Navigating the Transition and Compensation for COOs in the Creator Economy

Prediction: Creator COO will be the hot new job category for MBAs over the next decade.

Before the boom of the creator economy the title “creator operator” didn’t exist. And as creator-led businesses grow, more and more will need operators to get to the next level. 

In this episode, Jim Louderback, Editor and Publisher of Inside the Creator Economy, joins host Matt Estes to discuss the evolution of the Creator COO role.

Jim has built and sold numerous creator economy startups to giants like Discovery and Paramount – and his industry insights are unmatched. 

He’s the former editor-in-chief of PC Magazine and a recognized Top Voice on LinkedIn with over 30k followers. Jim’s weekly newsletter "Inside the Creator Economy," reaches over 22 thousand readers and he's truly at the center of the creator conversation.

Listen as we discuss how the video industry has evolved, becoming more complex but with a much higher ROI, how a creator operator needs to function depending on what stage the creator is at, and how to build successful partnerships between creators and creator COOs

Show Notes:

Here are the key takeaways from our conversation with Jim:

The Shift to DTC Puts Power in Creators’ Hands: Gatekeepers are no more. Early in Jim’s career, you would only reach audiences through organizations like magazines, newspapers, or television companies. Now, they can go directly to their audience. Creators today have more leverage than ever, unlocking new growth potential and a whole new world of operations to manage.

Creator COOs Enable Scalability and Durability:Dedicating a part- or full-time team member to operations certainly improves a creator’s short-term outcomes, but Jim explains the importance of a Creator COO in building a business that lasts. A business operator can step in to think long-term, develop strategies that will outlive fleeting trends, and implement structure that grows with the business.

How to Decide Whether You Need a Creator COO:Jim shares how to determine whether to hire an operations expert and, if so, what tasks to offload. He recommends considering what a creator could do with additional capacity, what the creator’s long-term vision is, and what structure needs to be in place for growth. He also notes that the COO role can evolve with the business, growing from a fractional role to a full-time position or even multi-person team.

Jump into the Conversation:

[02:00] The rise and fall of multi-channel networks (MCNs)

[08:30] The shift toward a direct-to-consumer (DTC) approach

[12:00] How Creator COOs enable scalable and durable businesses

[18:00] How to find and delegate work to a Creator COO

[29:00] How to compensate a Creator COO

[34:00] The potential for VC backing in the creator world

[42:30] The spectrum of creator business models and life cycles

[48:00] The rise of the in-house creator role

[51:00] Jim’s advice for aspiring Creator COOs

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