The creator economy is dead. Long live the creator economy.

Last week, I posted a roundtable about a forecasted dot-com-like crash expected for startups. The creator economy isn’t coming out unscathed — there has been a 90% crash in funding of creator startups.

How will this affect indie hackers? Here’s what creators have to say about it.

Has the bubble finally popped?

Nathan Barry of Convertkit:

The only bubble that's burst is the VC-backed companies that were rushing in without truly understanding the creator economy. The profitable creator-first companies that have been around for years are serving a growing customer base. Audiences are growing faster than ever, willingness for consumers to buy content from creators is up as well. From everything we've seen creators are earning more than ever.

Sahil Lavingia of Gumroad:

I think [the future is] bright, growing 5-15% a year for many decades, slightly faster than the rest of the economy. But we likely won’t experience crazy growth [for] years.

Hugo Amsellem of Creator Economy:

25% of Gen-Zers and 30% of 8-12 year olds want to become creators. This trend isn’t going away.

Ann Gynn of The Tilt:

The creator economy remains strong because it's dominated by small businesses. These entrepreneurs go about their work quietly because they don't need big funding from venture capital firms, nor do they need big social media audiences that attract the big media coverage. Frankly, the state of the creator economy shouldn't really matter to the independent entrepreneur. They should care most about what their audience thinks about their topic because that's how you build a content business.

The current state of the creator economy: good or bad for indie hackers?

Channing Allen of Indie Hackers:

The situation is good for indie hackers. But maybe not in a straightforward way. In general, I don’t think creator platforms are great for direct monetization. The power law is real: only a small handful of creators are going to make serious subscription revenue on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, ConvertKit, and the like. Instead, I see indie hackers leveraging these platforms as a bricolage of top-of-funnel marketing tools that drive customers to their actual revenue-generating products and services. Of course, this requires that they have such products and services — even if they amount to pick-and-shovel products serving the creator economy itself. Which is why I think it’s necessary to distinguish “indie hackers” from pure “creators”.

Hugo Amsellem of Creator Economy:

This digital gold rush follows the same pattern as its predecessors: while some creators are making large fortunes, becoming a creator is unprofitable for most. It’s visible in the math: 3% of YouTubers earn 90% of the platform’s revenue. As long as Meta, YouTube & TikTok keep fighting the most intense attention war in the history of mankind with god-like algorithmic weapons, there is little hope for the emergence of a vibrant middle class in the Creator Economy.

Ayush Chaturvedi of Indie Masterminds:

A creator business is a small business on the internet, like a corner coffee shop. That's a bad thing for VCs, because they will never get their 100X exit. But I think it's a good thing for IHers because we can still build a profitable $10K MRR business around it. The future of the creator economy is indie. Indie hackers building products for indie creators.

How can indie hackers take advantage of the situation?

Ayush Chaturvedi of Indie Masterminds:

Especially when we layer themes like NoCode and AI on top of it, I think there's a lot of potential in the creator economy. If a product can help creators on any platform grow an audience and monetize that audience then there's a lot of value to be captured there. ConvertKit and Tally are my favorite examples of this. There will always be SaaS opportunities in the creator economy in 3 areas: building an audience, owning an audience, and monetizing an audience.

Ann Gynn of The Tilt:

The demand for tools tailored to and priced for this audience to help them operate, market, and sell their products will continue. Given many of the solutions available are designed for larger companies with many employees and much bigger budgets, the potential exists for more targeted solutions for creator businesses.

Nicolas Cole of Premium Ghostwriting Blueprint:

Find a multiplier job. You'll grow faster if the job that's "paying the bills" is accelerating your path to leap and do your own thing. Find an opportunity where you can learn the skills you'll need later on someone else's $. (source)

Jay Clouse of Creator Science:

When people think "creator economy" they often think of video influencers disrupting entertainment... But the real opportunity for most of us in the creator economy is disrupting education. The future is bright for creator-educators. (source)

Dan Koe of Modern Mastery HQ:

The future of the creator economy belongs to holistic synthesizers that aren’t tied to one niche, interest, or skill. There’s enough basic advice out there. You need to push the limits of your mind, life, and creativity to limits that can’t be reached by “focusing on one thing.” (source)

Molly O'Shea of SourceryDeals:

I don’t believe the next big opportunity in the ‘creator economy’ is becoming the next ‘tiktok-like’ social platform. I believe the real opportunity is in realizing these creators are their own small businesses (SMBs) & providing them with the platform + tools to manage, expand, visualize, monetize, & ultimately create sustainable long-term businesses. It’s a naturally spike-driven biz model riddled with uncertainty, if you can find the basis of their communities, metrics, trends, opportunities, and then provide support systems, ‘non-intimidating’ financial insights, & leverage the lucky spikes as ‘bonuses,’ then I believe more stability, certainty, and the most important part: freedom & space for creativity. Then only more unique content/creation can transpire from there. (source)

Channing Allen of Indie Hackers:

I see the creator economy in a similar light as the gig economy: a way to “modularize” work and increase autonomy. But this comes at the expense of stability and, ultimately, income. In both of these spaces, the majority of people who make it work will only do so by juggling a lot of individual gigs and side hustles.

Ann Gynn of The Tilt:

I see the real growth coming from the creators who take their business seriously. They publish frequently regularly to attract and retain an audience. They know creating content is only half the job. They spend a lot of time on marketing. They know they need to own their platforms and audiences rather than building their business on rented land -- social media channels.

Sahil Lavingia of Gumroad:

It’s still early... you have to be patient. Think in decades if you can.

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