Today we share a Q&A from Hazem Dawani, Chief Executive Officer at GigaStar.
GigaStar fuels human creativity by bringing Creators and Investors together. GigaStar provides Creators with an intuitive platform to raise capital from investors who gain exposure to the Creator Economy while joining a Creator’s journey. The company also recently announced plans to launch a $1M YouTube Creator Fund to help accelerate the journey of YouTubers.
In today’s Q&A, Hazem highlights the unique marketplace his company serves and the opportunities that it empowers for the creator economy.
Q: GigaStar serves a unique marketplace, could you share more about your company’s role in helping YouTube creators as micro-entrepreneurs to gain capital?
Hazem: GigaStar brings YouTube Creators and Investors together. YouTube Creators deserve access to funding and strategic investors, just as traditional entrepreneurs do.
GigaStar Market is our SEC-registered crowdfunding platform. It’s where YouTubers can list a percentage of their channel’s future revenue in a public revenue-share offering. Creators can raise capital from a database of thousands of strategic Investors who essentially become an army of promoters with skin in the game.
On the other hand, Investors gain access to the fast-growing $250B+ Creator Economy to share YouTube revenue with Creators. During a channel drop, Investors can buy Channel Revenue Tokens (or CRTs), which digitally represent a percentage of the Creator’s future revenue.
GigaStar Market is the only investment platform that provides accredited and non-accredited investors access to the fast-growing Creator Economy through these unique revenue-sharing securities.
When the YouTube channel’s revenue grows, Creators and Investors have the potential to earn more, becoming partners in a shared journey.
Q: How did your company begin and could you share more about the leadership team guiding its growth?
Hazem: GigaStar started in 2022 and we launched our first drop in mid-2023. Today, we have raised over $2.2M for Creators, added over 14,000 investor accounts, and distributed over $150,000 of YouTube revenue to the investors. Our technology and business model have been validated, and we have enhanced our ability to scale and accelerate the onboarding of Creators.
GigaStar is at the crossroads of FinTech and the Creator Economy. Our co-founders and leadership team members have an entrepreneurial background in both financial technology and the YouTube space.
I’ve built and successfully led VC exits for two FinTech companies in Chicago and New York; GigaStar is my third company. The GigaStar model was conceived by my co-founder, who spent 15 years in the Creator Economy and built one of the largest YouTube Partner agencies in the Middle East and North Africa. We also have several fintech veterans helping to lead our growing dream team.
As a market opportunity, we’ve identified that a new generation of entrepreneurs (YouTube Creators) need more access to capital, ways to innovate engagement, and new long-term revenue streams.
We are democratizing the Creator Economy to help YouTube Creators finance their ambitions, partner with Investors, and do what they love.
Q: How do investors become involved in supporting YouTube creators on your platform and why do many consider investing on GigaStar to differentiate their portfolio?
Hazem: When Creators list a drop (or offering) on GigaStar Market they offer a percentage (usually between 10%-40%) of their YouTube channel’s future revenue to Investors.
GigaStar alerts an existing database of investors (currently over 13K) when a Drop is live. Creators are encouraged to invite their fans to participate and join their journey.
During the drop, Investors (aged 18 or older) can buy Channel Revenue Tokens (or CRTs), which digitally represent a percentage of the revenue-sharing security.
GigaStar Market is the only investment platform that provides Investors access to the fast-growing Creator Economy through these unique revenue-sharing securities. The Creator Economy has been growing over 30% on average year-over-year for the past 10 years.
As an alternative to traditional equity investments, these securities may help Investors diversify their portfolios.
To provide value all GigaStar Market Investors have access to GigaStar Portfolio, an environment where they can track and monitor all investment performance and channels’ revenues.
Q: What challenges have you faced? How is this crowdfunding space evolving?
Hazem: Our biggest challenge early on was to simplify a complex process of listing and selling securities and make it cost-efficient to be able to scale it and offer it to the Creator, and lower the barriers of entry.
Another challenge we experienced early on was highlighting our value proposition’s Web3 and crypto aspects. Many Creators we spoke with expressed apprehension around anything Web3-related, and it immediately became clear that we needed to let the benefits take center stage and focus less on the specific blockchain mechanisms that make it possible.
GigaStar continues to collect Creator and Investor feedback to evolve GigaStar Market and GigaStar Portfolio, including adding traditional offramp capabilities to our product roadmap.
Q: How is GigaStar transforming the marketplace for investors and creators as it relates to financial opportunities?
Hazem: We’ve talked with many Creators who have been unhappy with certain funding models that have put them in positions where they could potentially lose control or rights to their channels or content. For example, if they fail to pay on a Creator loan for which their channel is the collateral.
GigaStar does not issue loans, nor does licensing of back-catalogs. Rather, GigaStar enables Creators to monetize future YouTube channel revenue while maintaining full control over their content and channels…and keeping all of their brand deals and sponsorship revenue.
When an Investor participates in a GigaStar Market offering, they are not purchasing YouTube channel rights – but rather the rights to a percentage of the YouTube channel’s future revenue. Creators never lose control. We want to keep it that way.
Additionally, GigaStar has a secondary market planned for 2024. Once live, and if active, will provide additional long-term opportunities for both Creators and Investors.
Q: How does blockchain play a role in how GigaStar operates and how has that technology differentiated GigaStar to better serve the creators and investors?
Hazem: Issuers who successfully list and close an offering on GigaStar Market automatically distribute YouTube revenue to thousands of investors monthly. GigaStar Technologies is the technology facilitator that makes this possible by setting up and managing the individual Issuers’ smart contracts on the Polygon blockchain.
We want to shape a future where investors in the Creator Economy benefit from decentralized efficiencies and reduced-cost opportunities.
We strive to have blockchain efficiencies enhance Creator-Investor relationships and lower the barriers to entry for Investors to participate in the Creator Economy.
Q: What advice do you have for creators, as the next generation of entrepreneurs, to fund their dreams and further grow the marketplace of the future?
Hazem: We encourage this new generation of Creators to think like entrepreneurs – to envision how strategic capital crowdfunded by thousands of channel investors (who may be eager to share and support their content) could support their purpose – their “why”.
Even successful YouTube channels need money. Whether they can use funds to support their longevity as a Creator, hire a team, pay off debt, buy a house, acquire other IP, plan for retirement, or just take some future risk off the table, GigaStar is here as a long-term partner to Creators.
Creators can learn more by visiting https://gigastar.io.
Investment offerings are speculative, illiquid, and involve a high degree of risk, including the risk of loss of your entire investment. There is no guarantee of the performance of any company, channel, or investment. Past performance is not a guarantee of future success.
"Creators are essentially entrepreneurs who build their companies as their channels and build their businesses," he explains. "They tend to lack sources and options to fund their enterprises and ambitions." Hazem brings a wealth of experience from the fintech world to this venture, conceived by his colleague and co-founder Mohammed Asfour, who has over 15 years of experience in the YouTube space.
GigaStar: Empowering Creators Through Innovative Crowdfunding
GigaStar’s core mission is "to empower creators with access to crowdfunding and provide investors with unique revenue-sharing assets." Hazem emphasizes the company’s unique approach: "We found a solution regulated by the U.S. financial industry that allows YouTube creators to leverage their thousands of subscribers and followers through crowdfunding."
What distinguishes GigaStar is its creator-centric model. "Creators do not lose control of their YouTube channel [or] give up IP," Hazem states. "It allows them to get the funding they need to build their businesses." He believes this regulated approach enables creators to maintain creative freedom while accessing necessary capital.
Since its launch, GigaStar has demonstrated significant traction. "We've already raised over $2.5 million for creators on the platform," Hazem reports. We have already distributed over $150,000 of YouTube revenue to the investors. We have over 16,000 investor accounts on the platform."
The company's innovative approach simplifies the complex process of regulated fundraising for creators. Hazem explains, "We ensure that it's an easy process for the creators, even though they are essentially issuing revenue-sharing securities on the platform to the investors."
GigaStar's tech leverages blockchain to manage revenue distribution at scale. "We provide the investors with a guaranteed way to receive monthly YouTube revenue and facilitate the whole process for both [them] and the creators," Hazem states.
The platform has already produced notable success stories. One example is The Shluv Family, an entertainment channel that raised over $50,000 to hire an editor and increase production. As a result, according to Hazem, they "substantially increased the engagement, viewership, and revenue of the channel."
In another case, ClearValue Tax raised $1 million from over 1,100 investors in a matter of days by offering 20% of their future YouTube revenue. Hazem sees this as evidence of "how much demand there is, how much desire there is from the fans and investors to be part of the creator economy."
Technology: The Backbone of GigaStar's Innovation
At the core of GigaStar's platform lies a sophisticated technological infrastructure that enables seamless crowdfunding and revenue distribution. Hazem emphasizes the critical role of technology in handling high-volume investor traffic and simplifying the investment process.
"Technology is a big part of what we do," Hazem states. "Conducting a crowdfunding offering can be intense when thousands of investors come to your platform." To address this, GigaStar has developed robust systems that can handle significant traffic while maintaining an easy-to-use interface for investors.
For creators, the company has automated many onboarding functions, streamlining the listing process on the platform while still providing creators with a white-glove concierge-style onboarding experience. This includes contract production, offering page creation, and marketing guidance.
A key technological innovation is GigaStar's use of blockchain for revenue distribution. Hazem explains, "We spend a lot of time on the blockchain... to distribute the YouTube revenue when it comes in from YouTube to thousands of investors, smart contracts are leveraged." This system allows for efficient, scalable revenue distribution.
The platform also features GigaStar Portfolio, a comprehensive tool for investors to track their investments and monitor channel performance. "These features bring investors back time and again to invest in more creators and channels," Hazem notes.
GigaStar is exploring the potential of AI to enhance its services. The CEO anticipates that as the platform scales to "millions of investors and thousands of creators," AI could play a crucial role in identifying patterns and adapting to various needs.
Creator-Brand Relationships in the Digital Age
While GigaStar primarily focuses on empowering creators through crowdfunding, Hazem acknowledges the platform's indirect impact on creator-brand collaborations. "We don't stand between the creators and the brands they work with," he explains. "Creators who work with us keep all brand and sponsorship revenue and only offer a portion of their channel's future YouTube AdSense revenue." The Chicago-based entrepreneur notes that by providing financial support, GigaStar may indirectly enable creators to dedicate more time to brand partnerships and sponsorships.
Hazem emphasizes the shifting media space and its implications for brand engagement. "People are turning to YouTube instead of more traditional TV these days," he observes. "For brands to reach their audiences, especially younger audiences, they have to look at content creators as a way to access them."
According to Hazem, the power of influencers in this new ecosystem is significant. "It's amazing to see the amount of dedication people have to these creators," he says. This loyalty translates into tangible results for brands. As Hazem affirms, "Influencers can and do greatly influence their audiences to adjust certain behavior or buy certain products."
Tokenizing Talent: The Next Frontier in Creator Finance
Hazem sees significant shifts in the creator economy. He notes the emergence of various funding solutions for creators. Still, the industry veteran reiterates GigaStar's unique approach: "We're trying to solve a funding solution that aligns the creators' careers 100% with their investors, on a long-term vision."
A major trend Hazem identifies is the securitization and tokenization of YouTube revenue. He explains its potential, "YouTube received over $30 billion in ad revenue last year. And they give 50% of that to the content creators." Hazem advises creators to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset: "I would encourage creators to think as entrepreneurs and business-minded people.” He notes a growing trend of creators viewing their channels as businesses, developing holistic strategies encompassing brand deals, product creation, and multi-platform presence.
For marketers, Hazem hints at the power of influencer partnerships. "It's fascinating to see how much strength messages by influencers have," he observes, highlighting the effectiveness of influencer-driven campaigns.
As for GigaStar’s role in the industry’s future, Hazem sees his company as part of a wave creating transparency and value in creator revenue streams. He anticipates more solutions emerging that leverage predictable revenue streams, allowing creators to access funding and grow their businesses more effectively.
GigaStar connects YouTube creators and fans through revenue-sharing securities. It allows fans to invest in and support creators’ channels using blockchain technology to streamline funding, enhance fan engagement, and transform fans into promoters. To learn more, visit gigastar.io.
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Creator Networks, Inc.(dba GigaStar). GigaStar is the Parent Company of GigaStar Portal, LLC (dba GigaStar Market), an SEC registered funding portal member of FINRA, and GigaStar Technologies LLC, offering blockchain and smart contract solutions via GigaStar Portfolio. Investment offerings are speculative, illiquid, and involve a high degree of risk, including the risk of loss of your entire investment. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
