The Red Carpet

Here's what triggered this deep dive: In just the past 18 months, we've seen Rhode Beauty getting acquired for $1B, Prime Hydration hit $1.2B in revenue, and Skims achieve a $4B valuation. Meanwhile, traditional consumer brands that took decades to build are being disrupted by creators who launched yesterday. But while everyone's debating whether this is a bubble, they're missing the real story. We're witnessing a fundamental power shift in how brands are built. The old playbook of spending millions on advertising to reach consumers is dead. The new playbook? Start with millions of consumers who already trust you, then build products they actually want.

The data I've analyzed shows this isn't a trend or a fad. It's the biggest wealth transfer opportunity in consumer history. And the celebrities and creators who understand this shift aren't just launching brands. They're building business empires.

Let's dive into today's topic.

The Director's Cut

The Distribution Revolution

L'Oréal spent 30 years and billions on advertising to become a household name. Rihanna hit $550 million in revenue in year one with zero traditional advertising spend.

Here's what's happening: The entire model of consumer influence gets flipped on its head.

L'Oréal built their empire through department store relationships, magazine ads, and celebrity endorsements, which they had to pay for. Rihanna? She WAS the celebrity endorsement. She WAS the magazine cover. She WAS the distribution channel.

When she posted a Fenty Beauty tutorial, 150 million people watched it. For free. No billboards. No TV commercials. Just her phone and 150M followers watching her every move.

The math is staggering: A single Rihanna post reaches more people than a Super Bowl ad. Cost to her? Zero. Cost of a Super Bowl ad? $7 million for 30 seconds.

L'Oréal pays for attention. Rihanna already owned it.

The New Power Centers of Culture

Over the last five years, something fundamental shifted. Creators and celebrities didn't just build audiences. They became the primary source of truth for billions of people.

Think about where you discovered your last favorite product. Not from a billboard on Sunset Boulevard. Not from a TV commercial during prime time. You probably heard about it from someone you follow online.

MrBeast reaches more young people daily than NBC, ABC, and CBS combined. Emma Chamberlain influences more purchasing decisions than Vogue. Khaby Lame shapes global culture without saying a word.

These celebrities and creators spent years doing something traditional brands could never do: becoming part of people's daily routines. Their audiences don't just follow them. They watch every story, check every post, buy what they buy, want what they want.

Turning Trust Into Billion-Dollar Opportunities

Here's what makes celebrity-founded brands unstoppable: Every single piece of content is free advertising at global scale.

When Selena Gomez does her makeup routine, 400 million people can watch. When she uses Rare Beauty products? That's not an ad. That's a trusted friend showing you what works.

Every Instagram story becomes a product demo. Every TikTok becomes a testimonial. Every tweet becomes a billboard. The entire cost? Zero.

But the real magic isn't the reach. It's what happens when trust compounds daily.

When Khaby Lame posts about his new brand, 162 million people see it. But more importantly, they believe it. Years of authentic content creation builds trust that money can't buy. Every post strengthens the bond. Every story deepens the relationship.

Traditional brands spend millions trying to interrupt your day. Celebrity-founded brands are already part of your day. They're not advertising to you. They're living their lives, and you're choosing to watch.

That's a distribution moat no amount of venture capital can replicate.

The Hidden Multipliers Nobody Talks About

Everyone thinks celebrity-founded brands succeed just because of the advantages of having a built-in audience. Wrong. That's just the visible part of the iceberg.

The real exponential growth comes from four hidden multipliers that traditional brands can't access:

1. Instant Retail Domination When a nobody founder pitches Walmart, they might get a meeting in six months. When Mr. Beast called about Feastables, executives from Walmart, Target, and 7-Eleven flew to meet him and started a bidding war for the exclusive launch. Years of relationship building? Compressed into days.

2. The Media Machine Effect Traditional brands pay millions for PR firms to beg for coverage. When Selena Gomez launched Rare Beauty, she generated $14.7M in earned media value in one week. Vogue, Allure, Harper's Bazaar all covered it without a single pitch. The press comes to you when you're the story.

3. Capital on Celebrity Terms VCs who ghost Harvard MBAs will fly across the country to meet a creator with 10M followers. But it's not just about getting meetings. It's about getting terms. Celebrity founders raise at higher valuations, keep more equity, and attract strategic investors who open more doors.

4. The Celebrity Network Effect Here's the multiplier everyone misses: celebrities help celebrities. When Hailey Bieber launched Rhode, Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, and Bella Hadid all posted about it. For free. Not because they were paid. Because that's what friends do.

This network effect compounds. Every celebrity on your cap table becomes a distribution channel, a door opener, a credibility stamp.

Why This Shift Is Permanent

The data tells a story that should terrify every traditional brand:

72% of Gen Z trusts individual creators more than companies. Not equally. More.

88% have bought products based on creator recommendations.

94% say authentic creator content influences them more than traditional advertising.

We're living through the largest transfer of cultural power in history. People don't trust institutions anymore. They trust people. And the people they trust most? The ones they invite into their lives every single day through their phones.

This isn't a generational blip. It's a fundamental rewiring of how influence works.

The proof? Look at the gold rush happening right now. Every celebrity who watched Rihanna build a $2.8B brand, saw Rhode’s $1B exit, or witnessed Prime hit $1.2B in year two is asking the same question: "Why not me?"

Bad Bunny just launched a phone company. The Rock has energy drinks. Brad Pitt has skincare. Beyoncé has haircare.

The celebrity-founded brand playbook isn't a secret anymore. It's a stampede. And we're just seeing the beginning.

The Uncomfortable Truth for Traditional Brands

For 200 years, the consumer playbook was simple: Product first, distribution second. Build something great, then figure out how to get it to people.

That playbook is dead.

The new playbook? Distribution first, product second. Start with millions of people who trust you, then build what they're asking for.

P&G spent decades perfecting products in labs before spending millions more trying to reach consumers. Meanwhile, Kylie Jenner asked her followers what lip colors they wanted, launched exactly that, and hit $420M in revenue in 18 months.

Traditional brands need six months and $2M for consumer research. Creators need 24 hours and an Instagram poll. By the time P&G finishes their focus groups, a creator has already launched, tested, and iterated three times.

The moat isn't product innovation anymore. It's audience ownership.

The Playbook for the Next Decade

2020 playbook: Slap your name on a lip kit. Cash out. 

2025 reality: The easy money is gone.

The market is drowning in "me too" celebrity-founded brands. Another celebrity vodka? Another influencer vitamin? The consumer has seen this movie before.

The winners now? They're playing a different game entirely.

Fenty didn't just launch makeup; they created 40 foundation shades when everyone else had 12. 

Hailey Bieber didn't just launch skincare; she patented glazing peptide technology. 

Beats didn't just make headphones; they turned audio equipment into a fashion statement worth $3 billion to Apple.

Fame gets you in the door. Product excellence keeps you in the room.

The Next Wave Is Already Here

We're not waiting for this future. It's happening now.

Every week: Another celebrity-founded brand launches 

Every month: Another hits $100M revenue 

Every year: Another traditional category gets disrupted by someone with an iPhone and an idea.

The infrastructure is ready. The consumers are waiting. The capital is flowing.

The question isn't whether celebrities and creators will build the next billion-dollar brands.

The question is which industries they'll revolutionize first.

At HotStart VC, we're betting on the ones who understand that fame is just the beginning.

The real game? Turning attention into empire.

And that game is just getting started.

The Mic Drop

HotStart VC’s Backstage Pass

Sasha Pieterse joined the How I Invest Podcast to talk about Hippie Water

Portfolio founder Sasha Pieterse just revealed on How I Invest with David Weisburd how she turned her health struggles into Hippie Water, a hemp-derived THC beverage now crushing it in 140+ stores across 9 states. The Pretty Little Liars star breaks down why Gen Z alcohol consumption dropped 20%, reveals the Hollywood to CPG playbook no one talks about, and shows how celebrity founders are evolving beyond just slapping their name on products. Sasha isn't just another celebrity with a brand. She's rewriting the rules. Must-listen for anyone tracking the celebrity founder space. Full podcast here.

Qoves Is Live!

Portfolio company Qoves just went live! Qoves is a platform that helps users enhance their appearance through personalized, surgery-free transformation plans powered by AI and facial analysis, offering a safe and data-driven approach to discovering their best-looking selves. Curious to see what your best-looking self could look like? Sign up here and get your tailored transformation plan.

Co-Invest With Us With Amounts As Low As $5,000

While we are raising the fund, we are already investing in promising brands founded by celebrities and creators through our angel syndicate HotStart Angels. We are inviting angel investors in our network to co-invest with us with amounts as low as $5,000.

Right now, we have a deal open in an exciting AI company, co-founded by an entrepreneurial creator who previously raised over $14M for another company she founded. Interested in co-investing alongside us in promising celebrity and creator-founded brands? Sign up here.

Take #2

The next billion-dollar brands won't come from Harvard MBAs or Silicon Valley engineers. They'll come from creators and celebrities who've already built the world's most valuable asset: trust at scale.

Creators and celebrities are sitting on a dormant billion-dollar business. They have the distribution. They have the trust. They have the data. They just need the right product and partner.

Rihanna proved it with Fenty. Kylie validated it with cosmetics. The Rock scaled it with Teremana. The next wave? It's going to make these exits look quaint.

At HotStart VC, we're not just investing in celebrity-founded brands. We're investing in the architects of the next consumer revolution.

Remember: In a world where trust drives commerce and creators own all the trust, the next billion-dollar brands are hiding in plain sight, in the feeds of creators who don't even know they're sitting on gold mines yet.

Welcome to the fame game,

Scott

P.S. Have a celebrity-founded brand you think I should analyze? Or a founder I should meet? Hit reply. I read everything.

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About HotStart VC

HotStart VC is launching a new fund to invest in brands founded by celebrities and creators. Our team has been involved in 55+ celebrity-founded brands, including investments in companies founded by Selena Gomez, DJ Khaled, Jake Paul, and more. We also co-founded two of the most successful celebrity-founded brands: Feastables w/ MrBeast ($375M revenue in Y3) and The Honest Co. w/Jessica Alba ($1.4B IPO in 2021).