Digital Banks for Content Creators
Hey!
I am a working on a fintech startup that aims to provide financial services (e.g., loan) tailored for content creators.
It seems like creators have no banking solution, which prohibits many of them from going all in to do what they do best (i.e. CREATE!).
Traditional banks are not sophisticated enough to price the risk of giving a personal loan to a writer on Substack or a podcaster on Anchor, among others. They don't have the means to price the financial risk of content creation while taken into account the different metrics at hand (#followers, #subscribers, growth, churn, MRR, etc.) and this is a major issue for content creators.
A full time content creator can't get any loan (e.g., personal, mortgage) backed solely by their creation as a source of income. Banks perceive it as a hobby/ or something that is not so serious and would rather you go get a 'wage' instead of following your passion.
I am working on creating the Creators' Bank, a digital global bank to serve Creators to solve for these challenges. Let me know your thoughts! Would love to jump on a zoom whenever works.
Sounds like the next Brex.com, but for content creators! Also checkout https://www.shopify.com/capital, which seems to be pretty popular with shopify site owners.
Your subject is very relevant 👍 : I think it will be one of the next big subjects in 2022!
Like the quick commerce in Europe in 2021 (between Gorillas, Cajoo, Flink, Gopuff...) , I think that the VCs bet now on the future leader(s) of the Creator-focused digital banks. (Maybe I'm wrong 😅, but we could see some weak signals on the market)
Karat Financial, Creator Cash by ChannelMeter (the big names), Zelf (dedicated to gamers), Oxygen, Creative Juice..
Therefore, others founding teams now joining the battle (Muse at YC, Dealflow...)
It is also a global issue for creators as several actors emerge outside Europe or the US
(UpbanX in Indonesia, Bettr in South Africa...)
The sub-vertical has found its momentum, or will find it soon in the year
Do you work on it as a solo business for now or you're part of a confounding team?
Furthermore, currently we have startups like XPO, Monet.money or Current.com working about another main problem about creator finances : the payments of their invoices, other startups working with freelancer at first but looking at creators like Willa, Friz; and income management solutions like Stir
Even if the digital banks seems complicated, there are others spaces in the intersection of FinTech and the Creator Economy 😉
I agree that content creators are not classed as self employed. Not declaring any sort of income using YouTube to increase there audience and popularity.
Seeing that there are ample of people who make good living from YouTube. There is upside to helping them but seeing financial services who don’t class them as being in a job.
Thanks!
This is only my advice, and should not be seen as reliable advice. But as an indiehacker, I would stay away from regulated areas as a general rule unless you have a very clear business case and hundreds of thousands of dollars laying around . If you have a 1,000 people who are knocking down your door to build something in a regulated area, it might be worth it.
Good point. I should probably think about it as b2b saas for banks to price the risk of financing content creators
OK, I understand. Again only my advice, but for the normal bank, it would probably add too much complexity to their underwriting process relative to the potential profit of financing content creators. Small businesses across the US are complaining that they can’t get access to credit, and they represent a much larger segment than content creators. If someone was going to use this as SaaS, I would guess it be a niche, specialist lender rather than a bank. For example, those SME payday lenders like OnDeck Capital fit the profile; albeit in a different niche.