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Lindsey Lee Lugrin take an unlawful route to becoming a founder , so it ’s only meet that her fundraising strategies are just as unequalled . Her company Fuck You Pay Me ( FYPM ) , which is like a Glassdoor for influencers , raise a $ 275 K semen extension solely via Instagram stories , with no pitch deck of cards .
“ If you think of what a sales pitch deck is , it ’s what you send to someone to get a meeting , ” Lugrin told TechCrunch . But the mass she wanted to meet with already follow her on Instagram , where she has a large-minded audience in the creator thriftiness industry .
“ I would just post the numbers game – here ’s how we ’re doing , here ’s what we ’re doing , here ’s how much money I need , how much is left … Here are the terms , DM me if you ’re interested , ” she said . “ I thrust on a thirst trap every now and then , because those give my story a crew of reach – you have intercourse , it ’s sad but it ’s unfeigned . ”
Some of these angel investor includeDerek Schlicker(CFO at Clearbit , which was recently acquire by Hubspot for $ 150 million),Jessica Lee(a former Wall Street managing music director turned influencer ) , andSophia Amoruso(founder of Nasty Gal , now an investor ) .
Not all founders could manage an Instagram - fuel fundraise , but it made sense for Lugrin , whose companionship is establish to support societal media Lord . On the chopine , creators can review brands they ’ve worked with , and share information like how much they were paid , how long it take for them to get paid .
FYPM is a product borne out of necessity . In 2015 , Lugrin was a freelance framework who won a contest to be in a global modeling campaign for Marc Jacobs . She got paid $ 1,000 , a dismal sum for a monumental fashion brand – but , like most vernal creatives , she was just emotional to make with such an esteemed company , and take the picture would run to other better pay opportunity . It did n’t .
“ On report , I was really successful — I did New York Fashion Week , I was on Vera Wang ’s website , I was sold as wall graphics in Urban Outfitters , and I could just never get yield , ” Lugrin distinguish TechCrunch at VidCon last class . “ So I found myself in a position of being good enough to do the work , but not undecomposed enough to be paid for it . ”
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After getting a maestro ’s degree in finance , Lugrin entered the corporal domain ; on the side , she posted about sexism in the workplace on her Instagram,@MsYoungProfessional , where she built up enough of a following to get offer mark tidy sum . Once again , no one want to pay her , and there was nowhere to line up concrete selective information about how much these brands even paid .
Thus , FYPM was bear . Since 2021 , FYPM functioned like a searchable database for influencers , but the elbow room the web site was set up , the platform was go to be unmanageable to scale . So , FYPM has been reconstruct the internet site from the ground up . Instead of only cater to influencers , the new iteration of FYPM will also earmark natural endowment managers and blade representatives to use the program to advertise opportunities ( so long as they ’re crystalline about how much money they ’re offering ) .
“ Going through the datum , the cattle ranch [ of requital ] is so vast , ” Lugrin say . “ For the same work , someone will get pay anywhere between zero and six figure , and oftentimes , the discriminator is get it on how much to ask for , and sympathize what ’s fairish or not , and knowing what your value is . ”
FYPM is only as good as the tone of its information . If anyone can post anything on the platform , then there ’s no way to hump whether testimonials about working with a society are legit or not . This has been one of FYPM ’s biggest challenges — Lugrin and her medical intern ( “ Who I give , by the way , ” she tote up ) have been manually reviewing each of the 38,000 creators who have signed up on the platform . So , with the fresh funding , Lugrin wants to remove these technical barrier to surmount , without damage the quality of the product .
“ At the last of the day , what I remember would make the most shock in this place is a scalable data business , ” Lugrin say . Lugrin wants to ensure that creators and talent handler can access this info for free , so long as they upload verified reexamination . Eventually , Lugrin hopes to employ data scientists who can help create reports based on all of this defrayment datum from across the Jehovah economy . She also want FYPM to develop an API , allowing gift company to upload their own data now to the platform .
“ It just deepen people ’s lives , democratizing information , ” Lugrin enounce . “ It ’s fiscal freedom . ”
The creator economy is ready for a workers ’ movement
