Content creator Sean Hansen, at age 23, secured $120,000 by offering investors a 10% stake in his future earnings. This investment covers his current social media revenue and all potential ventures over the next decade—from brand deals to business ventures.

This wasn’t a private deal with a wealthy investor. Instead, 64 individuals, investing as little as $50 each, collectively provided $70,000 of the funding through a new platform called Crowdsurf.

Founder and CEO Preston Troutt describes Crowdsurf as an SEC-registered and FINRA-regulated platform that gives any creator the ability to raise money in exchange for future revenue from accredited and non-accredited investors.

The funding immediately transformed Hansen’s content creation capabilities. “He’s already brought on an expanded team, and, with it, he’ll be able to scale up his content output, step on the gas, and just start to crank out high-level content,” says Alan Guerrieri, Crowdsurf’s Operations Lead. “It also gives him a little bit of breathing room. He has received the $70k, so he no longer has to worry about doing brand deals to keep the lights on.”

Making Creator Investment Accessible

Crowdsurf designed its model to welcome both creators and investors. 

“We’ve broken all shares into $50 increments,” Alan explains. “We’ve tried to make it so that anybody in the world can invest in a content creator, and we want to do this on a wider scale.”

The platform’s comprehensive approach to investing in creator earnings distinguishes it in the market. “I think what separates our platform is allowing our investors to invest in everything they do,” Alan points out. “Some platforms will allow investment only in a single YouTube channel or a single form of revenue. With us, it’s everything. If [the creators] build a business in year seven, you’re still invested in it even after the period ends.”

This comprehensive model required careful planning. “Creators must ensure they’re ready for that expansion,” Alan notes. “Giving up equity sounds daunting, but we’re here to carry out the process with due diligence and make it worthwhile. We want to look into what the creator has done in the past, their past revenue, whether they’re growing steadily, and whether they think this is sustainable.”

To protect creators, Crowdsurf implements a revenue threshold system. “That 10% only comes out of top-line revenue when he hits a certain threshold,” Alan notes. “We have his threshold set at 60k spread out over four quarters. Only once he hits that threshold will investors be distributed their percentage. We put that in there to protect the creator.”

The valuation process follows a systematic approach. “We determine this through revenue modeling,” Alan says. 

“Our sophisticated model looks at the numbers and future potential revenue payouts. We’re pretty comfortable about this because, over 10 years, think about what the creator can do with the money he raised,” he notes, adding that they’re “long on Sean,” betting on his success.

The Selection Process

The platform maintains strict standards for creator selection. 

“We have a team that identifies prospective creators who are stepping up with growing engagement and follower count,” Alan explains. “From there, we’ll set up a few calls, get to know them as people, get to know their business, like how they’re making money and doing things. Do they think that they need this?”

Their evaluation process includes comprehensive analysis: “There’s a lot that goes into the due diligence process and behind the scenes, like potential revenue modeling, looking into their revenue and analytics, and what they’ve made in the past. There are a few documents that we have to sign off on.”

Alan emphasizes their selective approach: “We’ve been picky about who we want because, in the end, we want them to raise the money successfully, and we want it to be a good use of time for them. 

“For our next one, we’re looking for someone in that financial, entrepreneurial, investing niche,” Alan shares. “Someone who can market the offering to their audience and give a good idea of what they’re investing in.

Understanding Investment Risks

Alan addresses investment risks directly: “Inherently, any venture-style investment is highly risky,” he acknowledges. “Normal investing strategies involve stocks, bonds, and real estate. But for many people, there’s a lot of learning involved.”

He shares an influential perspective from the industry: “There was a cool MrBeast tweet back in 2020 that got Preston thinking about investing in creators. MrBeast said he wanted to invest in a YouTuber because he didn’t understand the stock market, which seemed boring, but he perfectly understood how YouTube works.

Alan puts it simply, “With venture-style investing, your investment could go to zero, but it could also go 10x. That’s the exciting part about this style of investing.” 

Preston Troutt

Building Strong Creator-Investor Relationships

Crowdsurf prioritizes long-term relationships between creators and investors throughout the 10-year term. 

“We push the creator to build a community around their investors,” Alan says. “Whether that’s giving his investors monthly updates about what he’s up to, what videos he’s got coming out, what projects he’s working on, what merch lines he’s looking to start up—everything.”

Communication stands at the center of their strategy. “We set up Reddit and Discord channels,” Alan explains. “Constant open communication between the creator and investor is the way to keep those relations close and ensure everyone feels good about it.”

The platform encourages active creator-investor dialogue. “We want them asking their investors, ‘What do you guys want to see? Do you guys think I’m doing the right things?’ Sean’s been great about updating everybody and keeping us informed,” Alan notes. 

This structure addresses a key challenge in content creation. “In the entrepreneurial space and art spaces, there are no deadlines,” Alan observes. “With certain jobs, you have deadlines and a boss. YouTubers don’t have bosses.”

The solution comes from creating voluntary accountability structures, and Alan once again cites Sean’s example. “Sean feels that. He wants to bring in people and be accountable, and we love that. We love keeping good relations with our creators because, in the end, we want them to raise money successfully, and we want them to succeed long-term.”

Revenue Model and Future Plans

Crowdsurf operates with a transparent fee structure. “We take a 10% fee on a successful raise,” Alan explains. 

The company offers three main services: “Our main service is the funding portal,” Alan explains. “We’re also developing an agency to bring non-exclusive brand deals to creators in our network, and we’re working on connecting big creators to small creators as advisors and coaches.”

Alan sees significant potential in the creator economy: “Media changes excite me. We’ve seen a change where the power has shifted from the big media to individuals. These individuals want to raise money like a company but can’t because they’re individuals – that is the problem we’re solving.”

“In the end, creators are going to be successful,” Alan concludes. “We’re long on creators, and I think this model is probably just the beginning.”