The Red Carpet

Here's what triggered this deep dive: Last month, I watched a flower shop hit 25 million accounts reached and grow to 200K+ followers. Not through paid ads. Not through celebrity endorsements. But through their founders filming themselves making beautiful bouquets every Wednesday.

Meanwhile, one of HotStart’s portfolio companies, a facial analysis platform, has built a following of 2.3M followers, generated 600M+ views, and millions in revenue because of the content they put out themselves. No celebrities. No influencers. Just sharing interesting educational content that people love.

The truth is, content builds trust in ways traditional marketing can't. Yet most companies still chase external celebrities and creators to help build this trust instead of building their own.

The Director's Cut

The $0 Distribution Hack Nobody Talks About

Picture this: You're a startup founder. You need distribution. You need brand awareness. You need to build trust.

The traditional playbook says: Find a celebrity co-founder or pay influencers. Give them equity or cash. Hope they post.

But what if I told you there's another way?

Daily Flowers is a premium flower shop in Amsterdam that creates stunning, luxury bouquets. Instead of chasing influencers, the founders became the influencers.

Their strategy was deceptively simple:

• Film the bouquet-making process every Wednesday

• Share behind-the-scenes content consistently

• Let their craft speak for itself

The results in just six months:

• 25 million accounts reached

• 200K+ organic followers

• Customers traveling from across Europe just to buy a "TikTok Bouquet"

Zero celebrity equity given away. Zero influencer fees paid. Millions in revenue generated.

Here's what blows my mind: The influencers Daily Flowers would've paid $2,000 per post? They now watch Daily Flowers' content, spend their own money on bouquets, and create organic posts about them. The marketing expense became a profit center. That's what happens when your content is so good that influencers want to be customers and organically post about it to their millions of fans.

The Science of Building Your Own Audience

QOVES, a HotStart VC portfolio company, took this concept even further. They're a facial analysis platform using AI to assess facial features and provide customized aesthetic improvement plans.

Instead of hiring beauty influencers, they created their own content empire:

• Long-form, research-driven videos about facial aesthetics

• Deep dives into beauty standards using psychology and anthropology

• Celebrity case studies analyzing what makes certain faces attractive

Examples of their content include:

• "Why Men and Women Disagree on What's Attractive"

• "What Makes Margot Robbie So Attractive | The Real Life Barbie"

• "The Top 10 Facial Features for an Attractive Face"

The numbers are mind-blowing:

• 600M+ total views

• 2.3M followers across platforms

• 400M views in the last 12 months alone

Every video drives tens of thousands of website visits, thousands of leads, and hundreds of new customers.

They've become the largest audience in the facial aesthetics space. Not by partnering with beauty gurus. But by becoming the beauty gurus themselves.

The Hidden Advantages Nobody Discusses

When you compare building your own audience versus relying on an external celebrity, the differences are stark:

Renting vs. Owning External celebrities mean you're renting their audience. When you build internally, you're building an asset you own forever. Daily Flowers doesn't worry about their "celebrity co-founder" leaving because the founders ARE the celebrities.

Evergreen Content vs. One-Time Posts Celebrity posts get spikes then disappear. Internal creator content compounds over time. Every educational video QOVES creates continues driving traffic years later. Their content library becomes more valuable, not less.

Authentic Expertise vs. Scripted Endorsements External creators reading scripts will never match the authenticity of someone who lives and breathes the product daily. When QOVES creates content about facial analysis, they're sharing genuine expertise built over years of research.

Complete Control vs. Management Layers No worrying about off-brand posts. No management teams to negotiate with. No conflicting sponsorships. When you ARE the creator, you have complete control over timing, messaging, and strategy.

Why Every Company Isn't Doing This (And Why You Still Need Both)

So if building your own audience is so powerful, why doesn't every company do it?

Because it's hard.

Creating consistent, quality content that resonates takes time, skill, and relentless commitment. It's not just about posting. It's about understanding platforms, trends, and audience psychology.

Onboarding a celebrity co-founder solves real problems that internal content creation can't:

• Instant credibility when you have zero brand recognition

• Immediate access to retail buyers and investors

• Network effects that open doors you can't reach alone

• Speed to market when you need traction fast

The truth is, building your own audience isn't a 1-on-1 replacement for celebrity partnerships. The smartest companies do both.

The Media Company Disguised as a Product Company

One of our portfolio companies, co-founded by a celebrity, said it best during their first pitch: "You might think we're a beverage company. We're actually not. We're a media company that happens to sell a beverage product."

Their strategy? Create shows similar to Hot Ones, having their celebrity co-founder sit down with famous people in their space for conversations, while drinking their product on the show.

They've already confirmed some of the largest stars in the scene and estimate generating 300M views in the next 12 months from these episodes.

This is the perfect partnership model:

• They're building their own media channel through the show (100% owned audience)

• The celebrity co-founder brings traffic from her platform by promoting the show

• She leverages her network to book A-list guests they couldn't access alone

• Those guests promote the show, creating free exposure

The two strategies aren't competing. They're complementary.

The Playbook for Creating Your Internal Creator

Step 1: Identify What You Can Create Content On

What expertise do you have that others don't? What process is fascinating to watch? What problems can you solve?

Daily Flowers had flower arranging. QOVES had facial analysis science. What's yours?

Step 2: Choose Your Primary Platform

Match your content type to where it naturally thrives. Daily Flowers chose TikTok for visual content. QOVES focused on YouTube for long-form education. Pick one platform to master before expanding.

Step 3: Commit to Consistency Over Perfection

Daily Flowers posts every Wednesday. QOVES publishes analyses regularly. Consistency builds audiences. Perfection paralyzes progress.

Step 4: Don't Sell, Just Create Value

Daily Flowers doesn't mention where you can buy their flowers. They just show the process of creating beautiful bouquets. QOVES doesn't push their platform. They create educational content that people enjoy watching.

But watch what happens: Next time you need flowers, your brain whispers "Daily Flowers." Curious about your facial aesthetics? You're typing "QOVES" before you realize it.

They own the category in your brain. Not through selling. Through serving.

That's the power of content that gives instead of takes.

Step 5: Find Your Content-Market Fit

You're going to mess up. Your first attempts might be cringe. Perfect. That means you're starting.

Listen to every comment. Study your analytics religiously. Test new formats fearlessly. Keep iterating until you hit content-market fit, that magical moment when your content consistently resonates, your audience actively shares, and growth becomes predictable.

It's the intersection where your passion meets their need. And once you find it, everything changes.

The Numbers That Change Everything

Let's do the math on why this strategy is so powerful:

Traditional Celebrity Co-Founder Route:

• Equity given: 5-30%

• Ongoing costs: $50K-500K+ annually (photoshoots, stylists, etc.)

• Control: Limited

• Content frequency: 4-6 posts monthly

• Audience ownership: Theirs

Internal Creator Route:

• Equity given: 0%

• Ongoing costs: A fraction (couple hundred for editing)

• Control: Complete

• Content frequency: Daily if desired

• Audience ownership: Yours

The ROI isn't even comparable.

Why Most Startups Get This Wrong

Mistake #1: They Think They Need Polish

Daily Flowers shoots on phones. No professional cameras. No editing team. Raw authenticity outperforms polished corporate content every time.

Mistake #2: They're Afraid to Give Away Secrets

QOVES shares deep insights about facial analysis. Instead of protecting "trade secrets," they build trust through transparency.

Mistake #3: They Quit Too Early

Building an audience takes time. Most startups give up after 30 days. Daily Flowers and QOVES committed for months before seeing exponential growth.

Mistake #4: They Don't Evolve With Their Audience

Just look at the first videos of Daily Flowers and QOVES versus their latest content. The improvement is dramatic. They didn't get it right on the first try. But they listened, iterated, and found content-market fit.

The Companies Getting It Right

Daily Flowers and QOVES aren't alone. Other startups are adopting this mode tool:

Cluely generated over 500 million organic views for their real-time AI notetaker. They jumped from $0 to $7M+ ARR in just 4 months and are profitable. The team? 8 people - 4 engineers and 4 social media creators. They just closed $15M from a16z, all powered by their content strategy.

Duolingo transformed their language-learning app into a content powerhouse. Their mascot Duo has become a social media sensation with over 20M followers, creating "unhinged" content that drives app downloads without ever feeling salesy.

Lavender.ai helps write better sales emails. Instead of buying ads, founder Will Allred roasts terrible cold emails daily on LinkedIn. Result? 50K+ followers and thousands of organic signups monthly. B2B doesn't mean boring when you know your audience."

The pattern is clear: Build expertise internally. Share it authentically. Own your audience completely.

The Uncomfortable Truth About Celebrity Partnerships

Here's what nobody admits: Most celebrity co-founders phone it in.

They post twice at launch. Maybe once a quarter after. They're juggling 10 other partnerships.

Meanwhile, you're giving away 10-20% of your company for sporadic, half-hearted promotion.

Company-owned content channels? They show up every day. Because it's their business. Their passion. Their future.

The New Reality of Content Marketing

We're entering an era where traditional advertising is becoming less effective.

iOS 14.5 updates killed targeting. Ad blockers are everywhere. CPMs are through the roof due to inflation.

Creating content isn't just an option anymore. It's the only sustainable path forward.

The tools are free. The platforms are hungry for authentic content. The audiences are tired of polished corporate messaging.

All that's missing is companies willing to pick up their phones and start creating.

The Strategic Framework

For startups considering this path, here's your framework:

Phase 1: Foundation (Months 1-3)

• Choose one platform to master

• Commit to consistent posting schedule

• Focus on education over promotion

• Document everything

Phase 2: Expansion (Months 4-6)

• Analyze what content performs best

• Double down on winning formats

• Begin community engagement

• Start building email list from content

Phase 3: Acceleration (Months 7-12)

• Expand to second platform

• Collaborate with other creators (not celebrities)

• Launch community initiatives

• Convert audience to customers

Phase 4: Domination (Year 2+)

• Multiple platforms running smoothly

• Team members creating content

• Community generating content

• Audience becomes your moat

This isn't just theory. It's happening right now.

The Bottom Line

The best companies are becoming media companies that happen to sell products. While others complain about not affording celebrity partnerships or influencer fees, these companies picked up their phones and started creating.

That's the opportunity everyone misses: You already have everything you need.

The question isn't whether you should build an internal content engine. The question is whether your competitors will build one first.

Because in a world where distribution is everything, the companies that own their audiences own their futures.

And that ownership can't be bought. It can only be built. One post at a time.

The Mic Drop

HotStart VC’s Backstage Pass

Hippie Water, co-founded by Sasha Pieterse, sold out their 5mg cans

Big news from portfolio company Hippie Water. Thanks to overwhelming support during their Labor Day sale, the 5mg cans are officially sold out in every flavor. To keep the vibes going, they’ve reopened access to their limited-edition 10mg sips for presale. You can shop the 10mg online here or check here to find them in-store near you.

Betr Co-Founded by Jake Paul Just Launched Betr Arcade Nationwide

Portfolio company Betr has been hard at work ahead of NFL season, revamping Betr Picks and launching Betr Arcade, making it the first real-money peer-to-peer skill games platform of its kind nationwide. Less than two years after hard launching Betr Picks, Betr is already ranked #4 in scale and product quality in the $2.2B+ DFS+ market, ahead of DraftKings and FanDuel, and only behind companies that have been around 5–10 years. With more products, content, and state launches coming soon, the team is ready to make this NFL season their biggest yet.

Take #9

The internal creator playbook isn't just changing how startups think about marketing. It's changing how they think about competitive advantage. Smart founders aren't asking "Should we pay for distribution through celebrities and influencers?" anymore. They're asking "How do we build distribution ourselves?"

Here's the shift: Daily Flowers didn't hire influencers. The founders became the influencers. QOVES didn't partner with beauty gurus. They became the authority. 

At HotStart VC, we're backing founders who understand that in the creator economy, your content IS your competitive moat. Because the next billion-dollar brand won't come from the company with the biggest ad budget. It'll come from the one that has the biggest distribution. 

Remember: In a world where attention is currency, your ability to create content isn't a skill, it's survival.

Welcome to the fame game, Scott

P.S. Can't figure out what content to create for your company? Reply with what you're building. I'll help you find your content angle.

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About HotStart VC

HotStart VC is launching a new fund to invest in brands founded by celebrities and creators. We’re building the go-to platform for creators and celebrities launching brands, providing capital, strategic support, and the infrastructure to scale.