Owl portfolio company Mighty Networks – a SaaS platform for creators and brands to build community, online courses, and subscriptions all in one place – recently released the largest open-market survey of creators done to date.
The Creator Economy is a quickly growing market, composed of individuals running online businesses such as social media influencers, coaches, instructors, artists, craftspeople, writers, and thought leaders. Estimates of the market are as large as 400 million individuals and only expected to grow larger with the new American Dream of making a living doing what you love and being recognized for it. According to a recent Forbes article, influencer marketing alone is an $8 billion market globally, expected to grow to $15 billion by 2022, and this does not include creators monetizing in other ways through online courses, subscriptions, and memberships.
The Creator Economy has also had a significant impact on education. There are traditional teachers turning to creator channels and maketplace platforms to grow their audience and supplement their income. We have also seen the acceleration of lifelong and supplemental learning trends, with various experts teaching courses online through platforms like MasterClass.
We had the privilege of partnering with Mighty Networks at the intersection of Edtech + Creator Economy earlier this year. Mighty Networks powers creators and brands to start and grow online businesses and is the first platform to combine online courses, content, and most importantly community all in one place.
The company serves a variety of individuals and brands across teachers, coaches, thought leaders, professional networks, universities, and other interest groups, including bluechip names such as Yoga with Adriene, TED, Mindbody, Fortune, and Wall Street Trapper. Through its platform, Mighty Networks powers thousands of communities learning from their hosts and each other, as well as provides its own courses to help creators start and run better businesses.
We’re excited to welcome Gina Bianchini, the CEO and Founder of Mighty Networks, to discuss the recent research findings and the future of the Creator Economy.
Q: Judy: Gina, you’re a veteran expert of social networks and online communities – tell us more about your journey to Mighty Networks.
Gina: My mission is to unlock a world where there are millions of unique, vibrant communities – led by creators, entrepreneurs, and brands – creating or mastering something interesting together.
I started this journey at Ning, a pioneering platform where 3 million people created their own social networks for their own purpose from 2007 to 2010, and now at Mighty Networks. At Mighty, we’re building the first – but certainly not the last! – “network effect” platform.
A network effect platform connects members of a community to each other in new ways, such that the community gets more valuable to every member with each new person who contributes.
With network effect platforms, creators and instructors are building their online courses into thriving communities with their own culture, connections, norms, projects, and, now increasingly, economies.
It’s an exciting time.
Q: Judy: Mighty Networks recently commissioned the largest open-market study of creators – what was the motivation for commissioning the report and what were the key findings?
Gina: Where the promise of the Creator Economy –– to follow your passions and interests to fame and fortune –– is powerful, we wanted to understand the reality without bias. So we commissioned the work with an independent research firm, and then got out of the way.
After interviewing 1,624 creators who each were making money as a creator, the picture the research found was far from rosy:
93% say that being a creator has introduced stresses that have “negatively impacted their lives,” with 45% saying they’ve experienced “big emotional lows.” Only 35% of all creators feel they’re earning a reasonable income and putting in an acceptable amount of time and effort.
The majority of creators surveyed say they don’t have much more time or energy to invest in making creating financially viable.
77% of creators worry about being dependent on social media platforms for their earnings. 70% say that a dip in earnings from an algorithm change could have “serious effects” on their life.
Looking at these findings, it’s no wonder that 33% have felt anger, rage, or extreme frustration with major social media platforms.
Q: Judy: It is alarming to see that 93% of creators say that being a creator has introduced stresses that have negatively impacted their lives – what do you think causes these stresses?
Sadly, they are figuring out that the social media game is rigged.
That may sound like an exaggeration, but let me give you an example.
Today, creators, instructors, and brands across Mighty Networks are generating $1,000/month with just 25 people paying $40/month for access to the community or online courses. In contrast, you need 100,000 followers to make this same amount on Instagram. And on YouTube? 2 million monthly views. With these odds, more creators are finding that it is pointless to even try. That’s the depressing part.
But there was a surprising bright spot: a new segment of creators we’re calling the “Independent Creator”, who is emerging as the vanguard of the Creator Economy.
This new Independent Creator has me hopeful for a much more interesting future.
Q: Judy: How is Mighty Networks supporting and enabling this emerging segment of Independent Creators?
Gina: Thankfully, given our time at Ning, Mighty Networks has always been built a bit differently than other platforms. On Mighty, creators own their Mighty Network experience and have 100% access to their members (and their members have access to each other). We have also built the first platform to combine everything a creator needs in one place, including memberships, subscriptions, content, courses, events, and community.
But the best part is in the results. 77% of Mighty Networks that offer paid plans, sell paid plans. A number of creators on Mighty Networks have created thriving businesses generating millions of dollars a year, powered by community.
That’s the power of a network effect platform for Independent Creators.
Q: Judy: How do you see the Creator Economy and your work intersecting with education?
Gina: The most passionate communities are led by creators bringing people together to master something interesting and important to them.
That’s why our creators encouraged us to build online courses – and dedicated course communities – directly into Mighty Networks three years ago.
Fast forward to today, and we’re still the only platform anywhere in the market that’s brought community, online courses, and subscriptions together in one place.
The combination of community and online courses is the past, present, and future of education. It’s why it was so important to us to work with Owl Ventures. And while we’re not exclusively “edtech,” we also believe education and learning permeates every community.
Q: Judy: And finally, what excites you about the future of the Creator Economy?
Gina: I believe we’re at a moment when more and more creators realize that the social media game is rigged. These creators are increasingly searching for independent platforms like Mighty Networks where they have ownership over their audience and can build sustainable businesses powered by community rather than burning themselves out while generating endless content.
The future that excites me is one where an Independent Creator and their members are carving out and building their own culture, norms, projects, and economies where everyone contributes and benefits.
Gina Bianchini
I wake up every day excited to unlock millions of unique, vibrant communities brought to life by creators, entrepreneurs, and brands –– communities creating and mastering something interesting and important together.
I believe that the future generations of Independent Creators will transform today’s Creator Economy controlled by social media giants into a new Community Economy owned by the people.
About Gina Bianchini: Gina is the CEO and founder of Mighty Networks. Before Mighty Networks, Gina was the first entrepreneur-in-residence at Andreessen Horowitz. Prior to a16z, she was the CEO and co-founder of Ning, a pioneering global platform for creating niche social networks she started with Marc Andreessen in 2004 and grew to ~100 million active users across ~300,000 social networks.
About Judy Park: Judy is a Principal at Owl Ventures with experience investing in and supporting businesses across education and other sectors. Prior to Owl, she helped start Bain Capital’s Double Impact fund and worked on the fund’s first investments in education, healthcare, and wellness. She has also served as the Co-Chief Investment Officer of the Stanford GSB Impact Fund and worked in Strategy and Business Operations at Hazel Health, an Owl portfolio company.
