KC-built creator marketplace expands to connect small businesses to influencers of all sizes

When Wes Elder and Caleb Vetter launched CreatorSpace more than a year ago, they set out to carve their own path through the blended world of entertainment and technology, Elder shared. Now their startup — what they bill as the world’s first creator marketplace — is taking a new turn.

The co-founders plan to release an expanded version of CreatorSpace, a marketplace platform where brands of all sizes can find and partner with creators and influencers for promotions.

“Moving into March of this year, I felt like we were at a pivotal turning point where it’s like we had to decide what we wanted the product to ultimately be,” explained Elder, a content creator and actor. “Is it for all influencers and creators? Or is it specifically tailored for branded-entertainment, high-level projects? Because that’s why we built it.”

The duo — who met while working on a movie together — originally launched the marketplace at the beginning of 2024 after facing their own problem: six-figure deals falling through for the brand-sponsored TV show they were filming.

They wanted a place where brands and creators could connect, Elder said. Over the past year, they’ve worked with such large clients as WPP, VML, Colgate, and Microsoft.

“It was a lot of revenue,” he said. “It was basically a pre-seed round, essentially. So we really hunkered down and just focused on that until the beginning of this year. It was good; we were able to get a lot of feedback internally on our platform.”

With its pivot, CreatorSpace won’t just be tailored to big brands and large deals, Elder noted.

“We made a decision that — moving into this 2.0 version — it will be a lot more robust, a lot more expanded,” he said. “We still will have the big, creative projects on here, but it’ll also be a place where even small businesses — like a Messenger Coffee — can subscribe and find local creators and local micro-influencers and invite them to come get the free coffee in exchange for posting about it on their stories.”

“We’ve gotten a lot of really good feedback,” he added.

Taming the Wild West

The new content marketplace will feature three core areas, Elder shared: one for content creators and influencers who will make content in exchange for products and services; a second featuring opted-in creator rates like $200 for a TikTok video; and the third for creative pitches, which are pre-baked ideas — like a movie or TV show — for which creators want to find sponsors.

Wes Elder, CreatorSpace, interviewed by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu about his company during Startland News’ August 2024 Innovation Exchange event at Plexpod Flashcube; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News

“It’s going to be a much clearer, less confusing version of how to work with the creators that we have on the platform,” he continued. “It’s a more compelling solution because, ultimately, one of the major problems we’re trying to solve for is that so much deal flow with influencers still happens via email. We asked, ‘Why? Why is that happening?’ Half of these deals are the same all the time anyway, so it can clearly be automated.”

“We’re cutting out that back and forth,” he added. “It will be super streamlined, super clear, super simple, and hopefully help everybody drive the deal flow and value a lot faster.”

The new version will also introduce more competition, he noted, which some people might not like.

“Most of the creator industry and influencer industry, their rates are just like the Wild West,” he explained. “People talk about that all the time like somebody’s charging 10,000 bucks, they get 1,000 views. It’s like, OK, you could debate the value of it or not. But part of it is there’s no real transparent competition. The way we’ve structured it is, hopefully, to not be a race to the bottom.”

Instead of being a commission-based marketplace like before, Elder said, the platform will feature subscription tiers, which is less complicated.

“That makes it really affordable,” he continued, “like the lowest tier — which, again, we want to make it where like coffee shops and restaurants can afford it — is 19 bucks a month. There’s not many things that serve small businesses in this category. Most small businesses would assume that they can’t work with creators because they don’t have the budget.”

“But there are many, many micro-influencers — they might have 5,000 followers — that would totally come eat a free dinner and post about it on their story,” he added. “So I think that’s where I’m most excited because I don’t see many people trying to really do that.”

Connecting KC creators

In celebration of the launch of CreatorSpace 2.0, Elder and Vetter plan to host a creator and influencer meetup in Kansas City, Elder shared. A casual event in February was a success.

Caleb Vetter, CreatorSpace

“We need to bring the influencer community and creative community together — because there’s a lot of them here and it’s fragmented,” he explained. “They don’t talk to each other and they don’t even know each other exists.”

The pandemic changed the creator economy, he said, noting the stigma of needing to be in a larger market like Los Angeles to be successful is fading.

“You can build an audience overnight, sometimes, anywhere,” he continued.  “The benefits that I have always seen with being in KC — versus LA or versus any major hub — is there is typically an openness and welcomeness to creative endeavors for whatever you’re working on.”

Elder moved to Kansas City in 2016 — after getting a theater degree in his home state of North Carolina — to act in a movie (“The Matchbreaker”) that Vedder and his brother were producing, he shared.

He ended up sticking around after finding more creative projects to work on and then jumped into the tech world when a client was launching a social media venture. Although that project ultimately failed, the experience helped to prepare him for venturing into tech with CreatorSpace, Elder said.

“I have really enjoyed working on storytelling and content, but then also having this tech component, as well,” he said. “At this point, we’re so entrenched and connected that I can’t imagine a version where we’re not connected to KC.”