This is Rihanna. She hasn’t released an album in over a decade. Yet Forbes named her the world’s richest female musician. Most of her fortune came from makeup. Here’s how she became a billionaire:

The most valuable words 50 Cent ever said in a negotiation: “I want equity.” A few years later, Coca-Cola bought Vitaminwater’s parent company for $4.1B. Here’s how that decision reportedly made him up to $100M:

Time for a reintroduction. I'm Scott. I’m building a VC fund in public and breaking down how creators and celebrities build empires, so you can steal their playbook. • Dutch founder and investor • Started out selling football phone cases, which failed • Co-founded + exited Straise, helping EU startups raise money • Personally invested in 15+ celebrity and creator-founded brands • Now building HotStart VC, a fund investing exclusively in this space Somewhere along the way, I went from selling phone cases to taking business meetings in celebrities’ hotel rooms because meeting in public attracts a crowd. I’ve also been on calls where I had to ask which person was the celebrity (growing up in the Netherlands means you miss quite a bit of American television). It’s been an unusual route into venture capital, and it’s shaped how I look at businesses today. I’ve spent time helping founders raise money, bringing creators into companies as equity partners, and deciding which businesses to invest in myself. A few beliefs have grown out of that work. 1. Distribution is becoming one of the biggest advantages a company can have. Having a direct relationship with potential customers changes how you can build a business. 2. Ownership changes incentives. How much someone owns, what they’re expected to contribute, and how they earn that ownership deserve serious attention. 3. The product and operating team deserve more scrutiny than the famous name. My investment process has evolved to reflect that. Those ideas are behind HotStart VC, and they’re what I want to explore here. Here’s what I’ll be tweeting about: • How creators and celebrities turn their audiences into companies, and which parts of their playbook you can use yourself • The ownership and deal structures behind those businesses, including how equity partnerships actually work • How I evaluate an investment and what makes me walk away • Why some products fit a creator’s audience so well, and how I assess that fit • What founders can learn about distribution from people who’ve built an audience for a living • What building a VC fund involves, from finding investors and answering their objections to earning their trust • The decisions I’m making as I build HotStart, including where my thinking changes and what I’m still figuring out I’ve become a creator myself while investing in this space. I enjoy the work, and it gives me another reason to pay attention to how an audience becomes part of a business. If you’re building a company, growing an audience, or curious about the money behind the names you know, I think you’ll find something useful here. Follow @Scottvdberg to not miss a single post. I’ll link my longer breakdowns underneath this post so you can find them as they come out.

The GOD of podcasting: Joe Rogan. His Spotify deal is reportedly worth up to $250M. And unlike his earlier arrangement, the podcast no longer has to stay exclusive. Here’s how he changed the rules for every creator:

This is 50 Cent. A drinks company wanted him to promote Vitaminwater. He asked for part of the business instead. Later Coca-Cola bought it for $4.1B. Here’s how a rapper turned one endorsement into $100M:

In 2018, Conor McGregor launched an Irish whiskey. In 2021, a majority stake sold in a deal worth up to $600M. Between those dates, the brand shipped the equivalent of more than 6M bottles. Here’s how it scaled:

This guy just wrote an absolute mind-blowing piece:

This is Snoop Dogg. Gangsta rapper by day, business mogul by night. He did business in wine, cereal, ice cream, pet products, a VC firm and he had early stakes in Reddit, Robinhood and Klarna. Here's how he built a business empire: