Life Update (Plus Why You Don't Need to Be a CEO)

It's been almost a week since I've slid into your inboxes with some Suite Intelligence and I'm thrilled to share some updates from my corner of the creator economy. I am:

• Joining Sprout Social as a VP to shape the future of creator technology

• Writing about creator commerce as a Forbes.com contributing writer

• Evolving The Influence Suite in an exciting new direction

They are all exciting developments on their own, but it was a conversation last week that made all these pieces click together.

A creator with an incredibly successful skincare line mentioned being unsure about being featured in my Forbes column because she's "a founder, not a CEO."

I was a bit shocked then I thought: how many creators aren't pursuing their product ideas because they think they have to become CEOs?

Because in reality, some of the most successful people in the creator economy are founders who have zero interest in being CEOs. And that's not just okay - it's actually brilliant.

Take the Kardashians. Kim isn't the CEO of Skims (that's Jens Grede) and Khloe isn't the CEO of Good American (that's Jens’ wife Emma Grede). These creators chose to be founders who partner with experienced operators to run their companies.

Think about it:

• Founders get to build new things

• Founders can start multiple companies

• Founders can stay creative and strategic

• Founders can hire CEOs to run operations

After a decade of building creator programs and managing $100M+ in partnerships, I've developed a new way to categorize creators that better reflects how the most successful ones actually build:

The Creator Phase: When you're building genuine audience connection and using strategic partnerships to fund what comes next. Your engaged community becomes your built-in distribution platform.

The Founder Phase: When you leverage your audience insights and partnership revenue to develop products and services your community is already asking for. Your creator content becomes your most powerful marketing.

The Icon Phase: When your success becomes the blueprint others want to follow. Your lifestyle content, business insights, and founder journey create opportunities for your next ventures.

These phases create a powerful flywheel: Your content reveals what products to build, partnerships provide development funding, your built-in audience drives initial sales, and your success story attracts new audiences who want to learn your blueprint. Each element feeds the next, creating sustainable growth.

I'll be exploring this flywheel in depth through my work at Sprout Social, my Forbes column, and through The Influence Suite. Because the future belongs to creators who build - whether or not they ever take the CEO title.

More on this evolution soon. For now, I'd love to hear: What would you build if you knew you didn't have to run it forever? Hit the reply button and let me know.

Here's to building something bigger,

Brittany

P.S. If you loved this issue, or any other issue, you can buy me a latte!