Kaz Sawyer was just trying to drum up some awareness for his wedding photography business and clothing brand.
In 2019, he started posting on social media hoping to go viral and translate some of that attention to grow his businesses. He threw anything at the wall that might stick, filming challenge videos and pranks with his friends. One video, involving a “staged Viagra prank,” broke through, gaining him 30,000 followers on TikTok overnight.
As he continued to post similar videos, Sawyer quit his job as a barista and started delivering for DoorDash as he turned his focus to social media.
Now 24, Sawyer has about 8.7 million followers apiece on YouTube and TikTok, and 1.6 million on Instagram. He still creates plenty of viral videos, but his next move involves teaching business owners how they can better use social media to grow their businesses.
He teased the new business, called EMP, or Elevate Media Partners, on stage with Kaya at WebSummit Qatar earlier this month.
The business includes a pre-recorded course, one-on-one mentorship and group sessions. Sawyer said he’ll share the detailed systems that have allowed him to grow his following, including templates for creating viral videos and how he organizes his own operations, including through productivity software Notion. Sawyer declined to share EMP’s pricing publicly, but said it would be a flat fee rather than a subscription.
A lot of founders are “so focused on building the company in the back-end that they’ve missed really understanding social media,” Sawyer said.
After his trip to Doha, Sawyer jetted off to India for a real-life case study of his offering. He planned to pick a “random stranger” to see if he could help them “take over the internet” with his strategy.
Sawyer also shared more about his team and business, including the messy logistics of filming videos and managing props. (A recent brand partnership with a robot vacuum cleaner involved “buying a bunch of stuff to make a mess” from Walmart.) He also shared his take on how AI will impact the creator economy, why physical white boards were key to his early success as a creator and what he thinks it really takes to make it on social media.
Watch the full interview, embedded below. And check out the full episode of Scalable, which also includes an inside look at Dhar Mann Studios and whether we think branded microdramas like those from Crocs and Procter & Gamble are a fad or here to stay. The episode is available now on YouTube, Spotify and wherever else you get your podcasts.
In other news…
🛍️ LTK’s New AI Chatbot
LTK, a creator commerce company, launched LTK AI, a new AI chatbot built into its app. The chatbot is trained on creator content and provides shoppers with personalized recommendations to their shopping queries, like what to wear to an event or what to pack for a trip. That includes surfacing creator videos and posts from across the app so users can see the items being recommended.
The chatbot stops short of allowing users to checkout, instead directing buyers to a retailer site to complete a purchase. Creators get credited and earn a commission from those sales. That’s likely a selling point for creators, given that most AI chatbots often summarize creator content without attribution or bury their links.
Jasmine spoke more about this and how creator commerce is changing in the age of AI with LTK co-founder and president Amber Venz Box during a fireside chat at SoCom on Thursday. Box will also join us on next week’s podcast to share more about her journey as a founder and why she believes creators will remain critical to the path to purchase.
The Round Up
TikTok expanded its global partnership with the MLB, including giving select creators access to MLB’s current and archival content to use in their videos. During the 2025 World Series alone, MLB’s international accounts saw views jump 426% in Japan and 710% in Korea year-over-year.
Twitch is revamping its policies for streamers who break its rules. Rather than losing complete access to Twitch for any type of temporary suspension, creators who commit less severe violations of policies will only lose access to specific features. For example, if a user violates Twitch’s chat rules, they’ll be suspended from chatting but still able to stream or watch content.
Instagram is bringing its new TV app to Google TV devices in the US. Read more about social media’s battle for the living room here.
Pinterest has kicked off several “code red” projects to revive growth, including ramping up work on existing features aimed at improving key metrics like user and revenue growth, The Information reported. Pinterest CTO Matt Madrigal told the outlet that so far, these projects and updates to its ad recommendation systems have improved advertisers’ return on their spending by almost 10%.
YouTube is now available on visionOS, the operating system of Apple’s Vision Pro headset. YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said the move gives YouTubers a “new spatial canvas” to share their work and connect with fans.
Visible Things, a WME-repped fan engagement platform founded by veteran TV producers Billy Cooper, Andrew Greenberger and Willis Robertson, launched a new subscription hub for celebrities, creators and brands. It’s debuting the feature with actress and TV host Valerie Bertinelli, who will offer new original videos, podcasts and livestreams for fans.
Deals, Deals, Deals
Whop raised $200 million in new funding at a $1.6 billion valuation from blockchain platform Tether. The marketplace allows people to get paid for creating and clipping content. Creators and small businesses can also buy and sell memberships and other digital services. Clipping longer videos, including podcasts, into shorter segments has exploded on social media and has become a lucrative business for companies and individuals doing the work.
Koah, a startup building the Google AdSense for AI, raised $20.5 million in Series A funding led by Theory Ventures. The San Francisco-based company embeds sponsored ads directly into AI chatbots.
Regulatory Woes
Artem Kaptur, an editor for MrBeast, was suspended from the prediction market platform Kalshi and reported to federal regulators for insider trading related to bets on the YouTuber’s videos. “Our surveillance systems flagged his near-perfect trading success on markets with low odds,” Kalshi wrote in a press release.
Reddit was slapped with a nearly $20 million fine (£14.5 million) from UK regulators over child privacy issues.
By The Numbers
Americans now listen to podcasts more than talk radio shows, according to a new survey from Edison Research.
What’s most surprising about this research is the durability of traditional radio talk shows, given all the hype around podcasts. In the fourth quarter of 2025, 39% of Americans ages 13 and up listened to talk shows over AM/FM radio, compared with 40% who listened to podcasts. (This data excludes listening to music on the radio).
Creator Moves
Sofia Franklyn, the former co-host of “Call Her Daddy” with Alex Cooper, will release a memoir about her exit from the podcast and the public fallout. The book, which will be published by Simon & Schuster, will be out in November. Franklyn also signed with talent agency Verve for representation.
Snapchat announced its first-ever awards show for Snapchat creators called The Snappys. It will be hosted by Matt Friend, a creator and comedian best known for his impressions of politicians and celebrities. The event is happening on March 31 at Snap’s Santa Monica headquarters.
Substack put on a spelling bee event in Los Angeles hosted by actress and writer Cazzie David, who recently launched her own newsletter on the platform. Participants included Nicole Richie, stylist Jamie Mizrahi and podcaster Jason Stewart.
Jill Wintersteen, the celebrity astrologer and author, will host a new podcast called “The Spirit Daughter Podcast,” with iHeartMedia and Whalar Group’s The Lighthouse, a physical campus for creators. (The Lighthouse is also our business partner.)
Talent Tracker
Scott Greenberg and Brett Coker, the Hollywood veterans who founded Bob’s Burgers animation studio Bento Box Entertainment and sold it to Fox Entertainment, are joining Chronicle Studios, which works with about 50 YouTube channels, The Ankler reported. Over the past year, the company has been developing AI tools to help YouTube channels grow.
Hamish McKenzie, co-founder of Substack, is releasing a book called “How to Save the Media,” about the evolution of journalism and the state of the media. It’s out on October 6.
Dylan Wells, a national political reporter at the Washington Post, is expanding her coverage to include a newsletter about the creator economy on Beehiiv called Verified. She’s part of the Washington Post’s new Creator Network initiative.
