Investors Want to Buy Creator Businesses. Is Ireland Ready?
Next week, Paris Creator Week is running a session on investing in creator businesses for the first time. The reason, according to the organisers, is that investors want to buy into creator businesses but are struggling to find many in Europe.
It got me thinking. We all say creators are businesses now. But how many would actually stand up if someone came looking to invest? Director Aoifa Smyth investigates what makes a creator investable, the Irish talent already building brands, including our own Jessica O’Mahony and Nadia Power, and how long before investors look here.
It's already happening
In the UK it's well underway, especially in podcasting. Goalhanger, the company behind The Rest Is History, took on its first investor this year, and Global has been buying up creator-led shows. On the comedy side, Elis James and John Robins set up their own production company this year to build a wider slate beyond their own shows.
Ireland is a smaller market, but there are great examples here too. Suzanne Jackson built SOSU from her blog. Keilidh Cashell has KASH Beauty. The 2 Johnnies turned a podcast into tours, TV and a proper production company.
Two of our own have done the same. Jessica O'Mahony spent five years building Søw-Sé, a home and garden brand, with her husband Peter, and kept as much of it made in Ireland as they could. Nadia Power co-founded Swifter, a running gear brand designed and tested by athletes, while still competing at Olympic level.
A business, not just a following
The biggest question investors ask is a simple one: what happens if the person at the centre steps back? If everything depends on one face, it's hard to put a value on it.
From what I see, the creators building something that lasts tend to have a few things in common. They own what they make. They have income that comes back year after year, rather than relying on one-off brand deals. They have a direct line to their audience. And they have the right people around them.
We see our role as being part of that team. Not just finding the next brand deal, but helping talent work out what they want to build and who they need around them to do it.
Not everyone needs to
This isn't a checklist every creator should be working through. Plenty of brilliant comedians, hosts and podcasters have no interest in building a company, and their careers are no less successful for it.
But even if you never want outside investment, those same habits make for a steadier career.
Investors are already paying attention in the UK and across Europe. Ireland tends to be a step or two behind, but I don't think it'll be long before they start looking here too.
When they do, the creators who have already started building something of their own will be the ones in a position to choose.