Why Do Creator-Brand Deals Still Feel Like the Wild West?
As founders, we’ve streamlined so many industries — payments, logistics, customer support — yet influencer partnerships still feel stuck in chaos.
Finding the right YouTuber for a brand collab often means weeks of cold DMs, ghosting, vague pricing, and deals that collapse mid-way. Even when creators are eager to work with brands, the process is scattered and painfully manual.
Meanwhile, creators — especially smaller or niche ones — struggle to price themselves fairly, or to even get discovered in the first place.
• Why do you think this space hasn’t standardized like programmatic ads or affiliate marketing?
• Is it simply the “human” factor, or lack of trust, or both?
• For founders working in marketing tech, have you seen innovative models for connecting brands and creators faster and more transparently?
I’d love to hear how others here are tackling (or avoiding) this space. Feels like there’s huge potential for a smoother, more structured way forward.
Replies
Velocity
From experience recently it's a wildly different offering you get from creator to creator. The most professional creators have a excellent communication, follow up and hand holding with well presented packs you can share through out your org. The worst ones are winging it with sketchy communication. I think theres a stigma of people 'just' typing a few words and making money. Some of these Creators are the type who are typing words all the time, naturals skilled at communication and not really into the business of it but willing to make a buck. The others really are considerate professionals. It's hard to tell them apart on the outside. But if they have worked repeatedly with big brands before, they are likely legit. If they are good at communicating from the beginning and generous with their time but authorative it's a great indicator.
Professionals being respected as genuine channels of growth and paid well, just like you would any channel will mature the market. But while the standards of what good look like are not clearly shared, there will be a large difference between good and bad offering wildly different prices.
@kevin_mcdonagh1 Totally agree — the gap between pro creators and those winging it is massive, and it’s so hard to spot until you’re mid-convo or halfway into a deal.
That’s one reason I’m fascinated by solutions that introduce structure and transparency upfront, like standardized profiles, clear pricing signals, or even auction-based systems. It feels like the market wants to mature, but still needs tools to help brands identify the real professionals faster.