Why Two Creator Founders Are Switching to AI

Earlier today, I published a story about how creator economy startups are facing a reckoning after the 2020-2021 VC funding boom that spawned hundreds of startups trying to sell tools and services to creators. As funding has dried up, several creator-related startups—including Popshop Live, Zurp and Moetic—have been looking for buyers, pivoting their businesses or shutting down completely. 

As part of my reporting, I spoke to Dmitry Shapiro and Sean Thielen, the co-founders of a startup that developed Koji, a tool that offers link-in-bio landing pages to house creators’ digital storefronts. Several factors, including a major pullback in advertising and soaring inflation, prompted the duo to start speaking to their board about selling Koji. They were also eager to switch gears because they expect generative AI will result in a flood of online content. That’s a potential threat to the creator economy, but also an opportunity for the pair, which is planning to focus on a new AI product they’re developing called YouAI.