evolution in the creator economy. What started as an industry built on short-term brand deals is maturing into one where institutional investors see creators as durable, scalable businesses. 

This shows confidence that creators can build companies that live outside of social platforms and outlast trend cycles. The opportunity now is beyond buying influence. For investors and brands alike, it’s about cultivating long-term equity alongside the people shaping culture in real time. 

💬 The Takeaway

As investment capital flows in, the most forward-thinking brands will find ways to collaborate with creators not just as spokespeople, but as trusted thought-partners.

Creators today are entrepreneurs in every sense. They’re building products, teams, and communities from the ground up. Brands that move past short-term campaigns and start forming real partnerships will see the biggest returns. Lightcap underscored this point: “Give creators complete freedom to tell stories about your product or service. You’re partnering with them for a reason—and if you get the fit right, that creative freedom will make the partnership ten times more effective.”

🎧 Further Listening

In the latest episode of the Creator Now & Next Podcast, Pearpop ’s Senior Client Services and Social Media Manager Taylor Lovelace and I sat down with two of the internet’s funniest storytellers, Becca Bastos and Tucker Reynolds, the chaotic minds behind the hit podcast “The Content Factory”. It’s a fun, thoughtful look at how to turn everyday moments into viral content and the value of reliability in making campaigns catch audiences’ attention. 

In the Numbers

• Grand View Research’s Creator Economy Market report shows that the global creator economy is valued at $205 billion (2024) and is projected to soar to $1.3 trillion by 2033, growing 23% annually.

Stories Worth Watching

• YouTube megastar Mr. Beast made headlines by announcing plans to open his own theme park, “Beast Land,” in Saudi Arabia, with rides and games inspired by his viral stunts. The move expands his multimillion-dollar empire beyond screens, showing once again how creators are transforming digital influence into real-world brand power. (People, 11.10.25)
• Digiday reports that the NFL is stepping further into creator territory. After hiring four creators to host alternative YouTube streams for this season’s opening game, the league is planning to expand the experiment—a clear sign of the growing influence that creators hold in traditional media. (Digiday, 11.5.25)