Many of the estimated 200 million content creators worldwide who are expected to drive a half-a-trillion-dollar ecosystem by 2027 are still largely treated as “disposable ad space” – that’s according to Jeremy Grinacoff, founder and CEO of ChannelCore.

With 17 years of marketing experience, including two CMO roles and experience on both the agency and brand side, Jeremy has seen how the creator economy values influence through follower counts and engagement rates, often overlooking the systems creators need to build real, sustainable businesses. “It’s hard for a content creator to understand how much to charge, and it’s hard for a brand to justify the spend they’re going to make on influencers. It’s difficult to track,” he notes.

These pain points led Jeremy to reimagine how creators could operate their businesses more effectively, eventually giving rise to ChannelCore, an AI-powered business and financial platform that provides creators with tools for pricing their work, negotiating brand partnerships, and managing partnerships. 

Founded as a marketing agency and pivoting in 2025 to focus on developing a SaaS platform, the California-based company targets micro and nano influencers in need of business infrastructure.

“At the end of the day, a brand is a business, a creator is a business. And to measure those things, you need business metrics,” says Jeremy. “A business metric is revenue.”

AI as the Business Driver 

ChannelCore addresses these challenges with a suite of AI-powered tools designed to help content creators and digital entrepreneurs organize and scale their business, including:

Smart Pitch and Reply^TM: An AI-driven Negotiation Expert

ChannelCore’s Smart Pitch and Reply^TM feature gives creators an advantage by automating personalized brand outreach and follow-up messages using AI. It learns from past conversations and brand data to craft high-converting pitches, saving time and increasing deal success rates. “Our manual Google Sheet version of the tool has already helped creators increase their revenue by over 40%,” adds Jeremy.

Essentially, what ChannelCore does is give creators the power to operate like businesses without needing a team behind them. “Think of it as if you’re a content creator with an agent looking over your shoulder, helping you and guiding you in negotiating a contract,” Jeremy continues.

Rate Intelligence: Pricing Creator Work With Precision

ChannelCore’s proprietary rate calculator redefines how creators understand and capture their value. Built with creators and brands in mind, this tool leverages data-backed insights to eliminate the guesswork in pricing and turn influence into predictable revenue.

Unlike traditional calculators that rely solely on vanity metrics, ChannelCore’s model incorporates a multi-variable, revenue-driven approach. It assigns weighted scores to core metrics such as engagement rate, saves, shares, and comments. However, it goes further by factoring in recent campaign performance, including conversion rates, average order value, and total revenue generated across a creator’s last three campaigns.

The model is dynamic and context-aware:

• It adjusts based on vertical, platform, audience quality, and deal type (e.g., UGC vs. brand ambassadorships).
• It surfaces industry benchmarks, historical data, and demand signals to recommend a price that reflects true market value, not just follower count.

“Our rate calculator isn’t just about justifying a number; it’s about giving creators the leverage they’ve never had,” says Jeremy. “It arms them with objective data to confidently negotiate rates, avoid being underpaid, and charge based on real performance.”

Contract Protection: Identifying Unfair Terms and Preventing Scope Creep

ChannelCore’s AI goes beyond just brand communication. It actively safeguards creators from one-sided deals. The system reviews partnership terms in real-time, flagging clauses that disproportionately benefit the brand, such as unlimited usage rights, vague deliverables, or delayed payment schedules.

“The AI will alert the creator and essentially show whether or not the terms are in favor of the creator or more in favor of the brand,” Jeremy explains.

It also detects scope creep, when brands ask for additional content or revisions without fair compensation and helps creators maintain boundaries. 

With built-in recommendations and alerts, creators can renegotiate with clarity and confidence, protecting their time, value, and bottom line.

Complete Deal Management

Recognizing that many creators lack basic business infrastructure, ChannelCore includes a robust CRM specifically for tracking partnerships. “Based on the hundreds of interviews we’ve conducted with creators, one of the challenges we found was that creators would say, ‘I just track my partnerships on my phone using my Notes app,” Jeremy reveals. 

The platform provides creators with a centralized system for managing all their brand relationships, tracking past performance, and maintaining professional records of their business activities.

Financial Tools for Business Growth

The platform equips creators with the infrastructure they need to operate like real businesses, not just freelancers chasing deals. ChannelCore automates payments and ensures creators get paid on time, every time, eliminating the common issue of delayed or missed payouts.

Built-in financial projections allow creators to forecast revenue across multiple brand partnerships and content channels, helping them plan ahead with confidence. Expense management tools track business-related costs such as equipment, production, and travel, giving creators a clear view of profit margins.
 

When tax season rolls around, ChannelCore simplifies preparation by organizing income and expenses into a format ready for filing or handing off to an accountant. By streamlining their financial operations, ChannelCore enables creators to stay focused on growth and build long-term, sustainable businesses.

From Transactional to Authentic Partnerships

A key element of ChannelCore’s approach is shifting the industry from one-off transactions to authentic, long-term partnerships. 

“ChannelCore values building authentic relationships between creators and brands because they both need it,” says Jeremy. In an ecosystem that too often treats creators as one-time ad placements, ChannelCore believes that sustainable growth happens when trust, alignment, and mutual value are prioritized. 

By empowering creators to pitch smarter, track deal history, and negotiate from a place of clarity, the platform supports a shift to partnerships that grow over time. “A one-off brand deal won’t build trust or stability. But long-term partnerships rooted in transparency and shared goals? That’s where real success comes from,” Jeremy explains.

Market Validation and Funding

Even in its prototype phase, ChannelCore is already proving there’s a strong market demand. Since opening its beta waitlist in March 2025, interest has surged. “We started cold email outreach to gauge demand, and within a week and a half, we had over 150 creators sign up,” says Jeremy. According to Jeremy, this number has since reached 209 and their lead pipeline has grown to over 36,000 creators.”

While ChannelCore has been bootstrapped to this point, the team is actively exploring funding options, including venture capital and early-stage investor partnerships. Alongside ongoing VC conversations, ChannelCore also launched a GoFundMe to rally early believers around the mission. “We’ve had three great VC meetings so far. The GoFundMe wasn’t about donations; it was about building a community and giving people a way to be part of what we’re building,” Jeremy explains.

The company is now preparing for a phased rollout. An initial prototype launch with a small group of creators is scheduled for mid-April 2025, followed by a broader beta release in late May 2025.

Looking ahead, Jeremy’s ambitions are clear: “We’re building the world’s most powerful creator business platform. In 5–7 years, 10 million plus creators will be using ChannelCore to build and scale their businesses.”

As the creator economy edges toward becoming a $500B+ industry, ChannelCore isn’t just keeping up; it’s building the infrastructure to power its future. “Creators are fueling this economy,” Jeremy says. “We’re just giving them the tools to own it.”