Latest / Influencer Marketing with Fexingo: Creators, Sponsorships, and Modern Endorsement Deals / Why Creators Are Hiring Chief Revenue Officers
Transcript
- Lucas: So Luna, you know how we've spent the last twenty episodes watching creators buy up every asset under the sun — ad servers, law firms, even insurance brokers. Well, today I want to talk about something a little more abstract, but arguably more important. Luna: Okay, I'm curious. What's more important than owning your own law firm? Lucas: The person who decides how all those assets make money. I'm talking about creators hiring chief revenue officers. Not as consultants, not as part-time advisors, but as full-time executives sitting in their weekly team meetings. Luna: Like a C-suite for a solo YouTuber. That feels like a big leap. Lucas: It is a big leap, and it's happening more than you'd think. There's this mid-tier YouTuber — cooking and lifestyle, about two and a half million subscribers — who brought on a former tech executive as her CRO in early 2025. Eighteen months later, her revenue roughly tripled, and she says the biggest change wasn't more views. It was saying no to bad deals. Luna: Saying no. That's interesting. I thought a revenue officer's whole job was to say yes. Lucas: Right, but it's strategic yeses. This creator used to take every sponsorship that came her way — app installs, meal kits, whatever. The CRO came in and said, 'You're undervaluing your inventory.' He restructured her brand deals to be longer-term, tied bonuses to performance, and pushed her to launch her own line of cookware. That direct to consumer piece now accounts for almost forty percent of her income. Luna: Okay, so the CRO turned her into a real business. But let's be honest, most creators aren't at two and a half million subscribers. How typical is that? Lucas: That's the thing — it's spreading fast. I talked to a talent manager who says a year ago, she'd bring up the idea of a CRO and creators would laugh. Now, she says, it's the first question they ask. The creator economy is maturing, and with that comes a need for professional revenue leadership. Luna: So what does a creator CRO actually do all day? I mean, beyond negotiating cookware deals. Lucas: It's a mix of things. They own the revenue model — diversifying income streams, building out direct sales, managing the brand relationship pipeline. They also look at the data in a way most creators don't. Like, which audiences are most valuable? What's the lifetime value of a subscriber on email versus a follower on TikTok? That kind of analysis. Luna: That sounds like a lot of spreadsheets. Do creators actually want to hand over that much control? Lucas: That's the tension, isn't it? Creators are protective of their personal brand. But the ones who are scaling realize they can't do everything. A good CRO isn't there to change the creator's voice — they're there to build the business around it. Think of it like how athletes have agents and managers, except this is more like a CEO. Luna: You know, that comparison to athletes is interesting. I remember reading that basketball players average about four and a half years in the league. So they're under huge pressure to maximize earnings fast. Is that the same vibe here — creators worried the algorithm will turn on them? Lucas: Partially, but it's also about long-term sustainability. The top one percent of creators now earn over one point five million dollars a year, according to one recent industry report. But the median full-time creator earns way less — around fifty thousand. So the top tier is hiring CROs to protect what they've built, while the mid-tier is hiring them to try and break into that top tier. Luna: So is this just for the top one percent, or can a creator with, say, a hundred thousand followers benefit? Lucas: I think you need enough revenue to justify the salary, but a lot of creators are starting with fractional CROs — someone who works with three or four creators at a time. That's how a lot of these relationships start. I've even seen creators in the fifty thousand subscriber range bring on a part-time revenue consultant. Luna: But what about the creative side? If a CRO is pushing you to launch a product line or do more sponsored content, isn't there a risk you start selling out? Lucas: That's the question every creator has to answer. I spoke to a beauty creator who hired a CRO from a tech company, and within six months she felt like her feed was all ads. She ended up letting him go because she felt she'd lost the connection with her audience. So the timing and the fit matter a lot. Luna: I guess it's about finding someone who understands your audience, not just your revenue streams. Lucas: Exactly. And that's why we're seeing a new breed of CRO — people who come from media or who have been creators themselves. They get that trust is the currency. If you burn it, no spreadsheet can save you. Luna: So how do creators actually find these people? Is there a headhunter for influencer CROs now? Lucas: Some creator management firms are starting to offer CRO services as an add-on. But increasingly, creators are poaching from startups and media companies. There's one talent agency that's basically built a bench of former VPs from DTC brands and media startups, and they slot them into creators' businesses. Luna: What does that cost? I imagine a full-time CRO isn't cheap. Lucas: You're looking at anywhere from one hundred fifty to two hundred fifty thousand dollars a year in cash, plus equity or a revenue share. But for creators pulling in seven figures, that's a relatively small investment if it can double the bottom line. Luna: Wow. That's serious money. But it also means the stakes are getting higher. It's not just about making content anymore. Lucas: Right. And this is the natural evolution. You look at how musicians and athletes have built teams around themselves for decades. Creators are now doing the same. The ones who are serious about a long-term career are surrounding themselves with people who can turn attention into a sustainable business. Luna: So what's the first thing a creator should do if they're thinking about hiring a CRO? Should they look at their revenue mix first? Lucas: I'd say look at your own time. If you're spending more than, say, twenty percent of your working hours on deal negotiation and business development, that's a sign you need someone else. And also, look at your growth — if your revenue is plateauing while your audience is growing, that's a classic problem a CRO can solve. Luna: That's a solid heuristic. I've heard from a few creators that just having a CRO on the team changes how brands treat you — suddenly you're not just a content machine, you're a media company. Lucas: That's a great point. The CRO signal is real. It tells the market you're playing a different game. And it can open doors to bigger partnerships, even acquisition interest. Luna: Speaking of doors opening — you know, this whole conversation reminds me of something. We talk a lot on this show about the business side of creativity, and I know a lot of our listeners are creators themselves, thinking about that next step. Lucas: Absolutely. And if you're listening and you've picked up even one idea from episodes like this — whether it's about structuring a brand deal or building a revenue team — that's exactly what we hope for. This show stays independent and ad-free because listeners like you support it, and that support is what lets us keep digging into the nuts and bolts of this industry. Luna: Yeah, if you've gotten value out of these conversations, consider buying us a coffee. It's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Just a small way to keep the lights on. Lucas: And every bit genuinely helps us keep exploring topics like this one. So, back to the CRO trend — one thing I want to leave you with. Luna: Go on. Lucas: The creator economy is hitting that awkward teenage phase where it wants to be taken seriously. Hiring a chief revenue officer is one of the biggest signs that creators are ready to grow up. The question is whether they can do it without losing what made them special in the first place. Luna: And that's the balancing act — treating your platform like a business while keeping the human connection that earned the audience's trust in the first place. Lucas: Exactly. It's not about becoming corporate. It's about building a structure that lets you keep creating without constantly worrying about whether the algorithm gods will smile on you this month.