Meet your hosts, a $20M Austin exit, and the asset audit worth doing this week.
Welcome to the Austin Creator Brief.
If you're reading this, you're probably a friend of ours (Ken and Justin), you've come to one of our past creator events, or one of your friends sent you this because they think you're a dope creator in Austin. Either way, we're glad that you're here.
As we hosted more and more events, we realized in-person communities were amazing, but with so much going on in Austin, creators had a hard time keeping up with local events, and people wanted to learn more about scaling their creator businesses. That's why we started the Austin Creator Brief.
Each Monday, the brief lands in your inbox as your one stop shop for everything happening in the creator economy in Austin. From local events to creator deep dives, welcome to the Austin Creator Brief.
What's happened in the creator economy?
Backyard Ventures acquired for $20M
TL;DR: Austin-based Backyard Ventures was acquired by Acast for $20M after generating $16.1M in revenue last year.
We've talked with the Backyard team in the past and they're incredibly smart, so this is a huge win and very well deserved. The business nerd note: Backyard had solid revenue but sold for just over 1x annual revenue, a massive contrast to the multiples in tech and AI headlines. Agencies and service businesses can be incredible for cash flow, but they typically don't get software's exit multiples. Big congrats to the Backyard team. Another creator economy win for Austin.
Meet your hosts: Ken Jee and Justin Nguyen. Starting next week, this section features creators from the community and breaks down how they're building, growing, and making money. For the first week, introductions.
Ken Jee
Co-host · YouTube · 275k · Newsletters & communities
Ken started creating content around data science, and the videos opened doors well beyond YouTube. His most memorable money moment was a six-figure consulting project that came directly from that work. It showed him a creator's value to a company can extend far past putting its product in a video. He later ran a YouTube ad agency connecting sponsors with data science creators, and grew his own channel past 275,000 subscribers before shifting into the creator economy.
Today he builds newsletters and communities for creators and entrepreneurs in Austin. His biggest piece of advice right now is surprisingly analog: show up in person. As online content becomes easier to create and trust gets harder to earn, the meaningful relationships and business move back into rooms where people can actually shake hands.
Full profile →
Justin Nguyen
Co-host · Declassified Media · Hundreds of millions of views
Justin built Declassified Media, a college-to-career media company whose content generated hundreds of millions of views. The company grew into a multiple-six-figure annual business, but the number Justin is almost more interested in is 20. That's roughly how many hours he worked on the business each week.
The goal wasn't the biggest possible content machine. It was a business built for the lifestyle he wanted: systems, knowing which work actually moved the business, and avoiding the trap of turning entrepreneurship into a job with a more annoying boss.
Full profile →Together, we're interested in the same basic question: what separates someone who is good at creating content from someone who builds a great creator business? We're hoping the people we feature here will help us figure that out.
Audit your creator assets
Stop thinking about your creator business as one giant "audience" and list the assets you've built along the way: expertise, brand relationships, an email list, industry knowledge, data, trust and distribution. Then ask: what could someone pay me for because I have this asset?
Ken's first six-figure check didn't come because his audience suddenly got bigger. Someone recognized the value of an asset he'd already built. Your next revenue stream might be hidden in plain sight.
Four this week.
Live Streamers Meetup #5
Online, Social Rising Austin · RSVP required
YouTube, Twitch and TikTok streamers, hosted by Matteo Savio with creator Ed Ventures. Open Q&A on setup and technique, plus what everyone is working on. Lightning-talk slots are open.
How to Write Better Essays
ATX Writing Club · Address shared on registration · RSVP required
Anuradha Pandey, who built a Substack audience on argumentative essays, on structure. Bring an idea you want to develop.
AURA Presents: A Conversation with CityNerd | Paid
Austin Central Library, 710 W Cesar Chavez St · $25
Ray Delahanty built @nerd4cities into a full urbanist YouTube channel. Worth going to watch a creator work a live room.
Austin Writers' Breakfast
Central Market, 4001 N Lamar Blvd, upstairs patio · Free
Long-running and informal, 10 to 11:30. People share what they are working on and nobody is pitching anything.
Four more this week, including an audio production certification class, a free East Austin photowalk with Canon loaner gear, and a session on getting your business cited in AI answers. The full calendar →
See you next Monday.
Ken + Justin
Know a creator who should be in this brief? Add them to the directory. We read every listing.
The Austin Creator Brief · ACB - The First One · Austin, TX