Dom Smales is the exited Founder of Gleam Futures, which was one of the first social media talent agencies in the world - and the first in the UK.

When Gleam was founded back in 2010, influencers weren’t even a thing, but Dom saw the potential power bloggers could have. He went on to play a big part in the rise of the first Youtube stars, like Zoe Sugg, better known as Zoella; Tanya Burr; and the Pixiwoo sisters, Sam and Nicola Chapman.

Dom exited in 2020 but it wasn't what he thought it would be.

We talk about:

What it was like being the agent for the UK’s biggest social media stars
His tips on how to manage a successful exit, Dom left the company in 2021
Why selling your company might not be all you hope for
What he really thinks of the influencer industry today

--

Sponsors

Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders

Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders

Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders

--

Newsletter

Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/

You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes

The man who predicted the rise of the influencer, with Gleam Futures Founder Dom Smales