When to Raise Money as a Creator

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Well, creators are a cash flow business. Absolutely any company in the world can be cash positive. Creators are no different.

The misunderstanding here is that Creators are not media; content is media. Creators are individuals with online distribution that acquire revenue, or investment, based on their online persona. This leaves creators in at an unprecedented advantage to build media, infrastructure, technology, and community to support whatever massive swing they’re going after.

Raising money as a creator-founder isn't just about funding your next project; it's about building a very, very large and scaleable business. What traditional startup people would consider “venture back-able.”

Creator companies—especially creator holding companies—operate differently from traditional startups, but the core idea is the same: you need outside capital to get to the next level.

Creators face unique challenges. You're not just building a single product; you're building a platform for your audience, a personal brand, and potentially multiple revenue streams. This can be business-wise, a little messy. That’s why it’s critical to understand how to raise money effectively, whether you're funding a new product, investing in your team, or simply scaling your operations.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the basics of raising money as a creator-founder. This isn’t an exhaustive how-to, but it covers the fundamentals of what you need to know to get started. The advice comes from years of experience helping startups raise funding, and while raising money as a creator might feel different, the principles are remarkably similar.

Why Creators Need to Raise Money

Off the bat, not every creator has to raise money to be a creator. This is just like not every technology or invention in the history of the world has raised venture capital.

Most creators start small—relying on YouTube ad revenue, sponsorships, or merch sales—but at some point, those revenue streams won’t be enough to scale. Whether you’re launching a new product, hiring your first team member, or building out your creator holding company, you’ll likely need more capital than your income can provide.

Here’s the thing: raising money isn’t just about survival. It’s about speed. With enough cash, you can hire faster, produce better content, market to more people, and explore new opportunities. A “war chest” of funding can be a competitive advantage.

That said, fundraising is hard. You’re asking investors to bet on you—your brand, your audience, and your ability to create something meaningful. The good news is that there are investors who understand the value of creators, and they’re actively looking for opportunities. The bad news is that raising money can be exhausting, slow, and sometimes demoralizing. But for most creator-founders, it’s a necessary step.

When Should You Raise Money?

Investors write checks when they believe in two things:

1. You have a compelling vision and the ability to execute it.
2. The opportunity is big enough to make their investment worthwhile.

For most creators, this means you should raise money when you’ve figured out:

• The Market Opportunity: Who your audience is and what they need.
• Evidence of Traction: Evidence that what you’re doing works—whether it’s growing your audience, selling products, or closing deals.

Traction doesn’t have to mean millions of dollars in revenue. We’ll go in in Company Design for HoldCos how to “test” products without completely launching them out-front and they flop immediately. It’s true that in traditional startup world, this would be absolutely fine. Ship, ship, ship. is typically applied when the founders have… very little to loose. But, considering that you’re a founder with trust baked in, there are best-practices on how to test markets responsibly and still prove traction. (ex: fast-growing email list (re: KHY), etc.). The key is to show that you’re onto something big.

If you can convince investors with just an idea, congratulations. For everyone else: focus on building your audience, testing your products, and proving your concept before you start raising.

How Much Should You Raise?

Raise enough to hit your next big milestone—whether that’s launching a product, building a team, or growing your audience to a size that attracts brand deals. Ideally, you’d raise enough to never need more funding, but realistically, many creator companies will need multiple rounds.

A good rule of thumb is to raise for 12-18 months of operations. If you’re hiring, figure out how much your team will cost (e.g., $10k–$15k/month per person) and multiply that by how many months you want to fund. Add in your other expenses—like production costs, marketing, or tools—and you’ll have a target.

The truth about fundraising is that this is totally dependent on what you want to do with the money. Fundraising is hard and definitely a privilege at this stage, specifically. What you want to do is start exploring what exactly you want to do with the money and researching the average cost of growing into that goal.

As always, if you have any particular questions, feel feel to reach out to em@pre-founder.com.

On this page

• When to Raise Money as a Creator
• Why Creators Need to Raise Money
• When Should You Raise Money?
• How Much Should You Raise?