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Why some creators break through and most don't

After 100+ Building Value conversations, the same few patterns keep showing up.

Keynote, 45 to 60 minutes. For creator platforms, brand and marketing teams, and creator conferences.

Jason Nellis speaking on a panel at ZEST Malta 2017
ZEST, Malta, 2017

Most platforms and brands still pick creators on follower count and volume. Neither predicts who'll still be building in five years.

I've seen this from both sides. At Packagd we built for creators and got it wrong before we got it right. At SuperBam I worked the IP-protection side and saw which creators had built something worth protecting. In between came a hundred-plus Building Value conversations, from a corporate chef who found TikTok to a YouTuber's long climb to 100K subscribers. The same few patterns separate who breaks through, and none of them are about production value.

What the room leaves with

  • The few patterns that separate creators who break through
  • Why most creator-economy advice misses them
  • Three questions to ask before you back a creator

How it runs

  1. Two products nobody asked for

    Building for creators at Packagd before listening to any of them, and what it cost.

  2. What changed when we started listening

    Launching Unboxed Daily and working inside creator culture every day. The pivot that led to the Meta acquisition.

  3. The patterns that repeat

    What a hundred-plus Building Value conversations have in common.

  4. Working the other side

    What protecting creator IP at SuperBam showed me about which creators had built something worth protecting.

  5. Three questions

    The test from The Lens, for platforms and brands deciding who to back.

Where it comes from

Related reading: What you learn when you stop building and start listening

I shape every talk to the room and the run of show.

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