Influencer Marketing: Accelerating Startup Success Through Creator Equity Deals with Scott Van den Berg

So my parents, they have been climbing the corporate ladder forever. So my dad is almost working for 30 years in the same company. And so they're, they have not done anything entrepreneurial and they would always come back to me and say like, or come home and say like, Hey Scott, just promised me once being never work for a boss.

And they were telling me this at the age of eight already. So that I think definitely influenced me from a very young age that when I was in like family holidays or family birthdays, people would ask me like, Hey Scott, what would you like to become when you're older? And I was like, Oh, I want to start my own company.

And they would ask me like, okay, but what type of company then? And I'm like, well, I don't know. I'm just being told by my parents that I have to become an entrepreneur. So I think very early on, my parents kind of planted that seed for me. And ever since I've been very entrepreneurial. That's Scott Vandenberg, founder of Influencer Capital.

Influencer Capital gives brands and startups the opportunity to accelerate their growth through influencer marketing. I was super excited to chat with Scott because I had been seeing his content now for some time on LinkedIn. And am fascinated about how he is helping influencers get equity deals with startups.

We talk about how equity deals work, what it's like being an influencer and why he thinks the most famous brands in the world won't be companies, but rather individuals. Quick note, before we dive in, I recently launched the innovators can laugh. Podcasts, media network is the first media network that gathers leading marketing and entrepreneur related podcasts and newsletters under one umbrella, therefore making it easier for SAS companies to reach large audiences and grow their brand in authority among trusted industry partners.

Leaders and influencers, you can learn more at innovators can laugh. com. Okay. Let's jump to the conversation with Scott. Okay. Scott, welcome to innovators collab. How are you doing? I'm great. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Yeah, no, I've been really excited about this. I've been seeing your, your work, your progression on LinkedIn.

I think what you're doing is very exciting. I think for the listeners, this is going to be a big treat, especially those of us. Who consider themselves creators or influencers because there's a lot of value that they're going to get from this episode. And so we're going to try to pull all of that from you during the next 20, 30 minutes, but before we dive into that, you recently, you recently created a new office setup for yourself.

So the question is, what is one of the favorite things in your office? Well, I think it's this drink over here. It's called Punk. It's founded by a Victorian secret model. And why I like it so much is an alcoholic drink, a heart seltzer that has very low calories. And yeah, I like it so much because obviously as a Victorian secret model, you really have to count calories.

So that's why for her, like she cannot drink often alcohol. So she had to find a product that actually fits her lifestyle. And it also tastes amazing. So that's definitely my favorite. Okay. Okay. And you have a reason to connect with her. Have you tried like reaching out to her and just saying, Hey, I love your brand here.

Have you done a post about her yet on LinkedIn? Yeah, I have. And I'm also in contact with like the operator. So often these brands, they're not like operated by the celebrity, but they have like a CEO who is actually running it. And we've been in contact also about a potential investment in their business as well.

Oh, that is so cool. I think that's the coolest thing about what you and I do. Obviously I get to connect with a lot of interesting startup founders, but you get to connect with, I mean, Victoria's Secret models and some other, other people that are very, you know famous and interesting. So who's one of the people that you've actually.

You know, research, maybe you did a LinkedIn post about an influencer who has gotten some equity for creating their business, jumpstarting their business. Anybody come to mind that, wow, this was a really interesting person. I glad I connected with them and spoke to them or met them in person. Yeah, well, actually, before I answer that question, there's actually also a funny story.

So I'm Dutch based in Amsterdam, but like 95 percent of my business is focused on the U S but as you can imagine, I don't know all the U S celebrities or especially not influencers. Sometimes you get on a call with someone and you didn't do your research before, and you just have to good call. And then afterwards you think, let me actually see who that person actually is.

And then you open TikTok and you see that these people have like 24 million followers and you're like, what? 24 million followers. That's more than the Netherlands has its population. So it is, yeah, definitely super excited to be working with these type of people. I work closely with one of the largest Dutch influencer and he's also shareholder in my company.

He's called Kai Vorgels. So I really like to interact with him on a daily basis. So that's a lot more personal, but yeah, I've been also creating content about the brand of Katy Perry, for example, and then the founder of that brand reached out to me and said like, Hey, thank you so much for sharing content about this.

So yeah, it's definitely been an exciting space. So we're going to talk about your background in just a second. And you did used to live in Bucharest at one point. I think you were studying here for a few months and I'm in Bucharest. I'm not from here. I'm from Texas, but just want to know real quickly, what was your experience like living here?

And were there any culture shocks or anything that surprised you about, about your stay here in Bucharest? Well, yeah, like obviously what I really loved was that the weather was a lot better here and than in the Netherlands. That was a, a big plus. The prices were a lot cheaper. So those are like things that I really enjoyed.

I did saw some, maybe I'm wrong, but yeah, like some commun communistic influence still in buret in comparison to like the western world where I'm from. So that was definitely something that culturally different for me. I was studying at a, a university called Team Academy. And in Bucharest, I'm like aware that you cannot really use the word team because it sometimes refers to like the communist time.

So definitely some interesting experience that I have there. I have not heard that, that you can't really use the word team. No one's really pointed that out to me yet. What I found, what was strange here when I moved here was that people actually in all of Europe, people were, were saying partner. I was with my partner this weekend and my partner and I did this this weekend.

And in the States you generally just refer to your partner if you're in a same sex relationship. And so when I first moved here, I thought, Oh, wow, there, there's a lot of people that are in same sex relationships. And then I found out, no, that's just a general term for like, you know, boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, you know, people say partner.

I'm like, okay, there's something that's different. Yeah. Okay. So let's talk about your entrepreneurship background. Now, was there an influence going back, like when you were younger, was there maybe an apparent or somebody that was close to you that kind of gave you that entrepreneurial bug, like where did that come from, Scott?

Yeah, actually, so my parents, they have been climbing the corporate ladder forever. So my dad is almost working for 30 years in the same company. And so they're, they have not done anything entrepreneurial and they would always come back to me and say like, or come home and say like, Hey, Scott, just promised me once being never work for a boss.

And they were telling me this at the age of eight already. So that I think definitely influenced me from a very young age that when I was in like family holidays or family birthdays, people would ask me like, Hey, Scott, what would you like to become when you're older? And I was like, Oh, I want to start my own company.

And they would ask me like, okay, but what type of company then? And I'm like, well, I don't know. I'm just being told by my parents that I have to become an entrepreneur. So I think very early on, my parents kind of planted that seed for me. And ever since I've been very entrepreneurial. It sounds like they're your biggest fan so far.

Maybe. Yeah, definitely. Like I have the best support system. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think you're growing, you're also growing a support system online, at least from LinkedIn, at least from what I can tell by a lot of the engagement that I see a lot of people on your posts. And what was your first like entrepreneurial venture as you were growing up?

Were there any other companies that you tried, you know, side hustles or any other sort of businesses that you started before Influencer Capital? Yeah. So if you're talking about a non formal business, I used to trade a lot of Pokemon cards, so I was buying like when I was 12 Pokemon cards and selling them for a lot more and I really had an eye for like these expensive cards.

So I think I made like a couple of thousand euros doing that when I was 12. So let's hope we see a lot of money and I actually should have shaved these scars. Like until today, because now they're even like word more, but my first entrepreneurial venture was when I was 17 and I basically started to sell a phone cases with football players on the back, just buying them from China and selling them online.

I got influenced by a company that was doing this in the UK and I was like, Hey, why isn't there a company doing that in the Netherlands? And then, yeah, you finally find out like, Oh, this might be super simple. Let me just put a website together. But then, yeah, it becomes a lot harder because you have to do inventory, you have to deal with suppliers, you have to do marketing.

And yeah, I'm a big fan of learning by doing and by just failing a lot of time, having a lot of different entrepreneurial ventures, I got to the point that I'm currently at today. Okay, very, very cool. Quick question on the Pokemon cards. Were you selling these in person or were you doing it online?

At the age of. And a little bit of both. So you have a marketplace where people can basically sell their stuff online in the Netherlands. So I was basically buying like a lot of Pokemon cards in wholesale. Cause a lot of people are just like, wanted to get rid of everything at once instead of selling these cards individually, but sometimes they didn't see the value of like one card.

And then I saw this whole collection and I was like, Hey, I will give you 20 euros for this collection. And then there were like thousands of cards, but then I already saw one card that was worth like 500 euros individually. So yeah, I was basically buying it in bulk and selling it in any individual parts.

That that's so interesting. I've got some baseball cards from like 20 years ago in comic books. That I think are in my mom's closet. And I bet there's, there's a few cards in there, a handful that probably has some value maybe in the hundreds. So I need to spend some time going through there and maybe I'll give them to my son.

This could be a great project where him and I. Go through this and if he does most of the work in the research, then, you know, maybe he can keep half the profit or something. You just gave me an idea, Scott. All right. I want 10 percent of the business. Okay. Okay. All right. Well, let's, let's jump into equity deals and influencers.

There isn't too much information on equity deals between startups and influencers, and I guess, why is that the case, Scott, this is kind of a new concept. Can you just give us a background on this? Well, I think there are multiple reasons. I think that the main reason is, is that this industry is still relatively new.

I'm not talking only about equity deals, but the greater economy in general. So 10, 15 years ago, the word influencer didn't even exist. And now when I get, it seems like it's very normal. And every company talks about influencer marketing and utilizing celebrities and celebrities starting their own brands, but that is really something that has only been happening the next two to three years.

So we are still in a market that has to mature. And obviously if you then start to combine different industries where to create their economy, you combine it with the venture capital in the startup world, that is completely different market that also has to mature from this. So I think that not a lot of information is available yet because it's simply too early.

And also not a lot of these deals have been done. And then the deals that have been done, there's no one size fits all. So every deal is a little bit different. Sometimes they talk about all this celebrity infested in the company, but then actually it's an equity deal. So also the language on how these types of deals are structured, it's not very clear yet on what is actually meant by it.

Yeah, I've, I've been learning a lot from your posts on LinkedIn. For example, I didn't know that Michael Jordan advised Barkley to take an equity deal from, from Nike. And that ended up being a much larger payout than Barkley would have gotten. Otherwise Roger Federer. I think that's a big one. I think that's a huge one.

I think his net worth is somewhere, maybe a billion dollars or more because of the equity deal that he made with that shoe company. Now it's not always a guaranteed hit. When an athlete or a rock star, an influencer does support a brand. What are some examples of celebrity back deals that have gone wrong or influencer back deals that have gone wrong?

And why do you think that was the case? Yeah, well, let's look at the biggest one that actually last year went wrong. So Adidas with GC. So Adidas started the joint venture together GC with Kanye West, and it was actually a complete success. So Adidas was losing a lot of market share to Nike. But actually by starting GC, they were able to like be attractive to a new generation with street wear and like cool shoes again.

And then last year, GC did 2 billion in revenue. And to put that into perspective, that is 7 percent of Adidas local revenue. So it's a big portion of it. However, then in 2022 and end of it, Kanye West, he said something like anti Semitic on like some podcasts. And before that, he did some weird things as well.

So that's when Adidas made the decision that they wanted to distance themselves from Kanye West. However, they started the business together with them. So it was impossible for them to continue the GC brand. But yeah, it brought in 2 billion in revenue and yeah, Adidas also had to get rid of 2 billion in inventory just of the shoes they were laying in a warehouse.

So yeah, just showcase of if you attach yourself too much to one name and this person does something stupid or say something stupid or, or dies, or maybe if, if it's an artist and they are on tour for a month, then the business is basically not continuing. So they call this like key person risk, key man risk.

And if a business is too much reliant on an individual, that is a huge risk. And then sometimes, especially in the case when someone does something stupid, that can definitely backfires to a brand. What's wrong with that guy? I mean, he's basically printing money while he sleeps and then he goes and does something stupid by saying.

Some, some retarded things like that. You got to wonder like, why, you know, that's the big question mark. Are they in lawsuit right now? Do you know what's, what's happening with that case? Yeah, they're in lawsuits just fighting over who can own GC. So on one end Adidas wants to continue the GC brand without Kanye West.

But at the other hand Kanye West actually also wants to continue the brand without Adidas. So it's a little bit of going back and forth and it's definitely gonna be an interesting case of what's going to happen, but I think that the problem with Kanye West is that like, you cannot have, like he has too much money, you know, like an extra billion is not going to change his life.

So he doesn't care about, about it so much. And that's why I can just say whatever he wants to say. Yeah. All right. We talked about the downside of brands being affiliated too closely or too strongly with, with an influencer, but what is the upside? That brands get when doing sort of a media for equity deal with influencers.

Yeah, I think it comes back to three kind of value propositions. So one is I think the most obvious because by partnering with like these web, like the web's most recognizable faces, startups can put their startup in front of millions of consumers without spending a single dollar. So a lot of startups obviously would like to work together with celebrities, but they don't have the budgets to do so.

We find equity model, they can, and it really allows them to scale fast. Secondly, it also allows them to build authentic relationships with these influential people because the incentives are aligned because nowadays, if you reach out to an influencer and you offer them 10, 000 in cash, then they will still consider it, even though they don't even a hundred percent believe in the company.

So if you're doing an equity deal, these influencers will only see return if the company does well. So naturally they're only interested in doing equity deals with companies that they truly believe in. So yeah, if they're willing to work with you in an equity deal, it means that they really believe in what you do and then lastly, if such a person becomes involved with your company.

You basically gets like a celebrity back status, which is going to bring a lot of credibility to your brand, because often as a startup, you're very early stage, you need to prove yourself in the market, but if it's big celebrity, trust you, that obviously brings a lot of credibility. It brings a lot of PR attention because a lot of journalists, they love to cover news about celebrities.

It brings a lot of, it can help you with fundraising. So a lot of investors, they have like FOMO. If they see a big celebrity being involved. But it can also, for example, we have partnerships. So let's say you are a dream company and you want to get into Walmart. Now you can reach out to these supermarkets and say like, Hey, we have to like one, a great product.

But two, we have these celebrities that are gonna mention that, hey, we're now available at Walmart, which is gonna drive traffic to their store. So a lot of these retailers are interested in partnership with these types of celebrity brands. Yeah, it's such a win-win because if it's just a one-time payout, You know, if you're a celebrity or a big time influence, you're thinking, Oh, this is more of a job.

But if you have that equity, you know, that it's a different mindset. It's like, and if you like the product, I think that's the caveat. If you like the product and you don't mind, it's not a job. This is part of, you know, what I'm doing. This is going to benefit me long term. And I don't have to think about, you know, writing ad copy or coming up with a video idea.

I just need to be myself because I like the product. So I think it's a win win if celebrities and influencers like the product. Let's talk more about influencer capital. So what is it, what, what service do you provide to influencers or, you know, startups? I mean, tell us more about that. What. What is it exactly that you're providing, Scott?

Yeah. So we basically structured a complete deal. So we kind of operate as an investment fund where we search startups that are willing to do these types of equity deals. Then we kind of perform our due diligence to see like our good startups. Do we think that that's the potential to become like a very big company is scale and exit potentially.

And then once we do that, I mean, yeah, they want to offer like a good deal to an influencer, then we just talk about, Hey, what type of influences would you like to do an equity deal with? And based on their needs, we basically look in our network of influences to see who we can mix and match. So yeah, we are basically the organization that is bringing these two parties together.

And why that is needed is that you see that both. Parties don't speak the same language. So if you ask an influencer, what type of equity deal would you like to do? They say like, Oh, I would like to have equity in a company like a fashion company or a drink company or a makeup brand. And I'm like, well, but that is not very special, right?

Like there are already tens of thousands of other people doing that. So maybe you should look for like a unique company. So these influential people, they don't really have the capabilities to one. Understand them, perform their due diligence on startup. But to also speak the same language. So if we talk about them with vesting, or you talk about them with pro rata, or you talk about what type of equity they have, they are like, well, sorry, what, what did you say?

So you really need to do a lot of handholding with them to explain them how equity works, how equity works in general, because 99 percent of the influencers don't even know that this option is available. And then on the side of the startup, they just have no idea how to talk to these types of influential people.

So, yeah, we are an organization that's basically pitching the gap. Okay. And I'm assuming that you have some attorneys on staff to understand all the legal jargon and, and share that or write that in such a way that it is understandable for the influencers. Yeah. So like that is our like grand goal. So yeah, we want to create like the safe note similar to like why combinated it for early stage startups to help them with fundraising.

We kind of want to create that template for these types of equity deals to just make it very clear and very understandable to both sides what they will get and what they are apt to do in return. After a quick break, Scott and I talk about how equity deals work. All right, let's take a quick break and tell you about EZSales.

That's right. The sponsor of our podcast. If you sell products online or through a physical store, EZSales helps you list your products on other marketplaces like EMAG, OOX. And eBay all without having to do any coding. Yeah, that's right. No it background required. And that's not all easy. Sales automatically generates invoices, translates your product descriptions when listing on international marketplaces and integrates with a host of popular platforms like Shopify and Magento by using their fast activation, you can start increasing online sales in no time.

And so you should learn more about easy sales. How it can help improve your business at EasySales. com Welcome back to my conversation with Scott. I am intrigued by all of this and wanted to know what markets Scott was focused on. And you said the majority of your focus is in the U S like 95 percent or something like that.

Is there, is there a, you're just going to stay focused there in North America, or do you eventually want to evolve into Europe or some other places? Well, we lost in the Netherlands because that was just the market that I know best. So it was very easy for me to launch here. But yeah, what you see is that just the most interesting market is the U S because these companies can grow into billion dollar companies.

Like, as I said, I'm working with one of the largest Dutch influencers, but he doesn't even have like 1 million followers. Or as in the United States, if you have 1 million followers, you're considered like, okay, like an okay influencer. So you just see that the potential for like these types of equity deals and the actual potential of startups is just a lot bigger in the United States.

So it's the same type of work that I have to do, but the upside is a lot harder, a lot bigger when I'm working in the US. Let's talk about an average equity deal. So obviously it's great if the influencer, let's say he gets, I don't know, maybe two, three, four, 5 percent or something stake in a company. By partnering with them, but obviously I'm thinking that they, they've got to produce some sort of results.

There's got to be some sort of performance metrics. Maybe they generated X number of cells or something like that is, is that type of language written in the contract that not necessarily, they're going to do X number of posts or videos. But how is this, how are they tracking the results from the influencer or the attribution?

Yeah, it just goes back to creating very clear deliverables. So contractually you just have to say, okay, what is actually expected from the influencer and what they will get in return. So obviously it's not that, okay, the startup has to give away 10 percent and like we will find out if it's going to be successful or not, there are some metrics and like processes that you could put in place to protect both the startup as well as the influencer.

To just see if this is going to work. And it depends on what to start at once, right? Sometimes they want to develop a new drink together with an influencer. So they need the influencer to taste and, and brand the product. And sometimes they just want the brand just wants the influencer to create content.

So yeah, you just see that every deal is a little bit different and that's why you need an organization like us to make sure that legally everything is covered. Okay. When you speak to influencers in the U. S. And you're telling them about this new model, you know, what is the reaction? And what is like the, the, the main question or the number one question they typically have for you, Scott?

Well, the main question is how does it work? So they are all kind of super excited about this. They have been seeing like other celebrities to it. They have been hearing about exits of like a Ryan Reynolds or other big celebrities, they see like Mr. Bees, Logan Paul starting all these companies nowadays.

And they're like, Hey, I actually also need to be in this game. But they have no idea where to get started. So they are super excited that there's an organization like us that can help them with providing these types of equity opportunities. But yeah, like the main question is like, okay, how does it work?

Where can I get started? So it's still a very basic questions. And then along the way, like, yeah, you have to do a lot and all that. You're almost like an agent, like a sports agent, but like an influencer agent. Would you, would you say kind of, maybe that kind of fits the model a little bit? Yes and no. Like we don't work, we like, we don't exclusively represent talent.

So we kind of work together with a lot of agents that then represent their talents. So I'm like kind of a middleman. We'd like another middleman when I can influence him clean. So yeah, it's a very interesting construction. Okay. I want to talk real briefly about how you've been getting the word out about influencer capital.

You recently became a creator yourself talking about your business on Tik TOK and on videos on YouTube. Can you tell us more about that? Like, what is it? Something. What's something that you've discovered that works well or doesn't work well? And have you been getting any inquiries from this initiative and like, what's your process?

Are you doing like a video a day or something on tech talk and just tell us more about that? Yeah, so it actually all started on LinkedIn and actually it goes back to a question you were asking earlier. So why is there not so much information out there? About these types of equity deals. So that's why I had to turn to LinkedIn to kind of educate the industry on that.

These types of deals actually exist and how it works, et cetera. So, yeah, I kind of had to become a creator myself to get the word out, not only about the influence of capital, but also about the option of equity deals. Cause a lot of influences, a lot of startups, a lot of talent managers didn't even know that it existed.

So, yeah, I started on LinkedIn and it also has to do with the form of content because it's written I'm Dutch. And I wasn't very comfortable speaking in this year. So I first wanted to create breaking content because it was just a little bit easier. But then I saw that I was sometimes getting like hundreds of thousands of views on the post and a lot of inquiries from both like startups as well as influencers.

And obviously LinkedIn is also how we met. And then I was like, Hey, I already kind of have the case study, so I just need to translate it into a video. And then I also have content for Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube because like on LinkedIn, that's the best channel to get in touch with startups, but LinkedIn is not the best.

The platform to get in touch with influencers. Yeah. I actually have to build my following there as well to help that in touch with like influencers directly. So yeah, basically I started to translate my written form into like a short term videos and I've been publishing them on like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.

One video a day. And yeah, it really helped me to also understand the, the life of a creator because my background is working with startups, investing in startups, and I've never worked with an influencer. I've never used influencer marketing before. So now actually become a creator, having to create content, feeling this pressure, content burnout.

Yeah, definitely helped me to understand my target audience better. Yeah, when I saw one of your TikTok videos, I'm like, shit, this, this is really good. Like, I actually like wrote you a comment, like, Hey, are you, are you editing these videos yourself? But you said that you have some, somebody to help you, right?

Yeah. Like, obviously I have to run my business full time already. So if I'm also having to learn how to edit, then it's a little too much. And I'm luckily in a position that I have a great editor that is still affordable that I can utilize to create the videos and edit them. Yeah, I think people don't realize like how time consuming it is to edit, you know, a video.

It's the number one task that takes the longest. And so, therefore, I also pay an editor to edit my podcast videos because. What I just don't like doing it and two, it does take a long time unless you know what you're doing. So my editor said that it's an hour per video. So I want to publish like seven videos a week.

So that is seven hours of editing, which basically is almost a working day, you know, and I don't have a working day. I'm already working eight hours a week. So yeah, where would I get the time from? Yeah. I know to produce like, you know, three or four podcast clips. Obviously there's tools out there like dscr that help the process, but still, I mean, easily two or three hours to create clips for one podcast episode.

It, it is time consuming. So when I saw your videos, I'm like, man, this guy's killing it. He's growing a business. He's not on LinkedIn now he is like on TikTok, killing it. Okay. Obviously he got some. Okay, so another question for you here, you once said that the most valuable brands of the future are going to be people rather than companies.

Can you unpack that a little bit for us, Scott? Yeah, sure. So what you see happening is that the public attention is basically shifting from corporations to individuals. It also has to do with where the eyeballs are. So 50 years ago, if you would ask someone, what would you like to become when you are like older?

And you would ask that to a kid, they would say like, oh, I would like to become an astronaut. I would like to become a lawyer. I would like to become a doctor at 20 to 10 years ago. If you would ask the same question, then I would say, I want to become the new Jet Pesos, mark Sugar Berg, bill Gates in the Musk.

But nowadays, if you ask this, 30% of the kids say, I want to become a YouTuber. And that has to do with public attention that a lot of these people, they're not looking at TV anymore. They're not following McDonald's on Instagram. They're following individuals like a Ryan Reynolds, like a The Rock, like a Logan Paul on Instagram and want to become similar.

And you see that these type of people, they have been branching out from an individual to actually a brand. So let's look at the Logan Paul. He's like a podcast host. He is like an influencer. He has his drink company. He's an equity holder in a couple of companies. He's an investor. He's a WWE wrestler. So he becomes a brand.

So it's not only like Logan Paul, the vlogger, but it's now a brand. It's similar to like other people, like Kevin Hart or The Rock or, or the Kim Kardashian. They're all expanding from, yeah, becoming personal brands, so to say. Yeah, no, I, I completely agree with you. I think one of the best things that you can do and start as early as you can is start growing your audience, start growing your personal brand.

And it's so true. I asked my niece, I think about two years ago, what do you want to be when you grow up? And she was like, well, I want to be famous on Instagram. And I think she was 14 or 15 at the time. And I thought it was one of the silliest things I ever heard. But looking back, I'm like, wow, there's a huge population.

That really wants to do that. And, and people, because they see other people doing it and making a living from it. It is, it is possible. I think the key is obviously, you know, you gotta start early, but learn how to craft, develop your craft, be good at it, and that's how you start growing your following.

Alright, now we're gonna jump into the rapid fire section here, Scott. Gimme the first answer that comes to your head based on the questions that I'm going going to ask you. The first one. Are you ready? Okay. The most interesting thing that you did in the past 26 days went on family holiday, finally holiday for the first time in seven years.

Where, where did you go? I went to Greece, Rhodes. All right. All right. All the Romanians go to Greece. I have yet to visit Greece, but it's on my list for next year. You recommend it? Yeah, this was also my first time going to Greece, so I'm the same boat. Okay. Okay. Next question. Instead of a fear of failure.

You have a fear of blank, what's in the blank? I'm afraid, I'm afraid of heights. Okay, nothing to be ashamed of. My, my wife is afraid of heights. Okay. What attractive celebrity would you set your phone's wallpaper to? Madison Beer. Medicine, who? Madison Beer. Okay. After this, send me a link to this person and I will include it in the, in the show notes because I don't know what this person looks like.

Okay. All right. How many books have you read in the past three months? Zero. I used to read a book a week, but I'm now just so focused on execution that I just want to leave the knowledge in the books and want to use it. What I'm actually have in my head instead of getting new knowledge. Good, good, good.

I'm a big fan of that. I've got so many books already. I actually just go back and look at the notes that I, you know, made for myself when I, when I read that book. Okay, what's a favorite TV show that you can watch again and again? Suits. Oh, great show. Great show. Love that show. Harvey. Oh man. I used to love that the suits and the clothes that they wore in there, but it was just good dialogue and it was just a really good, good show in general.

Yeah. Okay. Let's see here. One more question. Okay. Before you run for president, you must destroy all your evidence and involvement with Blake.

Wow. That's a good one. I think just about the comments that I like jokes I made with my friends about, about other people. Okay. We've all done that. We're all guilty of that. Yeah. And what are you excited about in the next 12 months with Influencer Capital? I'm excited about scaling further in the United States and like doing equity deals, working with celebrities.

We're currently also in the process of starting a department by which we can start our own companies together with talents so not necessarily structuring equities with already existing starters, but actually building them ourselves. So yeah, I'm just super excited about to keep on scaling. Fantastic, man.

All right, Scott, thank you so much for coming on the show. I'm excited to see you. I'll be in Amsterdam next month, so maybe we can meet up. And for those listening, I will include links to Influencer Capital. And where else can people learn more about you, Scott? Yeah, definitely my LinkedIn. That's where I create the most content and I'm the most interacted with, but otherwise people can always reach out to scott at influencecapital.

nl to get in contact. All right. All right. Thank you so much, Scott. Cheers. Thank you for having me. I had a great time chatting with Scott. I learned more about the expectations of brands working with influencers, how Scott approaches content creation himself, and why he believes influencers will be the biggest brands in the future, which I think there is some truth to that.

If you want to learn more about Scott, go to influencercapital. com links to all of this are in the show notes. Thank you to Scott for being on the show. If you like this episode, send me a note on LinkedIn and subscribe to Apple or Spotify. Also, don't forget. I recently launched the innovators collab podcast media network.

It's created for and hosted by marketing and startup industry leaders like myself. It's the first media network that gathers marketing related and entrepreneurial related podcasts under one umbrella in newsletters. Therefore, it makes it super easy to do a group sponsorship buy with all of us under the umbrella, instead of just trying to work individually with an individual podcaster.

All right. If you want more information, just go to innovators can laugh. com. See you next week.