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#350 - Inside Night Ventures: The Fund Behind Internet’s Top 1% Creators (Mr Beast, Kai Cenat, Hasan Piker)
DTC POD
#350 - Inside Night Ventures: The Fund Behind Internet’s Top 1% Creators (Mr Beast, Kai Cenat, Hasan Piker)
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Speaker
Blaine Bolus
BM
Speaker
Ben Matthews
00:00 Investments often returned to Facebook and Google. 04:22 Fund helps startups leverage influencers for growth.
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“We'Re super excited to announce the launch of our slack community for D2C pod. This is a space exclusively for D2C founders and operators to connect, share ideas, ask questions and support each other. You'll be able to engage with the best minds and operators and consumer and currently we're on a wait list and it will open up the community Once we reach 150 members." "Increasing Business Momentum with HubSpot: Keeping up your momentum this year starts with the right selling tools and if you're looking to increase revenue, grow faster, build more pipeline and close more deals, check out the all new sales hub from HubSpot. You'll be able to manage your whole sales process plus my favorite part, the reporting. It's super intuitive, powerful and customizable.”
“They've partnered with some of the biggest creators in the world and launched some businesses you guys may be familiar with Mr. Beast Burger and Feastable as well as they are now incubating other sort of businesses. So they really touch everything from commerce to consumer to SaaS and even things in AI.”
“And I worked at Bessemer doing a lot of different types of investing, early stage software, early stage consumer, for many years and really noticed that a lot of the power of our dollar when we were investing capital was going right back to Facebook and Google. Like 50 cents of every dollar was just evaporating.”
“A lot of the power of our dollar when we were investing capital was going right back to Facebook and Google. Like 50 cents of every dollar was just evaporating. So I watched the tax accumulate over year over year and just marketing and customer acquisition getting so incredibly hard for these brands, particularly direct to consumer brands. The ones that were having the most success, the portfolio founders that seemed to be thriving were really finding hacks on acquisition. And primarily they were finding it through content.”
“The portfolio founders that seemed to be thriving were really finding hacks on acquisition. And primarily they were finding it through content. They were either generating their own content, they were kind of like founder led CEO, content led CEOs or they just, they really understood how to navigate this new emerging world of influencer creator.”
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We'Re super excited to announce the launch of our slack community for D2C pod. This is a space exclusively for D2C founders and operators to connect, share ideas, ask questions and support each other. You'll be able to engage with the best minds and operators and consumer and currently we're on a wait list and it will open up the community Once we reach 150 members. So apply using the link in the description and we hope to see you on Slack. So before we kick off today's recording, I've got one more for you. Keeping up your momentum this year starts with the right selling tools and if you're looking to increase revenue, grow faster, build more pipeline and close more deals, check out the all new sales hub from HubSpot. You'll be able to manage your whole sales process plus my favorite part, the reporting. It's super intuitive, powerful and customizable.
Plus the whole thing is powered by AI so your teams can spend less time on tedious time consuming stuff and more time on developing relationships. Also, no one likes a clunky platform that takes months to onboard onto, but getting set up on Sales Hub is really quick and easy.
It's free to get started, the pricing.
Will scale with your business and with more than 1300 integrations and add ons, you can tune it to your exact needs. Visit HubSpot.com sales to start selling with Sales Hub.
What is going on DTC Pod Today we are joined by Ben Matthews who is a general partner at Knight Ventures. This conversation is going to be really interesting because Knight is one of the VC funds that's kind of at the intersection of everything consumer, creator and culture. They've partnered with some of the biggest creators in the world and launched some businesses you guys may be familiar with Mr. Beast Burger and Feastable as well as they are now incubating other sort of businesses. So they really touch everything from commerce to consumer to SaaS and even things in AI. And now they're even incubating businesses. So Ben, we're going to have a lot to talk about. Why don't we start a little bit about with your background, tell us about yourself and tell us about how you got involved with Knight Ventures and what Knight Ventures is all about.
Yeah, first off, huge fan of the Pod, longtime listener, first time caller, so excited to be here and really excited to jump on today and talk to you about a lot of the brands that we built, a lot of the brands that we've invested in. Just kind of what we're seeing happening in the Market, there's a lot of interesting stuff going on. So my background, I came at this from venture capital. So I was a vc. I worked at a. Well first, a long time ago I was a product manager at Google. Outside of that though, I kind of fell backwards into, into vc. I got a job at a phenomenal fund which is called Bessemer.
And I worked at Bessemer doing a lot of different types of investing, early stage software, early stage consumer, for many years and really noticed that a lot of the power of our dollar when we were investing capital was going right back to Facebook and Google. Like 50 cents of every dollar was just evaporating. And I was watching this, this kind of tier of money as it came from like rlp us to founders, founders sending it back to those platforms. So I watched the tax accumulate over year over year and just marketing and customer acquisition getting so incredibly hard for these brands, particularly direct to consumer brands. And notice that the ones that were having the most success, the portfolio founders that I worked with that seemed to be thriving were really finding hacks on acquisition. And primarily they were finding it through content. And they were either generating their own content, they were kind of like founder led CEO, content led CEOs or they just, they really understood how to navigate this new emerging world of influencer creator. I call it content.
You think about it, any, any content that's created as a, as a vehicle for US customer acquisition. So I noticed this trend and kind of dove deeper into it and realized that, you know, a lot of the world was moving towards, towards a world where if you didn't really understand how to make content, if you didn't understand how to use it, really, you weren't going to be in a position to win as a consumer brand. So I left, started a fund with these two guys who really were at the forefront of talent. They started a business called Knight and Knight Media is a talent management company. Today reps like 250 of the most popular people on the Internet. And these people are anyone like a, like a Mr. Beast. We rep a guy named Kai Sonat.
So huge lifestyle creators, YouTubers, Twitch streamers, IG, TikTok, any platform. We have massive, you know, podcasts, hosts that we rep. And these people have tremendous amounts of influence. And what we did as a fund is we started working with our founders. Instead of helping them with the normal things that a venture fund helps with, we did some of that, but also more importantly, we help them figure out how to acquire customers and how to kind of peruse through the forest of influencer and get what you need out of it. So we've been doing that for about three years now as an early stage fund. We invest across a whole bunch of different categories. But most interestingly, I think we, we started about halfway through the life cycle of the fund, realizing that we actually had a lot of the, the leverage as a fund, and we started incubating companies.
And what we noticed is, you know, we could, we could get a brand into the eyeballs of, you know, hundreds of millions of people with some of the people that we had represented as a management company. So we built, we built 14 companies in the last three years as incubations. We've worked with people like Mr. Beast, we've worked with, built a menopause company with Halle Berry. We've done, you know, CPG businesses, we've done marketplaces, we did a legal tech, AI SaaS business. We've tried all different types of things with this strategy and have all the scars to show it. Have a lot of lessons around building brands with talent. All the kind of the pain, the glory, the joy, the struggle, and really just watch the future consumer brands unfold before us, both as a fund and as an incubator.
So it's been a really fun ride. And yeah, I'm stoked to be here today to talk about it.
Awesome. And I'm super excited to talk about building brands with talent, what that looks like and picking, digging into some of those lessons. But maybe we start with some of the businesses that I'm sure, you know, our listeners and everyone is super familiar with. Maybe, like, why don't we start with Mr. Beast Brands, right? Like Beast Burger and Feastables. Right in the CPG space. I think everyone knows what Feastables is. The, you know, chocolate bar that's kind of taken over everything from D2C to retail, as well as the Beast Burger, which I believe that came before Feastables.
Right.
And that was.
Yeah, yeah. And Beast Burger was a complete accident. So Beast Burger was almost as. It was like a stunt. It was a, it was a video that Mr. Beast was going to do or that he did. And what happened was there was such a demand for it. I think the team at night woke up the next morning and kind of said, I think there's actually a business here.
We should, we should look into doing this. So that is a business that was really a ghost kitchen. A ghost kitchen direct to consumer business, where we were utilizing all the kitchen space that was empty and unused during the pandemic for all these small Businesses and putting together a really good menu for people around Mr. Beast brand and Mr. Beast's name. And again, that thing jumped from being a stunt to a nine figure business extremely quickly and, you know, never intended it to be a business in the first place. So I think we learned a lot about, you know, the way to set up a business. How to do things right, how to do things wrong.
And pretty quickly after that we, I think we realized with, with Jimmy, with Mr. Beast, we had somebody who was, you know, possibly becoming the most popular person on the Internet, you know, sight unseen, period. End stop. Like, there's no debate about it. And when we saw that, you know, he had always talked to us about wanting to start a snacking business, it was a huge partigan, you know, something that was authentic to him. You know, he had grown up with a gastrointestinal disorder. You know, snacking was really important to him, but healthy snacking was even more important to him. So he wanted to build a business in the snacking space.
We actually initially looked at doing jerky. We looked at doing a bunch of different things. You know, I have old mockups of, of all sorts of funny, different packaging for all different types of food products that we considered. But ultimately, just given his audience giving him like, what we all got really excited about was confection. It was chocolate. It was building a business around a category that we felt like had a tremendous amount of opportunity to be innovated on and whether we just really weren't seeing anything that was fun, frankly, you know, like chocolate candy is meant to be a really fun category. And we felt like everything around that category was fairly serious and stale and stiff and that he could bring something really phenomenal to it. And I'd say the last thing is, you know, much like any beast oriented idea, the seed of it really came from a video, it came from a stunt.
And that stunt was the idea that, you know, we could give away a chocolate factory, that he could kind of be the modern day Willy Wonka. And that is exactly where we went with the brand. So we launched the business. We launched the business in, I think the business was launched in, want to say 21. And we started with Direct to Consumer. Had a massive, you know, massive, massive sellout with, with Direct to Consumer starting a Shopify page and pretty quickly realized, like we were going to need to build a retail business here to build something big enough to meet the demand of his audience. And then launched with Walmart across all doors pretty shortly thereafter. And honestly, the truly the Beast was at Least unleashed.
After that, like, we. The business scaled extremely quickly. We were, you know, we had a team at night who was. Who had gone from effectively, you know, working on a lot of different company ideas. It took up all of our time. We were hiring tons of people quarter after quarter and really kind of building the railroad tracks as the train went down it. So that, that was an incredible experience. And I think even today, you look at the business, it's changed so much.
We've changed the product, we changed the brand. You know, there's a lot of different things we can get into, but I think the most important thing to know with any one of these. These talent brands is like, I truly believe that, you know, there's probably only 20 people on Earth that are big enough to build their own brand as a singular human being, where you're not doing collaborations, where you're really just kind of putting your head down and saying, this is my brand. Go out and buy it. Looking into a camera and asking for it. And, and Beast is one of those people. And, and it's just been incredible to watch that translate. And, and every retailer we work with, every online channel we work with, I think is continually blown away people.
Most people we talk to our 40s and their 50s, they have no idea what this person is. And then they see the people flush flooding to the stores. I think they're. They're pretty overwhelmed most times. And that's exactly what we want to do with, with our customers.
Well, and that's something that I'd love to kind of pick apart. So you just said there's probably like 20 people on Earth who can just like, spin up a brand and like, do whatever they want and be like, hey, go buy my stuff, and they'll go do it. What do you. What about for everyone else? Right, Because I think the idea of companies launch with creators and partnership, I think a lot of people have, you know, seen what you've seen in terms of getting distributions. Difficult. Here's a way to do it. Let's partner with a creator. But, you know, it's not all.
It's not all roses. And it's not easy partnering with a creator necessarily, because you might, you know, give a big portion of your company to the creator you're partner with. Maybe they drive a little bit of an initial interest. But like you're saying, if they're not One of those 20 people who can, like, you know, they themselves stand as a business, what does that look like for you guys? How do you think about it? You know, how. What. What things have you seen in the creator space where creators are partnering with brands to, like, launch and, you know, what works and what doesn't work in that.
In that case, yeah, it's a great. It's a great topic and honestly, something I spend a ton of time thinking about. I mean, like, 99.5% of talent companies will fail. We have a tracker internally where we're keeping track of every. Every one of these brands that's launching. And there's a lot of really interesting stuff out there. But the challenge is it's just, as you know, it's exceptionally hard to build a successful consumer brand. Most good consumer brands that we interact with, whether it's online or on a retail shelf, have been around for over 10 years.
You know, it's been slow growth, it's been a grind. It's been growth through debt and giving up equity here and there and barely surviving sleepless nights. It's really hard, you know, in. In kind of a want it now culture that we have right right now, these days in 2024, to build these brands that just pop up overnight. And, you know, what we see, aside from like, in my opinion, a mountain of ideas that are not going to work. Ultimately, what we see is, you know, we see brands that, again, either do one of two things extremely well. I think the first thing is they. They partner with one of these colossal giants, right? You have to have somebody who not only is a huge audience, right, you don't need to have an audience as big as Kim Kardashian, you don't need to have an audience as big as Mr.
Beast, but what you really need to do is you need to find somebody who has a real authentic message that connects with the product and more importantly, has experience looking into the camera and asking their audience to do something. You know, asking their audience to pull out their credit card and buy something or take some action. A lot of times we work with huge talent internally, and you'd be shocked. They get 20 million subscribers on YouTube and they can't sell more than $6,000 worth of sweatshirts. And that's just because it's not the type of content that they make. It's not the expectation that their audience has from them. So I think, like, the brilliance of like a Kardashian, for example, is that she is been spending her entire career as an influencer asking people to take actions. And, and all those are commercial actions.
So as a result, when you build a business like skims, I think it was a beautiful execution. Not only in the actual product, but really picking somebody who had an authentic story around Shapewear and who had an audience that was used to taking that call to action. And that was a huge challenge, even with Feastables in the beginning. Right. Feastables doesn't have an audience that's used to doing things, you know, that Jimmy asked them to do during his videos. But, you know, that took training, that took certain types of, certain types of content, certain types of advertising, you know, changing the call to action and changing the way that we did promotion, ultimately getting a customer a point where they just, they just thought about Feastables and Mr. Beast as one entity and, you know, he was, he was speaking about it enough that that really kind of broke through the chasm of, of where you need to get to, to really have an impact on having someone's change in their buying behavior.
Yeah, I think that's such an important point about like the, not just the reach of the creator, but the relationship between the creator and their audience. Right. I mean, I was actually just chatting with a friend who like, I guess launched a, a dog supplement brand with like, a massive, like, dog creator. But like, again, it was like he was like, you know, we're not doing as well as I thought we were doing because, like, people are coming to this page to consume content, like fun friendly content about dogs. They're not like, they don't know who's behind the account. They don't know, like, what this supplement's about. It wasn't like there was a trust there to buy. So, like, sure, they're doing some volume, but it's not like blowing it out of the park.
From a partnership perspective, the next thing I'd like to, you know, follow up on is, you know, once you've nailed the kind of alignment in terms of the creator, the authenticity and being able to like, speak to the audience and, you know, get an action out of it. What else do you need to look for in a creator to ensure that, you know, the business is going to be sustainable? Because once you tie a creator too far to the brand, if something happens to the creator, if they lose interest in the business, like, how do you think about that in terms of the long term?
Yeah, so. So, you know, the whole thing is like three things, right? It's like, right talent, pick the right talent, pick the right business and then write execution and we could talk to each one of those. We're talking about talent right now. So in talent, you know, first of all, we do a huge deep dive to Understand someone's audience, who they actually are. Like the data that most social, social media platforms give you about who a person's audience is is completely broke. It, it oftentimes doesn't match up and align with the actual audience that person is, is pitching to or, or creating content for. So we do a lot of research, surveys, trying to understand who actually is in the audience, how is that, how is that audience engaging with the content and that the actual creator, do they have a lot of reps selling things Like Merch is an incredible proxy to understand whether or not people will pick up their credit card and pay. So you get to see really by somebody's portfolio of work and their content whether or not they, you know, will they shill? I think is the most important question we ask.
Will this person stare into a camera and ask somebody to do something? You look at somebody like Logan Paul, you can say what you want about him. The guy gets up and he shills products. It's incredible. Same thing to Dwayne the Rock Johnson. He'll go on the Today show and I'll have a glass of tequila, of taramana tequila. He has no problem doing that. And he recognizes that that's directly tied to the conversion of the product. I mean Dwayne's incredible.
He just, he just did a $40 million year with a shampoo brand. He doesn't have a piece of hair on his head. It's just because he's incredible. He's incredible at just promoting again and again and understands that really when it comes to earned media, it's reach times frequency. So you have to hit that frequency. You know, a lot of these people have the reach. They just don't want to talk about it enough because they're either shy, they care too much what their audience thinks, they don't think it's cool. You really just need somebody who's shameless.
So. So we always talk about the shameless shill as an important part of talent. And then I think the other thing is, you know, probably second most important question, but it could be the first, first most important question is like will they give a fuck about this after one year? Because what I see with most of these businesses is somebody's excited about it at a point in their career. Maybe they're in between albums, maybe they're in between movies. It's a lull. They've always wanted to start X type of brand and they treat it as like a three month project. They do some promotion about it and then they start a new album. Or the NBA season starts and they kind of move on with their career.
So a lot of the, a lot of times the question that we ask ourselves when we're picking talent is what priority does this take in this person's life? Not just this year, but next year, in the next five years. And I think it's really hard to start a business like this with an NBA player who has a $60 million contract with the warriors on the other end of all the other things that he's doing versus the thing that I love about digital talent is for a lot of them, this is it. This is the thing that's going to make them a legacy generational wealth player. And it makes it so much more important that priority really matters. So that's a huge piece of the puzzle when we're thinking about town.
Well, and I think another big thing about the difference between a digital creator and like an NBA player is like, it's also like what you were saying about, you know, the NBA player might be making $50 million a year, right? So like when it comes to building a business, like, yeah, it's obviously cool to like build a business, but like for a lot of these digital creators, they are directly monetizing their brands through the businesses that they're launching through the ventures, so finding like true long term alignment. And that's why it's like, it's like kind of the same thing if you're looking to start a business right? Like you, sometimes you don't want to just start a business with someone out of convenience because it's like, oh, I want to work on this right now and this person wants to work on it right now. It's like you want to think about like, what are the values behind your partners that you're working with and how are you going to establish longer term alignment?
100%. 100%.
The, the next question that I wanted to talk about as it pertains to some of the talent stuff is how do you, how do you identify the products that you want to work on? You said once you figure out the talent, that's important, but also it's super important to figure out the business that you're building and the products that you're doing. So how do you figure that stuff out?
It's a great question and I think that it's tough. It's like, you know, I, I see certain products getting launched with, with huge talent who I think live on that list of 20 people in the digital space. But they pick something that is terrible. It's just a terrible business. It's really hard to execute. Maybe it's cold chain. It's just, it's really challenging from a unit economics part point of view. And I'm always cringing because I'm just like, God, they got bad advice somewhere along the line.
So, you know, the picking the right business is no different from what I've been doing in, in venture capital for 15 years, which is really understanding, you know, where is there an opportunity to build a business that can be $100 million annual revenue business with great unit economic margins. Right. So something that is probably not too heavy to ship. I think liquid is extremely difficult. The cold chain working with storage and cold storage and grocery store people don't recognize that there's just not a lot of frozen section in a grocery store to go around. And then just understanding supply chain kind of where opportunities for innovation is. I think you could have a talent slapped on a brand. We call it a logo slap.
You could do a logo slap, but at the end of the day, if the product is not better, cheaper, more convenient, you know, kind of falling in the category of what makes a good consumer product, then you're free, screwed. So you've got to also pick something where there's an area for opportunity in an area for, for innovation in a category. And we really treat it like making any type of venture investment that we do. We spend a lot of time talking to buyers in the space, buyers from Walmart, Target and Grocery and C store, talking to other venture funds, talking to other founders, understanding where there's opportunity in the market to build something really compelling. And you know, sometimes we start these businesses because we work with a talent and that talent really has an idea. They want to build a business in X space and we, we generate ideas from there. But a lot of times where we come at this is we really want to start a business in the nicotine space or we really want to start a business in, you know, the noodle space or, you know, whatever it may be. And we'll go out and we'll try to find like who do we think the five most interesting talent in that space is who, who really kind of hit all the qualifications that you and I just talked about.
So sometimes it's talent out, sometimes it's, it's, it's business model first. But really it's any type of business you think about in the same way that you think about it as a venture capitalist.
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Totally. And then the last question was, I know we touched on like management and execution of these brands. So like how do you, like when you guys are incubating or you're working with talent, like what does the structure sort of look like? How do you set these things up to make sure that you guys are incentivized, the talents incentivize and that you're able to like bring on the right management? Like what does a typical thing look like? And then how do you find that, you know, team to actually run the, run the operations in the business?
It's a great question. First of all, incubation I think is like, it's like, it's an art. It's like really difficult to string these things together. A lot of people ask us like, what does a typical deal look like? And the reality is like every deal is a snowflake. Every deal has its own different and idiosyncrasy synchronicity is like it all, it all has interesting shape and form to it. But most of the time what we're doing is obviously we have a capsible. Creating talent wants to have some ownership, the incubation fund is going to have ownership, the investors will have ownership. But the most important part, aside from getting those things right, is that you have phenomenal operators.
And I think that the opportunity that we've seen with early stage CPG and early stage consumer is that right now if you're a fuck, if you're a phenomenal five star founder and you go out and you're trying to raise for an early stage, pre revenue, pre seed CPG business, you know, unless you're the Rxbar guys I know you had on recently, like it's, it's extremely difficult, extremely challenging to raise capital for that. And as a result, you know, when you have a venture studio like Knight who can immediately day one give you an unfair competitive advantage, a really well diligence business idea, and then also capital, it does attract star players. And that's really what it comes down to is we want to find people who have just an absolute dog in them and who were otherwise going to be starting a business by themselves. And really you take them through a four to six month process of inception where you start talking about the idea, you start talking about the talent, everybody starts meeting each other and then over the course of meeting that person and working with that person, they flip. They ultimately end up knowing way more about the space than you do. They're spending way more time thinking about it than, than you. You are. They can't stop thinking about it, they can't stop texting you about it, they can't stop calling you about it.
They're obsessed with it. And when you find somebody who is phenomenal operator and they've been incepted, that's when you leap at the opportunity to work with them and start building a team around them. So that's, that's how we've done it in the past. And you know, we've gotten extremely lucky. We found phenomenal operators to run our businesses. And I think a lot of is because you got to find the right, the right form of packaging. We talk about our business. You know, when we, when we meet as a talent management company and we talk to people in the entertainment industry, they're like, what is this, what's this incubation stuff you guys do over here? What is that? And the way that we talk about it, which I think is not too dissimilar or not too off base, is we talk about it as packaging.
Back in more old Hollywood days, you would have, you know, these talent management firms, they would package movies, right? They'd have actors and writers and directors all on staff. They'd work with the studios and they package together these films. They'd say, let's put Leonard DiCaprio with Matt Damon and we're going to create the Departed. We're going to create whatever movie and we're not doing anything too dissimilar, right? We're, we're basically packaging based off of what we know is a need in the market with a talent that's authentic to that need and an incredible operator putting the right money behind it and pushing in the right direction and hoping that we can strike gold.
One other thing that I'm just curious about, I know your, your team, some of your teams in L. A, you're in Austin and one of the other guys that we recently had on the pod, Nicholas from Tina, they did a partnership where he, I think he was his business. He had been around for like five years in the Yerba mate. Space was doing really well. And then he got a cash infusion from Tiny and they brought on Huberman to like kind of partner together and blow that brand up. And since then it's been doing really well. It's taken off, you know, nationally. That's kind of how they like did their launch into the US and just in massive retail, etc.
So I'm curious, is that a model that you've seen that you guys are interested in or do you typically only incubate from scratch? Yeah. What are your thoughts on that sort of model of, you know, finding a talent, finding a brand that's like kind of got some of that supply chain chops and everything going and then, you know, marrying the two?
Yeah, we actually raised capital for effectively what you're talking about is a private equity firm to go after the strategy. And we've done a, we've done, we've done a lot of diligence on deals. We haven't found anything yet, but it's something we're extremely interested in. And I think that it's, it's extremely difficult to start something from scratch. But you have a lot of brands that exist today that have great products, incredible founders, and a lot of times all that needs to happen is that final piece of the puzzle in terms of packaging. An example I'll give that I think is kind of right in our wheelhouse that we saw straight from Knight's roster was Ryan Trahan. And I think what Ryan has done with Joyride has been a remarkable case study in that which is, you know, you take a product that was, it was doing well, it was a great quality product in terms of the candy space. And you brought in somebody who is a founder that had a real authentic love for it and was willing to put in the time to make it successful.
And Joyride is sold out in most places. It's sold now. It's trending to become one of the best selling candy brands in Target. And Ryan might be one of the most brilliant founder creator business operators that I've ever seen. He just understands the assignment, which is I need to do everything in my power, use my leverage to push a brand forward. So, you know, Ryan has done an extraordinary job with that and I think there's tons of opportunity in the market. Again, it's really challenging to find the right mix. I can't tell you how many emails we get from dying direct to consumer businesses or dying CPG companies that are looking for kind of that, that last gasp.
If only we had X talent Come in. It would make everything better. Those are not the right model. The right model is when you, you really find an authentic match and the connection works. And I'm going to see, we're going to see a lot more, we're going to see a lot more things like that in the future. I particularly think, like you mentioned the Matt opportunity. You know, I think wellness is, got an endless opportunity for that. I think the other thing that we're starting to see is they don't need to be Mr.
Beast level to make that type of private equity deal work. I think those deals work with smaller talents and work with talent that is more specialized to the audience of, of, of the actual product. So we're going to see a lot more of that in the future.
Super cool. And then one other thing that you had talked about, obviously if you're not incubating, you guys are investing in companies. So why don't you tell us about some of the companies that you've invested in, what's really interesting and then how does, you know, how does it work? Do you, are you able to kind of like bring in some talent where it makes sense or like what, what does it look like for you guys in terms of just investing traditionally in companies?
Yeah, I mean we, we've been running this venture fund now for about three years, made about 40 investments across all different types of categories. And we, like you said, we help our founders navigate the world of influencer. The irony is a lot of people come to us and they're like, oh, can you get Mr. Beast to promote X products? And I think the thing that's changed a lot even in this time that I've been doing this job about the creator economy is a lot of the value in promotion used to be at the top of the market. It used to be at the type of people that frankly Knight represents. But over time, I think all the value in the creator economy has moved to the middle. It's a messy middle. It's extremely difficult to navigate.
It's hard to get a hold of people. There's 25 different SaaS, companies that proclaim that they can organize the creator economy for you. But that's really where the value is. That's where the arbitrage is, where you're catching somebody that is frankly creating better content than they're currently getting paid for on a CPM basis. And that's really where we direct a lot of our portfolio companies to, whether it through agency partners or just our own understanding of who the best talent is. I Mean, the funny thing about the management company here at Knight is, you know, I come from the world of venture capital and a lot of times at VC funds you have these analyst teams and if you ask some a partner at a venture fund like, hey, what does an analyst team do? The reality is they just sit and they try to figure out what's going to be the next big company. And not too dissimilar from a venture fund in the management world. We have an entire coordinator team, like junior, junior manager team here at night who, when people ask me what that group of people does, I say they're basically trying to find the next viral moment on the Internet, the next viral sensation.
And they have a tremendous understanding of Internet culture and where things are trending, where things are moving. So a lot of the times we offer up that team to our portfolio companies to give them access to understand, okay, where is the value, where's the arbitrage opportunity? And somebody that I could work with that's not going to dry out my bank account because I'm an early stage startup, I don't have a lot of capital. But where's the, where is the arbitrage opportunity in that messy middle of the creator economy? And that's a huge value add because just understanding who, who to be working with is 90% of the battle. The execution on how to do it is certainly important, but a lot of it is around the who. So that's, that's a huge part of our value add and something we've been able to help out with.
And what do you think, like what are some of those big trends, you know, or creators up and coming creators or you know, more broadly like what are some of the trends you'd say you're really excited about as it pertains to like the creator commerce sort of landscape?
Yeah. So, you know, we spend a lot of our time in, in this world. We, you know, we spend time in content, we spend time in, we spend a ton of time in commerce as you mentioned, and other consumer categories. I mean, I think the first thing is you just seen an absolute, everybody has the same, same answer, but you know, 60% of the people that were lower level employees that are doing very low wrote manual work, I just don't believe they're going to be necessary as full time roles in the next couple years. Today I have a friend that runs a content agency that shared on LinkedIn, you know that they basically have replaced a media buyer wholeheartedly. They replaced a media buyer with an AI agent to manage $100 million account. So I just think you're going to see a lot of changes when it comes to, you know, the types of applications, the application layer software that's currently assisting with marketing or assisting with, assisting with media buying, assisting with, with your, your financial books, assisting with insurance. I think what you're going to start to see is people just whole, you know, in whole stretches replacing roles, whether that be a media buyer or a brand rec or talent coordinator.
So that's, that's a, that's an area that we're spending a lot of time on. We're frankly just thinking about all the different companies that we work with, all the different employees at those companies and asking ourselves, are these jobs going to be around in a couple of years and what are the second order derivatives of those changes? So that's been a huge space for us that we've been, we've been watching and yeah, just a remarkable change with some of the technology that's coming out.
Yeah, it's wild. Especially on the, you know, the operational side. I think that's what everyone's like looking at right now. It's like a, you know, there's, especially for you guys, you can look at it both ways. A what business should we be investing in? And to how can we like optimize all the operations of our own business and all the businesses that we own? And then on the content side of things, are there any trends that, in a content creator landscape that you're excited about? Like, I don't know, like live shopping or other platforms or social commerce or like what are some of the trends that you might be seeing in the creator landscape that have you guys excited?
Yeah, we spent a lot of time in live shopping, which I think live shopping is really interesting. I think the mo. One of the most interesting areas in kind of where content commerce are colliding. I just think that TikTok is building, with TikTok shops, they're building the first true connective layer between content and commerce. I think we've talked about it. It's been a huge buzzword for over a decade now, but there really just hasn't this single platform where you don't really even need to do anything as a brand, as a marketing manager for a brand where you can coordinate an entire campaign and create tremendous amount of conversion all within one platform with the right incentives aligned. And that is, you know, I've been keeping an eye out on a lot of the recent conversations around the TikTok ban because I think that TikTok is halfway through absolutely breaking the commerce model and doing something that, you know, Facebook kind of tried to do, didn't really succeed. IG shops didn't really get there with.
But you know, I spend probably 20 minutes every day opening up my dashboard and looking at which brands are trending on TikTok shops and the amount of people that are making money off of it, the amount of brands that are starting to engage with it. At first it was really kind of low level brands and things that were really cheap and knockoffs, but the amount of brands that are starting to engage with it. I really hope the platform stick or sticks around in whatever form it can because I do believe that's where commerce is headed. I don't see a world in which if you're running a brand, 50% of your marketing outlay isn't going to be through a channel where you're getting somebody to speak directly to an audience through their content. It just seems inevitable. Yeah.
And I think another big thing that like TikTok shop was able to do is, you know, like you were saying, align incentives. Like people are so tired of, like, everyone wants to work with creators. Sure, you've got ads that you can run and you can maybe whitelist them, but like, you know, the fact that they were able to like align incentives between that entire creator business sort of relationship has been really big. What do you, what do you think is going to happen? I know you said you've been keeping up with it. If you, if you had to guess today, what's your, what's your guess? Is Tick Tock getting banned or is it, is it going to be around for a while?
I, I watched the Trump, I watched the Trump speech the other day. I don't know, he could come out and say something completely different, but he was starting to back away from it, which makes me believe that they're, they're not going to do it, that that TikTok will end up being fine. I think he's much more pro business and, and I don't believe that it will be banned. If anything, it could be sold to an American entity just for, for, for safety reasons. But I, I truly believe nothing's going to happen to it. You know, people often ask me because I spent a lot of time in my career investing in social. They're like, when is the next TikTok going to come around? My hot take is that there's not just, there's just not going to be another social media platform. And I know that's crazy because there's always been another social media platform.
But when you consider what was required to get TikTok off the ground, the People's Republic of China, a communist nation having to invest tens of billions of dollars in customer acquisition is just not something that an Evan Spiegel in a dorm room at Stanford, even with the power of venture capital and all of that cash, can really accomplish anymore. So I think TikTok is here to stay. I think TikTok shops here to stay. And it's really going to be disruptive because as far as incentives align, and again, there may be a day in which they're opening and changing prices that they don't align as well. But if they align as well as they do right now, it's a great living for people who are looking to take advantage of their audience. And I think. I think that's where the market's headed.
Yeah, absolutely. And I think the other, you know, sort of interesting there, I feel like originally in Trump's first term, I think he was thinking about banning it, especially specifically because of the China thing. Then I think when he was, like, getting in the reelection process, I think TikTok was one of the platforms where they were actually allowing content to be, like, somewhat positive about him. So he's probably in this kind of catch 22, where I think then the current administration was the one that wanted to, like, resurface the TikTok ban. So it's been kind of all over the board. But I kind of tend to agree with what you're seeing. I think it'll be around in some sort of format. Whether there's a for sale or not, we'll see.
But I think the. The infrastructure should be here to say so, Ben, as we kind of wrap up here, this has been an awesome convo in terms of, you know, just kind of really breaking down the creator commerce landscape. What you guys are seeing working, what's. What's not working, you know, do you have any last thoughts here? Like, anything that you're. Anything else that you guys are really excited about this next year, Whether it's, you know, specific companies that you guys are looking to launch, different trends that you're looking to jump on, companies that you're incubating or companies investing? Anything else that we may have missed that, that you guys. That has you guys hyped up?
I think one of the companies that we incubated that I'm particularly excited about that I'll finish that. First thing I'll say is I think I have a lot of times People ask me, younger people ask me, like, what can I do? Like, how can I. How can I build a brand? Or how can I do anything in my career? And I just think having an audience is tremendous power. I think it's the ultimate equalizer. And I think that if you're a successful professional 10 years from now and you don't have a social following, you don't have a presence, I think it's going to be extremely hard for you to be relevant. So I always encourage everybody to, like, take advantage of content, take advantage of an audience. And it's, It's. It's like the lifeblood.
It gives you so much opportunity and access. Every single one of my friends that have gotten to hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter, you know, they just are such weapons. Anytime they need anything, if they need a filmographer, if they need somebody to do a quick design, you know, they just tweet it out and it's done within minutes. So I think it's the most incredible thing you could do. And it's one of the things that I always recommend to people. The company that I was going to mention really quickly, that is actually, you know, something that's growing really quickly in our portfolio and something that really surprised us because we weren't expecting it. It was a pivot, is a company that's called Trobio. And what Trobio does is really interesting.
What, what they realize is that, you know, they had access through what they were building before to a lot of data, a lot of video data, and we're selling it in a way that didn't end up working in the market. But what ended up happening is these huge LLM companies, whether it's OpenAI or Meta or, you know, Insert, any of the 500 companies that have built that are building foundational models today in video, they started contacting Trobio. They said, hey, we really need data. We're starving for data. And really the problem right now with the Internet is most of these companies have scraped all of the data on the Internet, and there's not enough data to train models, to build good enough large language models and foundational models that do video. You know, you're seeing it right now with OpenAI and Sora, but they're frankly just. They've run out of data. So the thing that's really interesting is if you talk to any creator, any production company and studio, any.
Any. Any university film program, they'll talk to you. This thing about. They'll talk to you. This thing about. That's called shot ratio. Shot ratio is for every one minute of video that actually gets posted, how much is left on the cutting room floor. And that other 49 minute minutes, that other 49 hours of footage is what's called dark data.
And what Trovio does is it ingests all the dark data in the world. By collecting it, they're shipping tons and tons of terabytes of hard drives and movie reels and they're using it to train these models because there's so much data out there that never sees light of day that was created. Think about the amount of videos that just exist on your phone. And all of that is extremely powerful data. So it's just a, it's just one of those stories, one of those great entrepreneurial stories of kind of tripping into this remarkable business opportunity. And I think what it really proves is that, you know, if you're a content creator today, if you're, you know, if you're somebody that makes their living doing that, you know, there's more than one way, more than just adsense in order to bank on for monetization, there's going to be a lot more ways for you to monetize your catalog in the future. And continuing with that trade is like the absolute best thing that you should do. Coming back to what I was saying before, because having an audience is absolute power.
Absolutely. Yeah. I mean we're, we're all about content here. I, I know that how powerful creating content can be, content can, you know, scale your own brand, help you launch a business. In the case of what you guys see, you can, you know, if you're one of those top 20 content creators in the world, you can literally build anything you want. So, Ben, want to thank you for coming on. This conversation has been a blast for anyone who wants to connect with you, find you. Why don't you shout out your socials, where can we find you on LinkedIn, Twitter, that sort of thing.
Yeah, absolutely. I would love to connect with anybody that's interested in this world. My Twitter is Ben Twitter B E N TW I T R Find me on X Would love to chat. My DMs are open and thanks so much for having me. It's been a blast.
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DTC Pod Linkedin
@Ben Matthews has scaled multiple successful brands like @MrBeast Burger and @Feastables by leveraging the power of content creators and influencers.
Ben joins @blaine on this week's episode of DTC Pod to share how Knight Ventures, where he is a general partner, incubates and grows consumer brands through partnerships with top-tier talent.
We explore the key elements of successful creator collaborations, choosing the right talent and business opportunities, and structuring incentives for long-term success.
Ben also shares his insights on the future of social media platforms, the potential impact of AI on employment trends, and emerging monetization opportunities for content creators.
Listen to the full episode to learn how to harness the influence of creators and culture to drive customer acquisition and brand growth.
Full episode here: [Spotify Link]
#dtcpod #creatoreconomy #consumerbrands #venturecapital #influencermarketing #contentcommerce #socialmedia #businessincubation
1️⃣ One Sentence Summary
Ben Matthews on building successful talent-driven brands at Knight Ventures.
Interview Breakdown
Today, Blaine Bolus sits down with Ben Matthews, a general partner at Knight Ventures, a VC fund focused on consumer, creator, and culture sectors. They discuss Ben's experiences incubating successful brands like Mr. Beast Burger and Feastables, and his insights on the creator economy.
In this episode, you'll learn about:
Knight Ventures' strategy of leveraging content and influencer tactics for customer acquisition
The key elements of successful talent-driven brands, including audience fit and long-term commitment
Choosing the right business opportunities based on market potential and operational feasibility
Structuring effective partnerships between creators, operators, and investors
The future of TikTok and emerging monetization avenues for content creators
🔑 7 Key Themes
Choosing effective talent for brand partnerships
Identifying viable business opportunities for success
Structuring incentives in talent-business collaborations
TikTok's uncertain future and market impact
Leveraging audience for monetization and relevance
Knight's incubation process and competitive advantages
Acquisition strategies for established consumer brands
💬 Keywords
Ben Matthews
Knight Ventures
Creator economy
Influencer marketing
Mr. Beast
Feastables
Consumer brands
Talent-driven brands
Creator partnerships
Audience relationship
Brand sustainability
Creator management
Employment trends
AI impact
Content commerce
TikTok
Social media platforms
D2C Pod
Slack community
HubSpot Sales Hub
Venture capital
Business incubation
Ghost kitchen
Healthy snacking
Talent selection
Business opportunities
Supply chain logistics
Incentive structures
Dark data
Large language models (LLMs)
📚 Timestamped overview
00:00 Investing led to capital going back to Facebook and Google. Successful brands used content, especially influencer-led, for customer acquisition.
04:22 A fund collaborates with lifestyle creators and influencers to help startups acquire customers, using its leverage to incubate companies over three years.
08:05 Initially considered various food products, but chose confectionery, particularly chocolate, due to its innovation potential and fun nature. The idea originated from a video stunt.
12:24 Building brands in today's instant-gratification culture requires either partnering with industry giants or gaining a substantial audience, often involving slow, debt-driven growth and sleepless nights.
15:54 Focus on the right talent, business, and execution. For talent, deeply analyze the audience and engagement to ensure alignment with content, using factors like merchandise sales as indicators.
18:54 Digital creators build businesses to monetize their brands and seek long-term alignment, unlike NBA players who earn largely through salaries.
21:09 Focus on innovative opportunities, assess market demand, and collaborate with talented individuals to create compelling consumer products.
24:03 Raising capital for early-stage CPG startups is challenging, but venture studios like Knight offer founders a competitive edge with capital and in-depth business insights, attracting driven entrepreneurs.
27:34 Raised capital for a private equity strategy in brand enhancement, inspired by Ryan Trahan's Joyride success.
31:13 Finding undervalued talent is key; Knight management's team seeks the next viral sensation online.
33:19 Automation and AI are replacing many low-level manual jobs, with roles like media buyers being substituted by AI agents in various sectors.
37:45 The speaker believes TikTok will not be banned and may be sold to an American entity. They doubt a new social media platform will emerge soon.
41:39 Trobio, previously unable to market its video data successfully, is now in demand by large language model companies like OpenAI and Meta due to a shortage of online data for training models.
42:53 Trovio collects and uses untapped data to train models, highlighting new monetization opportunities for content creators beyond traditional methods.
📚 Timestamped overview
00:00 Investments often returned to Facebook and Google.
04:22 Fund helps startups leverage influencers for growth.
08:05 Shifted focus to innovating fun chocolate business.
12:24 Slow growth, hard work, partnering helps brands succeed.
15:54 Right talent, business, execution; deep audience research.
18:54 Digital creators prioritize long-term business alignment.
21:09 Innovation and opportunity are key for success.
24:03 Venture studio supports early-stage CPG founders.
27:34 Raised capital for private equity strategy execution.
31:13 Finding undervalued creators is key to success.
33:19 AI replaces manual jobs across various industries.
37:45 TikTok likely safe; no new social platforms.
41:39 Companies need video data to train models.
42:53 Trovio harnesses dark data for model training.
💼 LinkedIN - 6 Reasons Post
The creator economy is MASSIVELY untapped. Here are 6 key reasons why partnering with creators is a powerful strategy for brand success:
Authentic audience connections drive sales.
Creators who have built genuine trust with their audience can effectively promote products they truly believe in. This authentic connection is far more influential than traditional advertising in driving consumer purchasing decisions.
Talent-driven brands require the right fit.
Only a select few creators, estimated at around 20 globally, have the reach and influence to successfully launch brands independently. The key is finding talent with a huge, engaged audience and a strong, authentic connection to the product.
Successful examples showcase the potential.
Ventures like Kim Kardashian's Skims demonstrate the power of a creator's genuine passion for a product, combined with an audience primed to take action based on their recommendations. This formula can lead to massive success.
Building the creator-consumer link takes work.
Feastables' strategy involved consistently training their audience to associate the product with Mr. Beast and frequent promotion to bridge the gap between the creator and consumer buying behavior. It's not just about reach, but cultivating that crucial relationship.
Sustainability relies on more than the creator.
Tying a brand too closely to one creator raises concerns about long-term viability, especially if the creator loses interest or faces controversy. Balancing the creator's influence with a strong brand identity and product is vital.
The creator economy is ripe with opportunity.
Despite challenges in navigating the creator landscape, the potential is immense. Aligning incentives between creators and brands, as seen with TikTok's model, is disrupting traditional marketing. Brands that effectively tap into this space can unlock significant growth.
TL;DR:
Authentic creator-audience relationships drive sales
Find the right talent fit with reach and resonance
Success stories prove the creator economy's potential
Building strong creator-consumer connections is key
Balance creator influence with brand sustainability
Tremendous untapped opportunity exists in the space
❇️ Key topics and bullets
Ben Matthews' Background and Knight Ventures
Venture capital experience and identifying content as a key area for growth
Knight Ventures' strategy: leveraging content and influencers for customer acquisition
Partnership with Knight Media for navigating the influencer landscape
Business Incubation at Knight Ventures
Building 14 companies in three years through celebrity collaborations
Successful ventures: Mr. Beast Burger and Feastables
Insights and challenges from incubating brands with talent
Key Elements for Business Success
Selecting the right talent
Understanding the audience accurately
Assessing a creator's ability to promote products effectively
Evaluating long-term commitment to the business
Choosing the right business
Identifying markets with $100 million annual revenue opportunity and strong margins
Avoiding complex supply chains and focusing on innovative, necessary consumer products
Executing correctly
Structuring incentives for both the business and talent
Finding suitable management teams
DTC Pod Joining HubSpot Podcast Network
Aiming to grow the show and offer insights from successful brand founders and marketers
TikTok's Future and Market Impact
Potential ban or sale of TikTok due to its ties with China
Uncertain future but likely persistence of its infrastructure
Importance of Having an Audience
Power and relevancy provided by an audience
Crucial role of social media presence for future success
Opportunities from engaging with content and audiences
Trobio: Monetizing "Dark Data"
Pivoting business model to capitalize on unutilized video data
Helping train large language models for companies like OpenAI and Meta
New monetization avenues for content creators
Knight's Approach to Incubation Deals
Complexity and uniqueness of each deal
Importance of phenomenal operators and synergy between talent, incubation funds, and investors
Competitive advantages and capital for early-stage consumer product companies
Deep involvement of potential founders in a four to six-month period
Acquisition Strategies and Future Opportunities
Interest in acquiring established brands and infusing them with talent or capital
Authentic matches between brands and talent
Contemplating opportunities in the wellness sector
Growth in collaborations with medium-sized talent
Knight's Venture Fund
Operational for about three years with around 40 investments
Guiding founders through the creator economy
Focus on mid-level market influencers
🎬 Reel script
Hey there, it's your favorite entrepreneur sharing some game-changing insights from my recent chat with Ben Matthews, a true pioneer in the creator economy. We tackled the ins and outs of building successful consumer brands by harnessing the power of content and influencer marketing. Ben shared his experiences incubating businesses with top-tier talent like Mr. Beast and Halle Berry, revealing the secret sauce behind their massive success. We also dove into the future of social media, discussing the potential impact of a TikTok ban and the rise of content commerce. If you're looking to take your brand to the next level or stay ahead of the curve in this fast-paced digital landscape, you won't want to miss this episode. Head over to the link in my bio to listen now and join the conversation. Let's crush it together!
✏️ Custom Newsletter
Subject: New DTC POD Episode Alert: Unlocking Success with Ben Matthews 🔑
Hey there, DTC POD fans!
We've got a brand new episode hot off the press, and trust me, you won't want to miss this one! In this episode, Blaine sits down with the incredible Ben Matthews, a general partner at Knight Ventures. They dive into the world of consumer brands, creator partnerships, and the secrets to building successful businesses. 🎧
So, what can you expect to learn from this episode? Here are the five key takeaways:
Discover the power of partnering with the right talent to skyrocket your brand's success. 🚀
Learn how to choose the perfect business opportunity that aligns with your goals and target market. 📈
Get insider tips on executing your business strategy like a pro. 💼
Understand the importance of building a strong, engaged audience for long-term success. 🙌
Explore the future of content commerce and how platforms like TikTok are shaking up the game. 📱
Now, for a fun fact from the episode: Did you know that Ben and his team at Knight Ventures have built 14 companies in just three years? Talk about impressive! 😮
As always, we'd love to hear your thoughts on the episode. Drop us a comment or send us a message on social media. And if you haven't already, be sure to join our brand new Slack community for D2C founders and operators. It's the perfect place to connect, collaborate, and grow your business. 🌱
Don't forget to hit that subscribe button and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your support means the world to us! 🌍
Until next time, keep crushing it in the D2C world! 😎
Cheers,
The DTC POD Team
🐦 Business Lesson Tweet Thread
🧵 The power of influence in building a brand is unmatched.
Just ask Ben Matthews, the mastermind behind Mr. Beast's ventures into food.
He saw the potential in combining a creator's massive reach with a product people love.
The result? Mr. Beast Burger and Feastables, overnight successes.
But it's not just about the numbers.
Ben emphasizes the importance of the creator's authentic connection with their audience.
When a creator genuinely loves and uses a product, their fans trust the recommendation.
This trust is the secret sauce that drives sales through the roof.
However, the creator economy is a tricky landscape.
Not every influencer can move products, despite their huge followings.
It takes a special mix of reach, relationship, and timing to strike gold.
Ben's advice? Focus on creators who have mastered the art of "shilling."
Think Kim Kardashian's Skims or Dwayne Johnson's tequila.
When a creator's brand aligns seamlessly with a product, magic happens.
The future of commerce is content.
Platforms like TikTok are blurring the lines between entertainment and shopping.
Smart brands are capitalizing on this shift, partnering with creators to drive engagement and sales.
As the creator economy evolves, so do the opportunities.
New monetization avenues are emerging, like licensing "dark data" to train AI models.
The key is to stay agile and open to new ideas.
Building a successful brand in the creator economy is an art, not a science.
It takes a keen eye for talent, a deep understanding of the market, and the ability to execute flawlessly.
But when you get it right, the rewards are massive.
Just ask Mr. Beast.
🎓 Lessons Learned
Brand Inspiration: Willy Wonka
Creating a playful, innovative chocolate brand concept akin to a modern-day Willy Wonka.Rapid D2C Business Scaling
Launching a D2C confectionery brand in 2021, quickly expanding into retail due to high demand.Talent-Driven Brand Limitations
Only ~20 individuals globally can successfully launch independent brands without collaborations.Authentic Creator-Product Connection
Effective creator partnerships require genuine product connection and an audience accustomed to taking action.Building Creator-Brand Association
Training the audience to associate the product with the creator through frequent promotion.AI's Impact on Employment
AI is replacing manual and lower-level jobs, particularly in marketing and media buying.Content Commerce on TikTok
TikTok shops effectively integrate content and commerce for brand marketing and sales.TikTok's Disruptive Business Model
TikTok aligns creator and brand incentives, potentially pivotal for the creator economy.Venture Incubation Art Form
Successful incubation requires phenomenal operators and synergy between talent, funds, and investors.Authentic Acquisition Matches
Brand acquisitions with talent infusion need authentic matches, as seen with Ryan Trahan and Joyride.
💎 Maxims
Here is a list of maxims to live by based on the concepts discussed in the DTC Pod episode with Ben Matthews:
Authenticity is key. Ensure a genuine connection between the creator and the product they promote.
Build trust with your audience. Success hinges on the relationship and trust between the creator and their followers.
Think long-term when selecting talent. Consider their commitment to the business beyond immediate career gaps.
Identify innovative, necessary consumer products. Focus on markets with strong revenue potential and economic margins.
Choose your business wisely. Avoid complex supply chains unless well-suited.
Structure incentives for both the business and talent. Find suitable management teams to lead the venture.
Embrace the power of an audience. Social media presence is crucial for future success.
Engage with content and audiences. This opens numerous opportunities for monetization and growth.
Explore new monetization avenues. Capitalize on untapped data and resources to create value.
Create synergy between talent, incubation funds, and investors. This is the key to successful business incubation.
Seek authentic matches when acquiring established brands. Infuse them with additional talent or capital for growth.
Adapt to the evolving creator economy. Focus on collaborations with diverse talent, not just high-profile influencers.
Leverage content and influencer tactics for customer acquisition. Navigate the influencer landscape strategically.
Embrace the potential of content-led consumer brands. Recognize the influence and power of content in driving business success.
Learn from successful examples. Study cases like Mr. Beast Burger and Feastables to understand effective strategies.
🌟 3 Fun Facts
Ben Matthews and his team initially considered creating a jerky product before ultimately deciding on chocolate, taking inspiration from Willy Wonka to create a fun, innovative brand.
Feastables, the chocolate brand created in collaboration with Mr. Beast, scaled rapidly after launch, expanding from a direct-to-consumer model to retail partnerships with Walmart within a short period.
Knight Ventures has incubated 14 companies in just three years, leveraging their influencer connections to drive brand visibility and growth, including successful collaborations with well-known creators like Mr. Beast and Halle Berry.
📓 Blog Post
Title: Unlocking the Power of Creator-Led Brands: Insights from Ben Matthews
Subheader: Discover the strategies and challenges of building successful consumer brands in partnership with influential creators.
Introduction
In the rapidly evolving world of e-commerce and digital marketing, the rise of creator-led brands has revolutionized the way businesses approach customer acquisition and brand building. Ben Matthews, a general partner at Knight Ventures, shares his expertise and insights on leveraging the power of content creators to launch and scale successful consumer brands.
The Knight Ventures Approach
Knight Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on the consumer, creator, and culture sectors, has been at the forefront of this trend. By partnering with well-known creators like Mr. Beast and incubating businesses, they have built an impressive portfolio of 14 companies in just three years. Their strategy emphasizes the importance of content and influencer tactics for effective customer acquisition, recognizing the need to go beyond traditional marketing methods.
Selecting the Right Talent
One of the key elements of success in creator-led brands is selecting the right talent. Matthews stresses the importance of accurately understanding a creator's audience, going beyond standard social media analytics and conducting thorough research and surveys. A creator's ability to effectively promote products, or "shill," is crucial, as demonstrated by successful examples like Logan Paul and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Additionally, assessing a creator's long-term commitment to the business venture is essential to ensure its sustainability and growth.
Choosing the Right Business
Alongside talent selection, choosing the right business is equally important. Matthews advises identifying markets with the potential for $100 million in annual revenue and strong economic margins. Avoiding complex supply chains and focusing on innovative, necessary consumer products is key. Business ideas can stem from the interests of the talent or from market opportunities, analyzed similarly to venture capital investment strategies.
Structuring Partnerships and Incentives
When incubating or partnering with talent, structuring incentives that align the interests of both the business and the talent is crucial. Finding suitable management teams to oversee operations and growth is also essential. Matthews compares the process to an art form, where every deal is unique, and success relies on creating synergy between talent, incubation funds, and investors.
The Future of Creator-Led Brands
As the creator economy continues to evolve, Matthews foresees growth in collaborations with medium-sized talent, not just high-profile influencers. Knight Ventures' venture fund, operational for about three years, has made around 40 investments across diverse categories, guiding founders through the creator economy and focusing on mid-level market influencers.
The Potential of Dark Data
Ben Matthews also touches on the potential of "dark data," unutilized video data that can be used to train large language models (LLMs). Trobio, a company from Knight's portfolio, has pivoted its business model to capitalize on this opportunity, helping big companies like OpenAI and Meta overcome their lack of sufficient data for video-related models. This highlights new monetization avenues for content creators beyond traditional methods.
Conclusion
As the world of e-commerce and digital marketing continues to evolve, the power of creator-led brands cannot be overlooked. By leveraging the influence and reach of content creators, businesses can unlock new opportunities for growth and success. Ben Matthews and Knight Ventures offer valuable insights and strategies for navigating this exciting and challenging landscape, emphasizing the importance of selecting the right talent, choosing the right business, and structuring effective partnerships. As the creator economy grows, embracing these principles will be essential for brands looking to stay ahead of the curve.
🎤 Voiceover Script
Ben Matthews, a venture capitalist from Knight Ventures, shares his insights on building successful consumer brands with influencer partnerships. He emphasizes the importance of selecting the right talent, choosing the right business, and executing correctly. Matthews also discusses the potential impact of AI on employment trends and the future of TikTok in the social media landscape. Tune in to learn how to leverage content and influencer tactics for effective customer acquisition and brand growth.
🔘 Best Practices Guide
Best Practices for Successful Creator-Brand Partnerships
Identify the right talent:
Assess audience alignment and engagement
Evaluate the creator's ability to authentically promote products
Consider the creator's long-term commitment to the business
Choose the right business:
Target markets with significant revenue potential and strong margins
Focus on innovative, necessary consumer products
Avoid complex supply chains unless well-suited
Structure incentives and find suitable management:
Align incentives for both the business and the talent
Recruit experienced operators to lead the venture
Foster synergy between talent, incubation funds, and investors
Leverage content and audience:
Recognize the power of a strong social media presence
Engage with content and audiences to open new opportunities
Explore emerging monetization avenues, such as data collection for AI training
Tailor each partnership:
Approach incubation deals as unique, tailoring each to the specific talent and market
Seek authentic matches between established brands and talent
🎆 Social Carousel: Do's/Don'ts
Here is a 10-slide LinkedIn carousel on "10 Tips Every Retention Marketer Needs to Know" based on the key lessons from the episode:
Cover Slide:
10 Tips Every Retention Marketer Needs to Know
Slide 1:
Title: Avoid Complex Logistics
Tip: Focus on innovative, margin-friendly consumer products that don't require complicated supply chains like cold storage.
Slide 2:
Title: Choose Committed Talent
Tip: Partner with creators genuinely invested in the business long-term, not just for immediate opportunities.
Slide 3:
Title: Know Your Audience
Tip: Dig deep into a creator's audience demographics and behaviors beyond surface-level social media metrics.
Slide 4:
Title: Require Authentic Promotion
Tip: Work with talent who can authentically and effectively promote products to drive sales.
Slide 5:
Title: Pursue $100M Markets
Tip: Target consumer markets with clear paths to $100M+ in annual revenue and strong margins.
Slide 6:
Title: Structure Win-Win Incentives
Tip: Align incentives between the business and talent to ensure mutual benefits and engagement.
Slide 7:
Title: Assemble Strong Operators
Tip: Surround talent-led brands with experienced management teams to guide successful execution.
Slide 8:
Title: Build Audience Relationships
Tip: Prioritize creators who have earned deep trust and influence with their audience.
Slide 9:
Title: Embrace Content Commerce
Tip: Capitalize on the powerful combination of engaging content and seamless purchasing experiences.
Slide 10:
Title: Prepare for Shifts
Tip: Anticipate potential changes in key platforms and adapt marketing strategies proactively.
🎠 Social Carousel
Cover Slide:
10 Insights from Ben Matthews on Building Successful Brands
Slide 1:
Choose Wisely
Select the right talent and business opportunity for long-term success.
Slide 2:
Know Your Audience
Understand the creator's audience beyond basic analytics for effective partnerships.
Slide 3:
Authentic Connections
Ensure the talent has a genuine, strong connection to the product.
Slide 4:
Committed Talent
Prioritize creators who view the business as crucial for their future.
Slide 5:
$100M Potential
Target markets with annual revenue opportunities of $100 million and strong margins.
Slide 6:
Simplify Logistics
Avoid complex supply chains unless absolutely necessary for the product.
Slide 7:
Innovate & Solve
Focus on developing innovative consumer products that address real needs.
Slide 8:
Align Incentives
Structure deals to incentivize both the talent and the business.
Slide 9:
Embrace Content
Leverage content and audience engagement to open new opportunities.
Slide 10:
Listen Now
Hear more insights from Ben Matthews on the DTC POD podcast.
One Off Tweets
Tweet 1
Choosing the right talent is key.
Dive deep into their audience - go beyond basic metrics.
Find creators who can genuinely promote your product.
Long-term commitment matters most.
Tweet 2
Knight Ventures' secret sauce?
Blending killer content and influencer tactics.
Supercharging customer acquisition for consumer brands.
Navigating the wild west of the creator economy.
Tweet 3
The perfect business trifecta:
$100M+ annual revenue potential
Strong profit margins
Avoid complex supply chains
Aim high, keep it simple, execute flawlessly.
Tweet 4
TikTok's fate hangs in the balance.
Bans, sales, format changes - it's anyone's guess.
But one thing's certain: short-form video is here to stay.
The infrastructure will persist, no matter what.
Tweet 5
Your audience is your superpower.
Nurture it, engage with it, never take it for granted.
In the creator economy, your followers open doors.
Countless opportunities await those who build a loyal base.
Tweet 6
The future of monetization for creators?
It's not just sponsorships and merch anymore.
"Dark data" from your content could train AI models.
Untapped potential lies in the footage you already have.
Tweet 7
Incubation deals are an art, not a science.
No two are exactly alike.
The key ingredients? Phenomenal operators and synergy.
Aligning talent, funds, and investors is a delicate dance.
Tweet 8
Knight Ventures is shaking up the consumer space.
A unique blend of market insights, star power, and capital.
Attracting top-tier founders with a hands-on approach.
Hollywood-style "packaging" meets Silicon Valley hustle.
Tweet 9
Authentic brand-talent matches are crucial.
Just look at Ryan Trahan and Joyride.
Forced collabs fall flat, but genuine ones soar.
Knight is on the hunt for the next perfect pairing.
Tweet 10
The creator economy isn't just for mega-influencers.
Mid-level talent is poised for massive growth.
Knight's venture fund is betting big on these rising stars.
Guiding founders to success in uncharted territory.
Twitter Post 1
This 1 strategy led Mr. Beast Burger from a video stunt to a thriving ghost kitchen biz.
Content + Commerce
Leverage your audience to drive sales by authentically promoting products.
Mindsets
If you're hoping to capitalize on the opportunities in the creator economy, here are some mindset shifts that can help as you navigate this evolving landscape:
💭 Embrace the power of authentic connections between creators and their audiences. The most successful brand partnerships occur when the creator has a genuine affinity for the product and their audience trusts their recommendations. Prioritize these authentic matches over sheer follower counts.
💭 Think beyond traditional CPM-based compensation models. Creators are often undervalued when paid solely based on impressions. Consider alternative ways to structure deals that align incentives and enable creators to participate in the long-term success of the brands they help build.
💭 View the rapid changes in social media platforms as opportunities rather than threats. While the potential ban of TikTok or the rise of new platforms may seem daunting, these shifts often open up new avenues for creators to connect with audiences and monetize their content in innovative ways. Stay agile and adaptable to capitalize on these evolving opportunities.
The DTC Pod offers additional insights from successful brand founders and marketers navigating the creator economy.
Check out the latest episode with Ben Matthews for more strategies on partnering with creators and building successful direct-to-consumer brands in this dynamic landscape!
Tactics
If you're looking to leverage the power of influencer marketing and content-driven commerce to grow your business, here are some specific tactics and strategies you can implement:
🎯 Find authentic creator partnerships. Look for influencers who have a genuine connection to your product or brand. Their ability to authentically promote your offering is key to driving sales and engagement. Analyze their audience demographics and interests to ensure alignment.
🎯 Train your audience to associate the creator with your brand. Consistent promotion and messaging across the creator's platforms can help bridge the gap between their followers and your product. Develop a content strategy that reinforces this association over time.
🎯 Explore innovative product categories. Focus on markets with strong economic margins and the potential for $100M+ annual revenue. Identify consumer needs that align with your brand and consider unique product twists or collaborations that can set you apart.
🎯 Adapt to the evolving social media landscape. Stay attuned to changes in platforms like TikTok and be prepared to adjust your strategy accordingly. Embrace emerging trends like live shopping and social commerce to maximize your reach and sales potential.
🎯 Leverage your content assets. Look beyond traditional monetization methods and consider how your content can be repurposed for other opportunities. Collecting and organizing your "dark data" (e.g., unused video footage) can open up new revenue streams, such as training data for AI models.
In Depth Thread
Overrated: Traditional brand collaborations with mega-influencers.
Partnering with the biggest names doesn't guarantee success if the fit isn't authentic.
Underrated: Incubating brands alongside creators with genuine passion.
At Knight, we've built 14 companies in 3 years using this approach:
Synergy Trifecta
The magic happens when you align the right talent, operational expertise, and investment capital.
It's an art, not a science. Every deal is unique.
3 Pillars of Success
Select the right talent (understand their audience & "shilling" ability)
Choose the right business (seek $100M+ annual revenue potential & strong margins)
Execute correctly (structure incentives, find A+ management)
Nail these, and you're golden.
Talent Checklist
When assessing creators, look beyond vanity metrics. Ask:
Do they have a deep, authentic connection with their audience?
Can they effectively promote products that resonate?
Are they committed to the business long-term?
Digital-native creators often prioritize businesses as key to their future wealth.
$100M Formula
Hunt for markets with:
Room for a $100M+ annual revenue player
Strong unit economics & margin potential
Avoid complex supply chains unless you have an edge
Innovation & necessity are key.
"Creator-Driven" Positioning
We coined the term "creator-driven" to describe our unique approach.
Just as "plant-integration" defined the cannabis industry, "creator-driven" encapsulates the future of consumer brands.
Own the language, own the conversation.
Incubation Playbook
Our 4-6 month process:
Match market needs with talent passions
Engage founders deeply to tap their expertise
Structure win-win incentives for talent & investors
Deploy top-tier operators to execute
It's Hollywood-style "packaging" for the modern era.
Expanding Horizons
We're eyeing new frontiers:
Acquiring & enhancing brands with creator magic
Exploring overlooked categories like wellness
Empowering emerging "middle-class" creators
The creator economy is evolving, and we're staying ahead of the curve.
Backing Bold Visionaries
"We back bold entrepreneurs building the future of the creator economy."
Our venture fund has made 40+ investments across categories, guiding founders to navigate this new landscape.
We believe in the power of creators to shape culture & commerce.
Wins & Proof Points
Successful creator-driven brands we've built:
Mr. Beast Burger: From video stunt to thriving ghost kitchen chain
Feastables: Healthy snacking born from Mr. Beast's personal interests
Ryan Trahan x Joyride: Authentic celebrity alignment in the Yerba mate space
The proof is in the partnerships.
Focus on crafting a concise, compelling narrative around your unique approach. Emphasize your track record, team expertise, and forward-looking vision. Control the conversation with distinct language and clear proof points. Show, don't just tell.
The creator economy is uncharted territory. Position yourself as the guide founders need to navigate it successfully. Paint a vivid picture of the opportunity ahead and your ability to seize it.
New Idea
Idea #1: Creator-Audience Relationship is Key
The effectiveness of talent-driven brands hinges on the relationship and trust between the creator and their audience, as evidenced by:
Authentic Connection: Successful ventures like Kim Kardashian's brand Skims demonstrate the importance of a creator's genuine connection to the product, coupled with an audience accustomed to taking commercial actions based on their recommendations.
Bridging the Gap: Building the Feastables brand required training the audience to associate the product with Mr. Beast and frequent promotion to bridge the gap between the creator and the consumer buying behavior.
Trust and Reach: The success of creator-driven brands depends not only on the creator's reach but also on the relationship and trust they have cultivated with their audience, which is crucial for driving sales and engagement.
Tweet thread on learnings
Here is the tweet thread based on the key takeaways from the Ben Matthews interview on the DTC POD podcast, following the provided format and style:
Tweet 1:
🎙️ Just listened to the latest episode of @DTCPOD with Ben Matthews of Knight Ventures:
Knight has incubated 14 companies in 3 years, including mega-hits like:
🍔 Mr. Beast Burger
🍫 Feastables
My top insights on building successful creator-led brands: 👇
Tweet 2:
🎯 Selecting the Right Talent is Crucial
Understand the creator's audience beyond vanity metrics.
Assess their ability to authentically promote products.
Ensure their long-term commitment to the business.
Tweet 3:
💡 Choose the Right Business Opportunity
Identify markets with $100M+ annual revenue potential.
Focus on innovative consumer products with strong margins.
Avoid complex supply chains unless well-suited.
Tweet 4:
🤝 Structure Incentives for Both Business and Talent
Align interests between the brand and the creator.
Find suitable management teams to execute the vision.
Treat each incubation deal as a unique art form.
Tweet 5:
📈 Leverage the Power of an Engaged Audience
An audience provides significant power and relevancy.
Engage with content and audiences to unlock opportunities.
Explore new monetization avenues beyond traditional methods.
Tweet 6:
🌟 Create Synergy Between Talent, Incubators, and Investors
Bring together phenomenal operators and capital.
Provide competitive advantages for early-stage companies.
Attract top-tier founders through a hands-on incubation process.
Tweet 7:
🔍 Explore Acquisition Opportunities with Authentic Matches
Consider acquiring established brands and infusing them with talent or capital.
Ensure authentic partnerships between brands and creators.
Contemplate opportunities in growth sectors like wellness.
Tweet 8:
🔑 The Key Takeaway: Successful creator-led brands require a perfect blend of the right talent, business opportunity, and execution.
By focusing on these critical elements, Knight Ventures has built a track record of successful ventures in the creator economy.
Tweet 9:
For more insights on building creator-led brands, check out the full episode of @DTCPOD with Ben Matthews of Knight Ventures.
🔗 [Insert link to the podcast episode]
#DTCPod #CreatorEconomy #ConsumerBrands
LinkedIN - Start from Scratch
If I was launching a new DTC brand, here's the go-to-market strategy I'd use based on insights from Ben Matthews of Knight Ventures:
(Ben has helped launch multiple 8-figure DTC brands with top creators like Mr. Beast)
To successfully launch a creator-led DTC brand, you need:
• The right talent fit
• A sizeable market opportunity
• Flawless execution
So...
How do you identify and leverage the perfect creator for your brand? By digging deep into their audience and influence.
A creator's audience fit has 3 key aspects:
• Audience size and demographics
• Engagement and trust
• Ability to drive sales
Audience size gives you reach.
But engagement and trust determine if that reach translates into revenue.
The best way to assess this?
Surveys and social listening beyond vanity metrics.
Dig into the creator's content and how their audience responds.
The next factor is the creator's "shilling" ability.
How effectively can they authentically promote products?
Creators like Dwayne Johnson excel at this.
They seamlessly integrate brands into their content.
Lastly, evaluate the creator's long-term commitment.
Are they in it for a quick cash grab or to build a sustainable brand?
Digital creators often prioritize these ventures for long-term wealth.
Whereas celebrities tend to be more transactional.
Once you've found the right talent, focus on choosing the right market.
Aim for categories with:
• $100M+ annual revenue potential
• Strong margins
• Straightforward logistics
Food, beauty, apparel are prime examples.
Avoid complex areas like supplements unless you have expertise.
Finally, nail the execution.
• Structure incentives to align the talent and business
• Bring in experienced operators
• Raise ample capital for runway
The biggest takeaway?
Creator-led brands are both an art and science.
The art is matching talent and markets.
The science is nailing the business fundamentals.
What other factors would you consider?
Drop your thoughts below.
--
Listen to the full interview with Ben here:
[INSERT LINK TO EPISODE]
And tune in weekly for more DTC insights on the DTC POD.
Future State, 6 reasons post
In 5 years, creator-led brands will dominate the DTC landscape, leveraging the power of authentic audience connections to drive unprecedented growth. Knight Ventures is at the forefront of this transformation, incubating successful ventures like Mr. Beast Burger and Feastables. But the creator economy still faces challenges in effectively monetizing influence. Here are 6 strategies Knight Ventures can employ to unlock the full potential of creator-led brands:
BACKGROUND:
Traditional DTC relied on paid acquisition and generic messaging, struggling to stand out in a crowded market.
Creator-led brands harness the trust and engagement of dedicated audiences, collapsing the funnel from awareness to conversion.
If Knight Ventures refines its approach, it can become the premier incubator for the next generation of $100M+ DTC powerhouses.
Old DTC:
Expensive paid acquisition
Impersonal brand messaging
Slow build of brand trust
Misaligned incentives with creators
New DTC:
Organic audience acquisition
Authentic creator-driven storytelling
Rapid brand affinity and loyalty
Shared upside with invested creators
At Knight Ventures, we've demonstrated the immense potential of this model, launching 14 creator-led businesses in just 3 years. Brands like Feastables are on track for massive scale, fueled by genuine creator passion.
HOWEVER...
Unlocking consistent success requires evolving our playbook. We need refined frameworks for selecting the right talent and products, aligning incentives, and converting influence into sustainable sales.
Here are my 6 recommendations:
Develop a creator evaluation matrix assessing audience fit, promotional savvy, and long-term commitment. Prioritize creators who authentically connect with the product vision.
Identify nascent product categories with $100M+ potential where creators can drive true innovation, not just trend-hopping. Think Feastables' fresh take on chocolate.
Structure deals with meaningful creator equity and incentive alignment. Treat creators as long-term business partners, not just marketing channels.
Build creator-specific e-commerce infrastructure to seamlessly convert audience excitement into sales. Interactive livestreams, limited drops, and social checkout.
Coach creators on sustainable promotion that balances entertainment and calls-to-action. Develop an "always on" content strategy to keep brands top of mind.
Invest in sophisticated attribution to quantify creators' full-funnel impact. Capture metrics like earned media value, audience quality, and LTV to prove ROI.
I'm confident that by implementing these strategies, Knight Ventures can cement itself as the go-to incubator for the creator economy, launching a dozen more Mr. Beast-scale successes.
The playbook for building iconic DTC brands has fundamentally changed. Those who adapt to put creators at the center will reshape the industry.
P.S.
How are you seeing the creator economy reshape DTC?
What other strategies would you add to unlock the full potential of creator-led brands?
About the Episode
Ben Matthews is a general partner at Knight Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on the consumer, creator, and culture sectors. The firm has partnered with well-known creators and businesses like Mr. Beast Burger and Feastables to build successful brands by leveraging the power of content and influencer marketing.
In this episode of DTC Pod, Ben shares insights into Knight Ventures' unique strategy of incubating businesses in collaboration with influential creators. He emphasizes the importance of selecting the right talent, choosing the right business opportunity, and executing correctly to achieve success.
Ben discusses the key factors to consider when partnering with creators, such as understanding their audience, assessing their ability to promote products effectively, and evaluating their long-term commitment to the business. He also highlights the potential for content creators to monetize their work beyond traditional methods, such as through the collection and utilization of "dark data" to train large language models.
Throughout the conversation, Ben provides examples of successful creator-led brands and shares lessons learned from incubating businesses with talent. He also touches on the challenges and opportunities presented by the rapidly evolving creator economy, the uncertain future of TikTok, and the growing importance of social media presence for long-term success.
Episode Summary
Ben Matthews is a general partner at Knight Ventures, a VC fund focused on consumer, creator, and culture sectors. He has partnered with well-known creators and businesses like Mr. Beast Burger and Feastables.
In this episode of DTC Pod, Ben shares his approach to incubating successful consumer brands by leveraging the influence of content creators. He discusses key considerations when selecting talent, identifying market opportunities, and executing effectively. Ben also shares insights on the future of TikTok, the potential of "dark data" for creators, and the evolving landscape of the creator economy.
Success Strategies
Here are 3 strategies for DTC success based on insights from Ben Matthews:
Partner with creators who have strong audience connections
When collaborating with influencers or celebrities, prioritize those who have an authentic, engaged relationship with their audience. Look beyond vanity metrics like follower counts and assess whether a creator's audience trusts their recommendations enough to take action.
Successful examples like Mr. Beast's Feastables demonstrate the power of a genuine creator-product fit. By partnering with talent who can bridge the gap between content and consumer buying behavior, you set your brand up for success.
Identify market opportunities with $100M+ potential
As you develop new product ideas, whether inspired by a creator's interests or market trends, aim for categories with the potential to generate at least $100 million in annual revenue. Analyze the competitive landscape and assess whether there's room for innovation and differentiation.
Focus on products with strong economic margins and avoid complex supply chains unless you have the expertise to navigate them effectively. By targeting sizable market opportunities with favorable unit economics, you improve your chances of building a thriving DTC brand.
Structure incentives to align talent and business goals
When incubating a brand with a creator, carefully structure the partnership to incentivize long-term commitment and success for both parties. Ensure the talent has a meaningful equity stake and clear performance targets tied to their promotional responsibilities.
Surround the creator with a skilled management team who can handle day-to-day operations and support the brand's growth. By aligning the interests of the talent, the management team, and investors, you create a solid foundation for a successful creator-driven DTC brand.
Castmagic LinkedIn Post
Here's a short and concise LinkedIn post for the episode release following the provided format:
When your brand is intrinsically tied to a creator, how do you leverage their influence effectively to drive sales? 🤔
Ben Matthews, General Partner at Knight Ventures, joins Blaine Bolus on this episode of DTC Pod to share his experiences building businesses with top-tier creators like Mr. Beast. 🎙️
With a portfolio including successful ventures like Feastables and Beast Burger, Ben offers valuable insights into:
Identifying the right creators for authentic brand partnerships
Structuring incentives that align business and talent goals
Navigating the challenges of creator-led brands
Leveraging content commerce trends on platforms like TikTok
Listen to the full episode here: [link]
hashtag#creatoreconony hashtag#contentcommerce hashtag#dtcbrands hashtag#ecommerce hashtag#venturecapital
IG Reel Vids
In this episode of DTC Pod, we chat with Ben Matthews, a VC from Knight Ventures. Ben and his team have incubated over 14 consumer product companies in just 3 years. One of their biggest success stories? Feastables, a better-for-you chocolate brand created in partnership with YouTube superstar Mr. Beast. By leveraging Beast's massive following and authentic connection to the product, Feastables scaled at a breakneck pace, landing a deal with Walmart right out of the gate. But it's not just about finding the right creator. Ben emphasizes the importance of choosing the right business model and executing flawlessly. He believes the key to success in the creator economy is aligning incentives between talent, operators, and investors. With a keen eye for trends and a deep understanding of the creator landscape, Ben and Knight Ventures are paving the way for the next generation of consumer brands.
IG Video
Here's a video script in the style of the Sweet Lauren's example:
Have you ever heard of a chocolate brand started by the world's biggest YouTuber? Feastables is a confectionery company founded by Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast. But this isn't your average chocolate bar.
MrBeast wanted to shake up the industry with bold, unique flavors and an element of fun. Inspired by the idea of a modern-day Willy Wonka, he launched Feastables in 2021 with a twist - the chance to win a chocolate factory.
This playful brand strategy captured attention and drove massive demand. Within months, Feastables expanded from online sales into major retailers like Walmart. The business scaled at breakneck speed, requiring rapid team growth and operational changes.
MrBeast's authentic passion for the product and deep connection with his massive audience proved to be a recipe for success. Feastables demonstrates the incredible potential when a creator's genuine endorsement meets a receptive and engaged fanbase.
While the future is bright, Feastables must now navigate the challenges of its meteoric rise and the risks of tying a brand so closely to an individual creator. Can MrBeast's chocolate empire stand the test of time? Only one thing is certain - in the world of Feastables, there's never a dull moment.
📢 Short VO
When it comes to launching a successful consumer brand, the key is finding the right talent and the right product. And no one understands this better than Ben Matthews, general partner at Knight Ventures.
In a recent episode of the DTC Pod, Ben shared his insights on incubating businesses with influencers like MrBeast and Halle Berry. He emphasizes the importance of accurately understanding a creator's audience, their ability to effectively promote products, and their long-term commitment to the business. It's not just about follower counts, but the genuine connection and trust between the creator and their audience.
Ben also discusses the process of identifying market opportunities ripe for innovation and the challenges of managing complex supply chains. He shares examples of successful ventures like MrBeast Burger and Feastables, and the lessons learned from partnering with talent.
Whether you're a founder looking to leverage influencer marketing or a creator seeking new monetization opportunities, this episode is packed with valuable insights. Tune in to episode [insert episode number] of the DTC Pod to hear the full conversation with Ben Matthews.
Hormozi Prompt
Here is my attempt to match the tone, style and format of the provided example, based on the key details from the Ben Matthews podcast episode:
Ben Matthews carefully chose the right talent and business to launch.
He didn't just pick any influencer with a large following.
He didn't pursue overly complex businesses with difficult logistics.
He didn't tie the brand too closely to one creator's persona.
He spent time truly understanding the creator's audience.
He focused on products the talent was passionate about long-term.
He searched for markets with $100M+ annual revenue potential.
This allowed him to quickly scale successful brands like Feastables. Knight had the expertise to navigate the creator economy and help execute correctly.
Not every influencer collab leads to a hit brand just because of follower count. "Partner with creators. Their audience will make you millions." This as a blanket statement is not helpful to some people and I wanted to show the more tactical version to everyone. Being strategic and patient to achieve your goals is never a problem. This worked for Knight, do whatever works for you. Just win.
About the Episode
Ben Matthews is a general partner at Knight Ventures, a VC fund focused on the consumer, creator, and culture sectors. The fund has partnered with well-known creators and businesses, including Mr. Beast Burger and Feastables, to leverage content and influencer tactics for effective customer acquisition.
In this episode of DTC Pod, Ben shares valuable insights on incubating successful creator-led brands. He emphasizes the importance of selecting the right talent, understanding their audience, and assessing their ability to authentically promote products. Ben also discusses key factors in choosing the right business, such as identifying markets with significant revenue potential and strong economic margins.
Throughout the conversation, Ben highlights the power of content-led consumer brands and the growing opportunities for creators to monetize their work beyond traditional methods. He shares examples of successful ventures like Mr. Beast Burger and Feastables, discussing the challenges and lessons learned from incubating brands with talent.
The episode also touches on the future of social media platforms, particularly TikTok, and the potential impact on the creator economy. Ben provides his perspective on the sustainability of creator-driven brands and the importance of aligning incentives between creators, brands, and investors for long-term success.
💬 Keywords
Ben Matthews, Knight Ventures, Creator economy, Influencer marketing, Mr. Beast, Feastables, Consumer brands, Talent-driven brands, Creator partnerships, Audience relationship, Brand sustainability, Creator management, Employment trends, AI impact, Content commerce, TikTok, Social media platforms, D2C Pod, Slack community, HubSpot Sales Hub, Venture capital, Business incubation, Ghost kitchen, Healthy snacking, Talent selection, Business opportunities, Supply chain logistics, Incentive structures, Dark data, Large language models (LLMs)
Success Strategies
Here are 3 key strategies for DTC success based on insights from Ben Matthews:
Leverage the power of creator partnerships
Collaborating with the right influencers and digital creators can be a game-changer for DTC brands. As Ben Matthews highlighted, partnering with talent who have a genuine connection to your product and a highly engaged audience can drive significant sales.
The key is to find creators whose followers trust their recommendations and are accustomed to taking action based on them. By aligning your brand with these influential voices, you tap into their ability to bridge the gap between content and commerce, exposing your products to a receptive audience.
Choose the right product category and business model
Successful DTC ventures often hinge on identifying the right product category to enter. Ben Matthews emphasized the importance of focusing on markets with strong revenue potential and healthy profit margins.
When incubating new brands, his team looks for innovative consumer products that fill a real need or desire, while avoiding overly complex supply chains. They also consider the founder's passion and expertise in the chosen market.
In terms of business model, it's crucial to start with a solid direct-to-consumer foundation, as Feastables did with their initial Shopify store. This allows for testing and refining before expanding into retail partnerships strategically to support growth.
Build an authentic, talent-driven brand identity
The most impactful DTC brands are those deeply entwined with the creators behind them. As Ben Matthews noted, tying your brand identity to a well-aligned creator can be incredibly powerful for driving awareness and sales.
However, the creator's promotion of the brand must feel authentic and rooted in their genuine interests. Feastables, for example, taps into Mr. Beast's personal enthusiasm for gamified experiences and philanthropy.
The challenge lies in balancing this strong creator association with long-term brand sustainability. Strategies to consider include consistently reinforcing the brand-creator connection, while also building a distinct brand personality that can stand on its own.
By leveraging creator partnerships strategically, choosing the right product and business model, and crafting an authentic, talent-driven brand identity, DTC brands can set themselves up for sustainable success in an increasingly competitive landscape.
Success Strategies
Here are 3 strategies for DTC success based on Ben Matthews' insights:
Choose the right talent to partner with
When selecting creators to collaborate with, it's crucial to look beyond mere follower counts. Dig deeper to understand the audience's demographics, interests, and behaviors.
The most effective creators have a genuine, trusted connection with their audience. They can authentically promote products in a way that resonates, driving their followers to make purchases.
Assess the creator's long-term commitment to the partnership as well. Those who view the business as integral to their future success will be more dedicated to its growth.
Identify markets with $100M+ potential and strong margins
Not every product category is suitable for a successful DTC brand. Focus on markets that have the potential to generate at least $100 million in annual revenue.
Analyze the economics closely as well. Opt for products with strong profit margins that can sustain a healthy business. Avoid categories with complex logistics, like those requiring cold chain, unless you have deep expertise.
Look for opportunities to bring innovation to stagnant but necessary consumer products. Fresh ideas in these spaces can capture consumer attention and dollars.
Structure incentives to align talent and business goals
When partnering with creators, the deal structure is critical to long-term success. It's not a one-size-fits-all approach, but rather an art of balancing various factors.
Key priorities include incentivizing the talent to stay deeply engaged, bringing on skilled operators to run the business, and providing meaningful upside for investors.
The most effective deals create true synergy between the celebrity partner, the operating team, and the financial backers. Each party's interests must be aligned around growing a successful brand.
Success Strategies
Here are 3 essential strategies for DTC success, drawn from the insights shared by Ben Matthews:
Harness the influence of creator partnerships
One of the most powerful tools in a DTC brand's arsenal is partnering with the right creators and influencers. Ben Matthews underscored the immense potential of collaborating with talent who have a strong, authentic connection to your product and a highly engaged audience that trusts their recommendations.
The key is to identify creators whose followers are accustomed to taking action based on their endorsements, whether that's making a purchase, signing up for a service, or engaging with content. By aligning your brand with these influential voices, you can effectively bridge the gap between content and commerce, exposing your products to a receptive audience primed to convert.
However, it's crucial to recognize that not all creators are created equal when it comes to driving sales. While a large following is certainly important, it's the depth of the creator's relationship with their audience that truly moves the needle. Brands should seek out partners who have cultivated a strong sense of trust and loyalty among their followers, as this emotional connection is what fuels the most successful collaborations.
Identify the optimal product category and business model
Choosing the right product category to enter is a critical decision for any DTC brand, and one that can make or break its success. Ben Matthews emphasized the importance of focusing on markets with strong revenue potential, ideally in the range of $100 million or more in annual sales, and healthy profit margins to support sustainable growth.
When incubating new brands, his team at Knight Ventures looks for innovative consumer products that fill a genuine need or desire in the market, while steering clear of overly complex supply chains that can eat into margins and create operational headaches. They also consider the founder's passion and expertise in the chosen market, recognizing that deep knowledge and enthusiasm are essential ingredients for success.
In terms of business model, it's often wise to start with a solid direct-to-consumer foundation, as Feastables did with their initial Shopify store. This allows for testing and refining the product, messaging, and customer experience before expanding into strategic retail partnerships to support growth. By establishing a strong DTC presence first, brands can build a loyal customer base and gather valuable data to inform their wholesale strategy.
Craft an authentic, talent-driven brand identity
In today's crowded DTC landscape, the brands that stand out are often those with a strong, authentic identity deeply entwined with the creators behind them. As Ben Matthews noted, tying your brand to a well-aligned creator can be incredibly powerful for driving awareness, engagement, and sales.
However, the key is ensuring that the creator's promotion of the brand feels genuine and rooted in their true interests and values. Feastables, for example, taps into Mr. Beast's well-known enthusiasm for gamified experiences and philanthropy, creating a natural synergy between the creator and the product.
The challenge lies in balancing this strong creator association with long-term brand sustainability. While leveraging the creator's influence is crucial for initial traction, brands must also consider how to build a distinct personality that can stand on its own as they grow. Strategies to strike this balance include consistently reinforcing the brand-creator connection through storytelling and content, while also investing in building a memorable brand aesthetic, voice, and set of values.
Ultimately, by leveraging creator partnerships strategically, identifying the optimal product category and business model, and crafting an authentic, talent-driven brand identity, DTC brands can position themselves for lasting success in an increasingly competitive landscape. The insights shared by Ben Matthews offer a roadmap for navigating this exciting but challenging terrain, and unlocking the full potential of the creator economy for DTC growth.
Success Strategies
Here are three key strategies for success in the direct-to-consumer (DTC) space, based on insights from Ben Matthews:
Partner with the right creators
Working with influencers and creators can be incredibly powerful for DTC brands. The key is to find partners who genuinely connect with your product and have an engaged, trusting audience.
When a creator's followers are used to acting on their recommendations, it can lead to big sales. Look for creators who have a strong bond with their audience, not just a big following.
Pick the right product and business model
Choosing what to sell is a critical decision for DTC brands. Focus on products with good profit margins and the potential to generate at least $100 million in yearly sales.
Avoid products with complicated supply chains. They can eat into profits and cause headaches. Also, consider the founder's knowledge and passion for the product category.
When it comes to selling, start by selling directly to consumers. This lets you test and improve before expanding to retail partners. Establish a loyal customer base and gather data to guide your wholesale strategy.
Build an authentic brand tied to creators
The most successful DTC brands often have a strong identity tied to the creators behind them. Linking your brand to the right creator can be very powerful for driving sales and awareness.
But it has to feel authentic. The creator's promotion of the brand should align with their true interests and values. Feastables, for example, taps into Mr. Beast's love of games and giving back.
As you grow, find a balance between the creator connection and building a brand that can stand alone. Reinforce the creator tie-in through storytelling and content. At the same time, invest in creating a unique brand look, voice, and values.
By using these strategies - partnering with the right creators, picking the right products and business model, and building an authentic, creator-driven brand - DTC companies can set themselves up for long-term success in a competitive market.
Success Strategies v2
Here are 3 strategies for DTC success based on Ben Matthews' insights:
Pick the right talent and influence their audience
Looking to harness the power of influencer marketing? The key is finding the perfect partner.
As Ben points out, it's not just about follower count. You need to dig deeper and truly understand a creator's audience before teaming up.
Here's how to pick a winner:
Assess their "shill" skills: Can they authentically and effectively promote products to drive sales?
Gauge their long-term commitment: Will they prioritize your brand partnership as their career evolves?
Understand audience alignment: Does their audience match your target demo and have a track record of taking action based on the creator's recommendations?
Once you've found the right fit, it's all about wielding that influence strategically.
Educate the audience on your brand story and product benefits through the creator's unique voice and content style. You want their community to inherently associate your offering with the talent they know and love.
This could look like:
Ongoing product plugs seamlessly woven into the creator's regular content cadence
Custom co-branded content and campaigns that bring your brand ethos to life
Collabs timed around key launches and promotions to drive timely demand and action
Consistently reinforce your brand-creator connection across touchpoints to keep building that crucial affinity and trust with your target audience over time.
Choose the right product and build a moat
Picking the right thing to sell is make or break for DTC success. But it's not just about chasing trends or hopping on the latest viral sensation.
As Ben shares, you need to zero in on markets with major growth runway - at least $100M in annual revenue potential - and the ability to claim it profitably with healthy margins.
Easier said than done, right? Here's how to hone in on a hero product:
Identify unmet consumer needs or emerging trends with serious commercial legs
Prioritize innovative product ideas you can produce affordably and that aren't easily replicated
Consider operational costs and complexity, avoiding fussy supply chains unless you've got the chops
Crowdsource ideas from talent or influencers already tapped into your target demo's desires
Above all, choose something you can realistically build a business moat around. Think ownable brand positioning, a unique hook or selling point that sets you apart from the pack.
Put in the upfront market analysis and creative brainstorming to land on something truly remarkable. A product with the power to convert customers and keep them coming back for the long haul.
Maximize your content's value for the future
Sure, pumping out social content is the DTC du jour. But if you really want to win big, you've got to think beyond the likes and views.
As Ben explains, creator content is a goldmine waiting to be tapped. There's huge potential to repurpose all that "dark data" your content generates to power new biz opportunities down the line.
We're talking training large language AI models, fine-tuning recommendation algorithms, even informing future product development. It's all insanely valuable to big tech and could equal big bucks for savvy creators and brands.
So how do you start extracting that extra value from your content machine?
First, get organized. Implement a process and system for cataloging and tagging content as you go. Make it easily searchable and accessible to mine later on.
Resist the temptation to create purely trend-chasing, disposable content. Focus on quality over quantity. Craft a healthy mix of timely and evergreen pieces with lasting relevance and reusable elements.
Stay on top of emerging tech and companies commercializing this type of data. Build relationships proactively so you're poised to pounce on monetization opps as they arise.
Don't sleep on your content's long-tail potential. Build it with the future in mind and you could be sitting on a revenue stream you never even dreamed of.
Success Strategies v2
Here are 3 strategies for DTC success based on insights from Ben Matthews:
Pick the right talent for the right audience
Partnering with the perfect creators can make or break your brand's success. But it's not just about follower counts or vanity metrics.
To truly crush it, you need to dig deep and understand a creator's audience on a fundamental level. What makes them tick? How do they engage with the influencer's content? Most importantly, will they actually buy what you're selling?
Ben's advice: Do your homework with surveys and research that go beyond surface-level analytics. Look for creators with proven "shilling" power (aka the ability to authentically promote products their fans can't resist).
Real-world examples like Logan Paul and The Rock show the incredible sales potential of partnering with the right talent. But you also need to consider a creator's long-term commitment. Are they in it for the long haul or just a quick cash grab?
Digital-native influencers often prioritize entrepreneurial ventures as a path to lasting wealth and success. Meanwhile, A-list celebs may view your brand partnership as just another blip on their career radar.
Choose wisely and make sure talent partnerships align with your brand's big picture. The right mix of audience, influence, and staying power is the secret sauce for DTC greatness.
Slay the product game with market-ready goods
So you've found the perfect creator to rep your brand. Now you need a product that's guaranteed to pop off.
According to Ben, the key is to identify markets with major revenue potential (think 9-figures) and healthy margins to match. Skip the logistical nightmares and complex supply chains, unless you've got the chops to handle the heat.
Instead, focus on creating affordable, habit-forming products that seamlessly integrate into consumers' lives. Bonus points for innovation that fills a genuine market need or desire.
Not sure where to start? Take a page from Mr. Beast's playbook. His Feastables snack brand began with a simple question: What does he actually like to eat? Combine talent's authentic interests with promising market opps and you've got a recipe for success.
Analyze potential product ideas through a VC lens to assess market size, trends, and competitive landscape. The end goal is to create something that talent genuinely loves and consumers can't get enough of. Nail the product and you're well on your way to DTC domination.
Master the art of the incubation deal
Cracking the code on talent partnerships is an art, not a science. Every deal is unique, with its own nuances and complications.
The most successful incubation deals bring together phenomenal operators with a deep understanding of their market. It's all about creating synergy between talent, incubators, and investors.
That's where Knight's venture studio model comes in clutch. They provide unparalleled support and resources for early-stage consumer brands, attracting top-tier founders in the process.
Potential partners go through an intensive 4-6 month process to prove their chops and build true market expertise. This weeds out the wannabes and sets the stage for powerhouse partnerships.
Once the dream team is assembled, it's all about leveraging the right mix of market insight, creator influence, and business savvy to launch a brand to the moon. Easier said than done, but when it clicks, the results are pure magic.
Looking ahead, Knight sees major potential in strategic acquisitions as well. Think buying up promising brands and injecting them with talent-driven rocket fuel. The key is finding authentic fits like Ryan Trahan x Joyride.
As the creator economy evolves, keep an eye out for collabs with rising micro-influencers as well. With the right formula, even smaller creators can drive big wins for DTC brands bold enough to take the leap.
Timestamps Trial
Here is the timestamped overview for this episode, matching the provided example's tone, style and format:
00:00 Ben's background in product management and venture capital
02:08 Launching Mr. Beast Burger and Feastables brands with creators
06:05 What makes a creator able to successfully launch their own brand
11:22 Sponsor break
11:43 Identifying the right creator talent and products to work with
15:54 Finding alignment and operators to manage creator brands
20:02 Investing in companies at the intersection of content and commerce
22:29 Optimizing operations with AI and replacing manual roles
25:32 Live shopping and the future of social commerce
28:15 The importance of building an audience as a professional
29:39 Trobio and the opportunity in dark data for training AI models
31:54 Closing thoughts on creators having power through their audience
Weekly Newsletter
Subject: New DTC POD Episode: Inside Night Ventures with Ben Matthews
Hey there,
We've got an exciting new episode of DTC POD for you this week! Blaine sits down with Ben Matthews, General Partner at Night Ventures, to dive into the world of creator-led brands and businesses. Night Ventures has partnered with some of the biggest creators out there, like MrBeast and his ventures MrBeast Burger and Feastables.
In this episode, you'll learn:
What it takes for a creator to successfully launch their own brand (hint: it's not just about audience size)
How Night Ventures decides which creators to partner with and what businesses to build
The story behind MrBeast Burger - it started as a video stunt and turned into a 9-figure business!
Why the future of consumer brands lies in creators who can authentically promote to their audience
The 3 keys to a successful creator brand: picking the right talent, the right business model, and nailing the execution
Fun fact: Ben reveals that MrBeast originally considered launching a beef jerky brand before landing on Feastables chocolate bars. Can you imagine an alternate timeline with MrBeast Jerky?
This episode is packed with insights on the creator economy, building brands, and the future of commerce. Whether you're a founder looking to partner with creators, a creator yourself, or just fascinated by the space, you won't want to miss Ben's takes.
As always, thanks for listening to DTC POD. If you enjoyed this episode, we'd really appreciate you leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. It helps us reach new listeners and continue bringing you great content.
Make sure you're subscribed so you never miss an episode, and follow @DTCPodcast on Twitter to stay in the loop. We've got some awesome guests and topics lined up that you won't want to miss.
Until next time,
The DTC POD team
Custom LinkedIN Post Format
Here's a LinkedIn post based on the context of the recording with Ben Matthews:
If you want to build the next great consumer brand, here's the framework I'd use based on insights from Ben Matthews, General Partner at Night Ventures:
(Night Ventures is the firm behind partnering with top 1% creators like MrBeast and Kai Cenat to create viral consumer brands)
To create a consumer brand that leverages top influencers, focus on these 3 things:
• Find the right talent fit
• Choose the right business model
• Execute with a world-class operator
Here's how...
Find talent that's authentic and OBSESSED.
Look for creators that are natural brand ambassadors. Do they have a track record of getting their audience to take action?
Importantly, will they still care about this business in 12+ months? Passion and persistence are key.
Pick a business where you can innovate.
Is there white space to create a $100M+ brand with great unit economics? Analyze the market and supply chain.
You need a product that is better, cheaper or more convenient than competitors.
Being talent-led alone isn't enough.
Find an incredible operator to run with it.
Building consumer brands is HARD.
You need a founder with grit and tenacity.
Look for someone who has the chops but hasn't gotten their shot. Incubating under your platform could be their unfair advantage.
A few more tips:
• Only ~20 creators are big enough to carry a whole brand solo
• 99.5% of talent-led brands fail, so choose wisely
• The messy middle of micro-influencers is where the arbitrage is
Building brands with creators is like packaging movies.
You need the right star, script, and director. When you find that magic combination, swing for the fences.
--
Listen to the full episode with Ben breaking down Mr Beast's businesses here: https://dtcpod.com/ben-matthews
hashtag#creatoreconomy hashtag#consumerbrands hashtag#venturecapital hashtag#ecommerce
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