Finding Founders

Disheartened by the 37 rejection letters in his back pocket, Daniel was shocked when a hasty bar-pitch landed him with a $40,000 publishing deal. After all, he was still relatively unknown…and his children’s story was odd to say the least. What kind of kid would want to read a faux (FOE) gothic novel about three orphans with a bloodthirsty relative out for their inheritance”? If this plot is sound...

Now, we know Irvine Welsh for his enormously popular novels such as Trainspotting, The Acid House, Filth, Porn, Glue and Skagboys. His first work has since been adapted into the cult classic 1996 film Trainspotting , consistently ranked as one of the top 10 British films of all time and recently followed by its 2017 sequel T2 Trainspotting . Whether Irvine is switching between the punk and disco s...

We all start somewhere…and for christian, that start was a best-selling, chart-topping, fart-themed ringtone. Now, with over 1.7 billion views on YouTube, 6 million subscribers, and 3 million monthly Spotify listeners, Christian-better known as TheFatRat- has outgrown this early legacy and made an extraordinary impact on the electronic music scene. But how did this German artist get his start? Bef...

Only a year after joining social media, Joanne Molinaro would become a New York Times bestseller for “The Korean Vegan Cookbook”— but when she was crying in her car, stressed about her job, her divorce, and future, this eventual reality seemed like a fantasy. Now, Joanne is one of leading voices in the cooking world with 3 million followers on tiktok, nearly 1 million Youtube subscribers, and more...

Seeing his and his friend’s faces plastered on billboards and newspapers around London, it seemed that Sorted had finally made it. If YouTube recognized their content’s worth, then surely hundreds of thousands of followers would be quick to follow—or so Ben Ebrell thought. Instead, what Ben has found through his many years of experience is that there is no making it on YouTube, no closing the frid...

You just heard from Kelsi Davies as she describes how her haunted doll Lola changed her TikTok career forever. If you haven’t heard this name before, Kelsi is a social media superstar with 5 million followers on tiktok and more than 800,000 YouTube subscribers. As a creator, psychic, and medium, Kelsi has brought us some of the most haunted content on the web, posting vlogs from enchanted forests...

Adorian had dabbled in Youtube fame before, but it wasn’t until he checked his phone after school to 40,000 new followers that he realized the true potential and speed of the online world. I mean imagine…in 2009, twitter was only 3 years old and the hashtag was even younger. Amidst working on high school homework and filming SMOSH-inspired videos, Adorian had somehow stumbled on the opportunity of...

You just heard from internet sensation Tati Bruening, as she recalls how a one-off joke set an entire viral instagram movement into motion. Known by her instagram handle ‘illumitati’ or her tiktok ‘illumitatiana’, you might have seen some of Tati’s distinctive photography or celebrity shoots on your for you page, as she has gained a following of 323,000 and 2.6 million followers in only the past f...

You just heard Ali describing one of her breaking points, where a battle for a copyright claim over one of her creations caused her to file a lawsuit. Now, Ali Spagnola, musician, comedian, and artist, has proved herself to be a creator you can’t look away from. With her eccentric dedication to living “outrageous”, Ali has won over 1.4 million tiktok followers and more than 400k subscribers on You...

Watching as he racked up tens of thousands of new fans over the course of the day, Sean Sotaridona let out a sigh of relief he didn’t even know he was holding. This success, this new and unexpected online stage, was what he had been looking for all his life. It only took him 16 years to find it. Going by the username SeanDoesMagic, Sean’s masterful magic tricks have garnered more than 21 million f...

Despite exploding in popularity on YouNow and finishing up his first national tour, Nathan Triska realized that the creator lifestyle was not always as glamorous as it seemed. His online presence didn’t do much for his high school reputation– in fact, it seemed to make things worse. Flash forward to the present and Nathan has found even more success through his role of Frankie on the breakout web...

You just heard Brenton Kelly describing the leadup to the murder of American conservationist Diane Fosse in Rwanda. Employing rigorous anti-poaching methods towards the end of her life, Fosse made more than a few enemies. But how do Fosse’s and Brenton’s stories connect? Well we’ll get to that later… let’s introduce Brenton first. He’s the treasurer and advocacy director of Quail Springs Permacult...

Struggling to find work in the entertainment industry and fearful of disappointing her parents, Inga’s filmmaking career could have ended her first year in LA. Maybe it was time to look at something practical, something safe. Flash forward, and we now know Inga Lam as an immensely talented video producer and food influencer at Buzzfeed’s Tasty, Bring Me, About to Eat, and her own personal channel....

Despite having two hit book series under her belt, it was at this moment that Kimberly caught a glimpse of the publishing industry’s true nature. The world of literature had a short term memory and she was only as good as her most recent book’s sales. No matter how proud she was of her stories or how many book tours she’d finished, it felt like maybe she would never get the chance to reach the sam...

Hunter Williams witnessed his mother’s diagnosis, prognosis, decline, and passing in the span of only two months and two weeks. And at the end of the summer of 2016, he suddenly found himself stranded in the middle of his life, unable to move forward in any direction.  Fast forward to today and Hunter Williams is a full time YouTuber known for his sharp, well edited video essays on the business of...

As kids, a lot of us vow to never be like our parents. We want to learn from their mistakes and do things differently, and improve the formula for raising good humans. But that’s easier said than done. Coming out of a grueling job with no backup plan, Rob Kenney felt unsure about his ability to be a family man. In the back of his mind, he recalled his wish to provide a secure home environment for...

Broke, blacklisted, and betrayed by other jealous comedians, Flame Monroe was left struggling to provide for herself and her family. But that was then… now, more than a decade later, Flame is back in the spotlight, appearing on HBO’s ‘Def Comedy Jam’ and the emmy-nominated Netflix comedy series ‘Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready’. As her story above hints , life as a stand up comedian was not a...

After a mad dash trip to New Haven, Jeff Snyder was met with the worst news imaginable. Not only did his daughter have cancer, she also needed to go into an emergency surgery within the next 24 hours. We’ll come back to this moment and how it changed his life soon, but first a bit about Jeff. Jeff is the founder of an experiential marketing company called Inspira. It now boasts campaigns for the l...

You just heard about the time that Frank Donner made the painful decision to move back to Los Angeles, momentarily leaving behind his wife, his daughter, and well…me. Yes, you heard that right. Today, we are talking to my Dad: producer, actor, and family man. I’ve heard bits and pieces of his story before but now we’re taking a true deep dive. From working alongside the likes of Mark Ruffalo and B...

You just heard from Isaiah Shepard as he recounted heartbreak that sent him reeling…but this moment was also the beginning of an enormous creative explosion. Now if that name doesn’t sound familiar, you might recognize a YouTube account called Steezy Kane instead. Operating under this channel name, Isaiah-or Steezy - has amassed 3.6 million followers in the past four years through his popular pran...

You just heard from Alexandra Zatarain as she recounts the few dread-filled hours that preceded her father’s terminal cancer diagnosis. Though this fundamentally changed the course of her life, Alexandra dealt with the sudden grief by asking the same question she had always asked: What can I do? This unshakable dedication to problem-solving has led up to her entrepreneurial endeavors as the co-fou...

You just heard Zack Honarvar talking about the moment he realized he needed to move on from the stagnant safety of his traditional finance company and forge his own path. Zack is now the founder of the management company One Day Entertainment, which powers the financial side of channels such as Yes Theory, Airrack, and The Cheeky Boyos. Beyond harnessing the power of multi million subscriber chann...

You just heard Josh Johnson recalling the moment where his worst nightmare came true: after finally stepping away from his safety net, he found himself jobless with the rug yanked out from under him. Now well known for his performances on Conan and Comedy Central, his tours with Trevor Noah, and a 2020 Emmy nomination, Josh has come a long way from his first script writing experience on the Tonigh...

Ronan Levy is the founder of Field Trip Health, a rapidly expanding therapy program which combines psychotherapy and psychedelics to address treatment-resistant mental health disorders. His clinics span across Canada, the United States, and Europe, with Levy aiming to establish 75 clinics over the next four years. But to spearhead a mental health movement, Levy had to go through kidnapping, heartb...

You are about to listen to Michael Tucker talking about how yet another project, a chance at being legitimized in LA’s film industry, failed before it even had a chance to lift off the ground. We’re going to tell you how he got to this point, and past it… eventually creating the popular YouTube channel ‘Lessons From the Screenplay’. Garnering more than 5 million views on his most popular release w...