Investors and venture capital firms are pouring millions of dollars into creator-focused startups as the creator economy continues to expand. According to United Talent Agency’s IQ department, the phrase creator economy was used by over 70,000 people online between January and September 2021, and it is projected that marketers will spend over $6 billion in the influencer-marketing sector in 2023. Notable startups in this industry include link-in-bio service Linktree, which is valued at $1.3 billion in 2022, and affiliate marketing platform LTK, which is valued at $2 billion in late 2021. In the US alone, over $5 billion was invested in creator-focused startups in 2021.
To secure investments, startup founders often begin with a pitch deck. To shed light on the process, startup founders who have pitched their businesses to investors shared their pitch decks with Insider, detailing how they secured millions of dollars in funding. These decks were used in Series A, Seed, and pre-Seed rounds for 23 creator economy startups such as Restream, pearpop, Spoon Radio, Lumanu, and Brag House. These startups offer practical tools for creator businesses in areas such as livestreaming, content and talent management, business solutions, community management, and marketing. Some founders used different pitch decks depending on the type of investor or fund they were pitching to, while others followed a simple structure revolving around the why, what, how, and why now of their businesses.
