Are you bullish on the creator economy?
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Did you know the creator economy is now worth $100 billion with more than 50 million creators?!
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From Neeraj Chopra (The one and only 💁) to Salman Khan, everyone from all diverse backgrounds are understanding the power of the creator economy and are bullish on it.
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This is where our next portfolio startup comes into picture! This week, we sat with the founder and CGO of CallXP and unravelled their journey, the massive bloom in the creator economy and Web 3.0!?
Read on to find out!
The creator community’s time in the sun is here! But given the phenomenal surge we’re seeing in the number of new creators and the audience consuming that content, we’re only just beginning to see the birth of this new creator economy that is now worth more than $100 billion and powered by over 50 million creators.
From Neeraj Chopra (The one and only 💁🏻♂️) to Salman Khan, everyone from all diverse backgrounds are understanding the power of the creator economy and are bullish on it. But the question remains, Are you?
As you know, where there’s an opportunity, there’s Favcy! And it’s evident that we’re big time fanatics of the startup ecosystem and every trend it begets. This is where our next portfolio startup comes into picture! This week, we sat with the founder of CallXP and unravelled their journey, the massive bloom in the creator economy and Web 3.0!?!
P.S. - We have a surprise for you! So stay tuned :)
Introduction to CallXP (a Favcy Venture Builders portfolio startup)
CallXP is a Digital Toll Line for professionals, influencers, freelancers, and content creators to build their online businesses. So if you want to monetize/bill your audio/video call time, this should be your go to platform.
Below are the excerpts from our Content Strategist Khushdeep Sethi’s conversation with CallXP founder, Aman Gupta.
Q1 - How did your journey with CallXP start?
Back when I was working as the Director for YouScore Solutions, we were trying to help various educators with virtual classrooms. At the time we realised that there was a gigantic requirement from the tutors to be able to teach online. Here we analysed the market and pursued some people on YouTube with a subscriber-base of 5000 and more.
To our amazement, we saw a lot of these people coming in from diverse backgrounds ranging from art and craft teachers, karate teachers, UPSC mentors and much more! We saw that within a span of 3-4 months, these creators actually grew! They started earning approximately Rs.50k to Rs.1 lakh a month, one of them went on to earn Rs.2 to 2.5Cr in a matter of 6 months. This was our cue for something potentially huge right in front of us because it was not just limited to educators, but was also open to all kinds of professionals and entertainers who have a small audience but are often restricted to the whims and fancies of platforms who are giving them advertisements or brands who may approach them for PR purposes.
This is how CallXP came into being! The goal was to help these people monetize their audience, help them monetize their time.
Q2 - How was the experience with the recent product launch of CallXP?
We wanted to show the world that “Yes! This is the product that is going to change the way people look at time and monetize their passion.”
The response was amazing. This turned out to be a great exercise which led to huge traction on all the vertices. Within a month, the core team began working to onboard the first 50 creators on the platform! In case somebody missed it, we had our Launch Webinar back on 17th December 2021 where we showcased the platform with people that are already onboarded which included a doctor from AIIMS, a psychologist, a teacher and a start-up advisor.
What we are trying to achieve here is customer reach, customer onboarding and customer success. This is the objective of this one-month activity, along with beta testing and cosmetic issues that we are rectifying.
Q3 - What does your journey so far look like?
From the conception of CallXP itself, we were striving to figure out and fill the grey areas in the market that we were serving for each of the vertices we serve - Educate, Consult and Entertain.
Along with that, during the pandemic when the teams were all functioning remotely, it was quite difficult to build everything together remotely. Fortunately for us, we tackled one thing at a time and with the support from the Favcy ecosystem we were able to bridge gaps quickly.
Once we had the prototype, the next obstacle was to put together an efficient team that could help us transform our vision into a reality. Eventually, we put together a group of dedicated people who are doing their absolute best.
The journey that started with market research and prototype building has now crossed 80% of the barriers with the next big target is to ‘hit the market’. We have to show how CallXP is here to build a better future for the creators.
Q4 - What separates you from your competitors in the market? What is your USP?
All of the platforms that are now available in the market are mostly focused on delivering celebrity shoutouts or ways to create and sell new types of content. CallXP, on the other hand, provides a one-to-one communication channel between the creator and the audience. It is not just limited to entertainers but expands its horizons to doctors and lawyers, consultants and educators alike. CallXP also provides them with websites and brand profiles. Here the creator gets the hold of the full audience and user data.
Because we do not target a certain demographic, CallXP has a far broader reach than its competitors. We’ve created an umbrella where we’re serving diverse audiences with their own particular sectors ranging from entertainment, consultation and education.
The goal of CallXP's outreach to its audience is for them to be the proprietors of their own platforms. This ownership supplied by us distinguishes us from our competitors. We're here to help creators. Ultimately, we are establishing direct communication between the two entities.
Q5 - How did you come across Favcy, and how was your journey with Favcy while building CallXP?
Since 2015, I've witnessed Favcy's journey firsthand. I've worked closely with them before, and it always excites me. When CallXP struck, we had a direct discussion and began the research. Favcy assembled a team with whom we conducted all of the analyses.
The overall experience with Favcy has been quite rewarding. From the idea analysis to the strategy development and product prototype, Favcy streamlined every step in the way which saved a lot of digital waste and gave us a 10X headstart! It's been a fantastic ride with Favcy. I always wanted to embark on an adventure with Favcy, and CallXP gave me the opportunity.
Q6 - What do you think is the current landscape of the Creator Economy within India and globally? Where do you think it will go in the next 5 years?
If you take a peek into the past, in the 1990s people were investing in radios. Radios were the buzz. In the early 2000s, the advent of TV Channels thrilled people and garnered a lot of investment. Similarly, in today’s day and age, social media is where the money lies.
As Ankur Warikoo, a renowned creator himself, mentioned - ‘In the next 10 years, the people, the world shall see single-person unicorns.”
The statement speaks for itself. When we talk about the potential of the Creator Economy, it is exponential. It is growing at a rapid pace. People are quitting jobs to follow their passion, to teach others, and become solopreneurs. CallXP has a long way to go, but I think this is the right time for us to actually reap the benefits and start milking the right resources. - Subhendu J, Chief Growth Officer at CallXP
When you look at it from the US perspective, we have seen a lot of platforms like Patreon which have empowered creators and boosted the Creator Economy. Even in India, there is a huge wave of investments flooding in. If we look at 2021 alone, investments worth $1.5 billion were made in the Creator Economy. This shows the confidence that investors have in this particular sector. We are home to more than 15 million creators and the number keeps increasing. The Creator economy is here to stay and is going to bring about a lot of change in the market scenario. - Aman Gupta, Founder, CallXP
Investor’s Take
As promised, here’s the surprise!
We’ve added a special section where one of the investors from our community will add their two cents on the industry.
This week we have Aman Kesari from our 1stCheque Investor Community sharing his take on creator economy and CallXP -
The Creator economy which was originally created as a side hustle for individuals to make extra income from their knowledge or skills has ballooned into a giant rivaling the global economy itself. Of the estimated 50 million people who call themselves creators, approximately 2 million people create and distribute content professionally.
With the post pandemic era the need to connect virtually has become a new norm. Creators have also discovered the importance of building communities online. Aman Gupta, the founder of CallXP addresses both these points through his platform. The platform with its complete stack of scheduling, content distribution, payment and CRM module, enables the creators and tutors to retain and engage their community to a greater extent.
Q7 - With the current craze surrounding Web 3.0, do you think CallXP will somehow fit into that niche? And how?
To begin with, Web 3.0 is still a black box for everyone. However, based on my understanding, with the kind of structure and blockchain being added to Web 3.0, CallXP's objective of providing ownership to individuals will be entirely in line with Web 3.0
People will have their own marketplaces in the future, according to our vision. They would be able to have their own NFTs on the platform, as well as their own private subscriptions and content on CallXP. This is also at the heart of Web 3.0. With aiming at individuality and greater authority to the creator, CallXP appears to be designed for Web 3.0.
Q8 - What future prospects does CallXP plan on achieving?
This year, we plan to disseminate as much brand awareness as possible, as well as onboard our first 5000 to 10,000 creators. Once we have a certain number of creators, I am confident that the platform will begin to flourish in a way that will enable others in the creative ecosystem. In this way, the community will continue to grow organically.
For the next five years, our main focus is to onboard at least one billion creators. We want to expand not just in India, but all across the world as creators can be found everywhere and are not constrained by borders.
“I would love to see someone from India, from a Tier 4, Tier 5 city in India learning music from a tutor situated in France. That is something that is a part of the long-term vision.”
In a nutshell, this is a great journey we are on. The future holds a lot of activities that you shall also see as we will be visible to everybody.
Want to learn more about CallXP? Here you go - Linktree/CallXP
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