TipSnaps Uses Their Creativity to Close Wealth Gaps for Creators of Color.
Are you a creator looking for ways to fund your next content idea? Are you a fan looking to show support to your fave creators and get exclusive content in the process?
Either way, you're in luck!
Today we're introducing TipSnaps - a new way to monetize content and foster a community of sharing and appreciation!
Creation to Compensation
The “Creator Economy” is here, and even though it should be economical for all content creators, that isn’t always the case.
Enter TipSnaps.
TipSnaps is a Black-owned creator monetization platform on a mission to ensure diversity and inclusion in tech, where historically, it has been lacking.
TipSnaps has built a safe and equitable place for content creators- more specifically, creators of color- to turn their creations into compensation, fairly and without fear.
With no shadow banning, no algorithms demoting creators, and no content regulations or barriers to earning on the platform, Black content creators can feel confident saying yes to TipSnaps!
More than 50,000 creators already have. There was no question that TipSnaps was the answer.
But you might be asking, “Who are the creators behind the system changing the systems affecting creators?”
In this article, you’ll meet them.
Lyonel Dougé, CEO and Founder of TipSnaps and Vic Boddie, Co-Founder of TipSnaps, share their journey from raising eyebrows of investors who didn’t believe in people who look like them to inevitably raising funds that now raise communities of people who look like them.
Raising Green When You’re Black
The VC conversation isn’t always PC when it comes to Black entrepreneurs.
There are underlying issues with the venture capital ecosystem that can make it difficult for Black and Brown founders to gain traction when it comes to funding.
As Vic Boddie says in our interview, “We’re not in the same kind of homogenous groups that they see every day, or we may not have gone to the same schools they went to, like Harvard and Stanford- we went to schools like Howard and Hampton. They have these backgrounds in companies like Microsoft, Google, and Door Dash. If you’re not in those circles or in those groups, or if you are Black or Brown, I think you automatically you get some points down. It takes them longer to believe in you because you don’t look like a typical founder that they always see.”
He goes on to say, “We can’t control how their vision of a founder looks. We have gotten feedback about us and how we operate, and it was categorically false, but that was their interpretation of us. So, what we do is just keep building and growing anyway. We do what we know is best for the company based on the grassroots level work. We understand real people and what real people want and we build our products to support real people.”
To summarize, TipSnaps may have had to overcompensate with their efforts to find funding based on how they were perceived by investors, but that experience was priceless.
In other words, though it was a little difficult to secure some investors, it motivated TipSnaps to ensure that their process to pay creators was easy!
They changed the way creators make change, in a way that makes sense (cents) for everyone- literally and figuratively!
Interview with the Creators of the Platform that Pays Creators
Be Helpful:
Before it was about trying to monetize people's attention, where all the money came from advertising. Now, I think that there is a shift that TipSnaps is doing in trying to monetize the value of the content that creators make. Specifically, I love the fact that your company is really focusing on people of color and the Black community. Can you talk about how diversity and inclusion fit into your mission?
TipSnaps-Vic Boddie:
We recognized this need early on because we were founded in the infancy of the Creator Economy in 2016. We saw that Black and Brown creators were not doing as well as white counterparts. It wasn't because their content wasn't good, as a matter of fact, the content was great! It was driving culture and getting a lot of likes.
“But what we saw was that the platforms themselves had these algorithms built in, and it was difficult for Black creators to get to the same status level as far as likes, brand deals, and other social media accolades that creators and influencers look for.”
So, recognizing that there was this big gap- I guess we can call it the wealth gap in the Creator Economy- and recognizing that the gap was growing, particularly along gender and racial lines, we understood, as Black people, that we need to work with each other and build each other up. We leaned into our mission to support Black and Brown content creators.
Now, when we look at the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) aspect of it, sometimes it is assumed that it's exclusionary. We get some folks that say, ‘Are you just focused on Black creators?’
We answer, ‘No!’
“We focus on all creators, but what we're doing is making sure that Black and Brown leaders understand that they have a home here. They can come here and be free to create their content and they'll have a fair place to operate outside of other social media platforms that dictate those things for the crowd.”
Be Helpful:
One of your first actions in the beginning phase of your company was that you direct messaged (DM’ed) creators. You landed one fitness creator, and that started it all! Can you tell us a little about that, and then also, how many no’s or no responses you got before that one yes?
TipSnaps- Lyonel Dougé:
My background is computer science engineering. I've always worked enterprise jobs and at big, Fortune 500’s. I never felt like I was doing anything innovative- just kind of taking orders from folks who weren’t necessarily on the edge of technology. Because, you know, if you're working for a big pharmaceutical company, they're going to make pharmaceutical drugs, but they are not necessarily great at inventing the next good consumer web app, right? So, I got a little frustrated. I had ideas and I felt like I was never really getting them out there.
At the same time, I saw a ton of people just going for it. So, I said, ‘I'm going to go for it!’
“This was 2016. I'm scrolling through Instagram and I'm seeing everyday people go from 5,000 to 10,000 to 15,000 and then to 100,000 followers. I realized this was happening in mass- it isn’t just one or two people- it's millions of people! And back then, ‘link in bio’ promoting something wasn't really happening across the board. So, I thought, okay, I need to build an Instagram with a paywall.”
I knew this was a huge opportunity. So, nights and weekends- in this very room I’m talking to you from- I started coding and started building.
The critical action after that was figuring out how to acquire users. Back then, you could DM a person with a million followers, and you may get lucky, and they may respond. So, that's what we did!
We got one fitness trainer who had one million followers.
She joined TipSnaps and started making money and then there was a network effect where other fitness trainers and creators were like, ‘What is that? What’s that thing you’re talking about? How are you making money, how does that work?’
So, that's kind of how it started.
And then, to bring Vic into it, we had known each other for almost a decade. He’s got incredible leadership and business savvy. He’s worked on a lot of business development stuff, but he’s also experienced at the FDA. He led the DEI group at FDA, and based on our mission we walked about earlier, it was a perfect marriage for a co-founder!
To go back to the question about how many people I DM’ed, left unseen or not read, probably 200-300. It was truly a call to action like, hey, you have a million followers and even if a quarter of a percent of them pay you 10 bucks a month for your fitness videos, that's one way- as Vic says- to close your wealth gap and shift money at scale!
TipSnaps-Vic Boddie:
Yes, exactly!
As a startup, you have to expect no. You’re going to get a lot of NO’s!
“I think that's what separates people- like, will you let those no’s stop you or will you persevere?”
We want to win and that's why we're going to continue to win because we just don't stop.
Welcome to the Creator Revolution
We want to live in a world where everyone is a creator. A world where we can all share our gifts and talents with the people around us.
That’s why TipSnaps exists.
To give creators of all backgrounds the opportunity to monetize their content and build community.
From paid private messages to monthly subscription features to the revolutionary release of TipPool, TipSnap offers multiple ways for all creators to turn their passions into profit while simultaneously filling a wealth gap in the Creator Economy.
Vic Boddie’s and Lyonel Dougé’s creativity paid off in creating a platform where creativity pays!
Are you ready to join The Creator Revolution?
Then snap to it and start making tips by heading over to TipSnaps today!
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