Why the Biggest Creators Are Building Software Companies

The creator economy hit $250 billion in 2024, according to Goldman Sachs Research. That sounds like a gold rush. But here is the part nobody puts in the headline: over half of all creators still earn less than $15,000 per year, and only 4% cross the $100,000 mark. The math does not add up for most people in this industry, and the creators who have figured out why are quietly doing something different. They are building software companies.

The Shift from Content to Commerce

Creators used to be content makers. Then they became brand ambassadors. Now the most ambitious ones are becoming business owners. The progression is obvious once you see it.

MrBeast turned his YouTube empire into Beast Industries, now valued at $5 billion after a $300 million Series C led by Alpha Wave. His chocolate brand Feastables generated $250 million in revenue in 2024, and the company projects $520 million in 2025. Hailey Bieber built RHODE Skin into a brand that E.L.F. acquired for $1 billion. Emma Chamberlain launched Chamberlain Coffee. Logan Paul and KSI created Prime Hydration, which hit $1.3 billion in sales at its peak in 2023.

These are impressive numbers. But they also expose a problem. Physical products come with thin margins, complex supply chains, and inventory risk. Prime Hydration is a cautionary tale: after peaking at $1.3 billion, sales dropped 76% to a projected $300 million in 2025, weighed down by lawsuits, declining buzz, and the brutal economics of bottled beverages. Feastables is the exception, not the rule, and even that business runs on roughly 8% net margins compared to the 80%+ margins you see in software.

The next wave of creator-built businesses is not merchandise or energy drinks. It is software.

Why Software Specifically

Software has a handful of structural advantages that make it uniquely attractive for creators who want to build lasting wealth.

First, recurring revenue. A subscription product generates income every month whether you publish a new video or not. Compare that to ad revenue, which resets to zero the moment you stop posting. Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) compounds. Ad revenue does not.

Second, margins. Software companies operate at 80% gross margins or higher. A physical product company is doing well at 40%. That difference compounds dramatically at scale. For every dollar of revenue, a software company keeps roughly twice as much as a product company.

Third, no inventory. No warehouses, no shipping logistics, no manufacturing delays. A SaaS product can serve 1,000 customers or 100,000 customers on largely the same infrastructure. The incremental cost of adding a new user is close to zero.

Fourth, scalability without proportional cost. Hiring more people to make more chocolate bars is linear scaling. Adding more users to a software platform is exponential value creation on a relatively flat cost base.

The Distribution Advantage Creators Have

Here is where creators have an unfair advantage that most people underestimate.

Traditional startups spend enormous amounts of money trying to get people to notice their product. According to First Page Sage, the average B2B SaaS company spends $702 per customer acquired, and that number climbs to $1,200 for enterprise deals. Customer acquisition costs rose 14% through 2025 while growth slowed across the industry. Many startups with great products fail purely because they run out of runway before finding enough customers.

Creators have already solved this problem. If you have 500,000 engaged followers, your customer acquisition cost approaches zero. You already have attention. You already have trust. You already have a direct line to people who care about what you have to say. That is the single most expensive thing in business, and you got it for free (well, for years of content creation, but the marginal cost of converting that audience into customers is negligible).

As we explore in our article on recurring revenue versus ad revenue, the combination of built-in distribution and subscription economics creates a business model that traditional startups can only dream of.

The Numbers Behind Creator Economy Startups

Venture capital is paying attention. Goldman Sachs estimated that $1.5 billion was invested in creator economy startups in 2024, and the first half of 2025 alone saw over $1.6 billion in funding. The total for 2025 is projected to reach $1.8 to $2.2 billion globally.

The deals are getting larger too. Whatnot raised $490 million across two rounds and doubled its valuation to $11.5 billion. AI content companies like ElevenLabs ($280 million) and Suno ($250 million) are capturing massive investments. Slow Ventures launched a dedicated $60 million creator fund. The M&A activity in the creator economy saw deal volume increase 17.4% year over year, from 69 transactions in 2024 to 81 in 2025.

This is not speculative froth. Investors are backing creator businesses because the unit economics work. A creator with an engaged audience who builds a software product starts with built-in distribution, near-zero CAC, and a feedback loop with their customers that most startups spend years trying to establish. For a deeper look at how these economics play out, see our breakdown of the SaaS business model for creators.

What This Means for Creators with Audiences

If you are reading this and thinking "I am not a developer," that is fine. You do not need to be. The most successful creator-led software ventures are partnerships. The creator brings the audience, the domain expertise, and the vision. A technical team builds the product.

This is exactly the model companies like BuildVentureLab use: creators partner with experienced product teams who handle the design, development, and scaling, while the creator focuses on what they do best. The creator owns equity in a real software business rather than just collecting a sponsorship check.

The window for this is wide open right now. Goldman Sachs projects the creator economy will reach $480 billion by 2027, nearly doubling from its current size. As more creators recognize the opportunity, the competitive advantage of being early will shrink. The creators who move first will have established products, loyal customer bases, and compounding revenue before the market gets crowded.

The creators who will thrive in the next decade are the ones building assets, not just audiences. Content is powerful, but it is ephemeral. A video gets views for a week. A software product generates revenue for years. The smartest creators are not choosing between content and commerce. They are using one to fuel the other, and the vehicle they are choosing is software.