The idea of content creators launching consumer products has become one of the hottest trends in the modern economy. But despite the surge of creator-founded brands, many fall flat. Some creators with millions of followers can’t sell five T-shirts, while others with niche audiences launch million-dollar brands. What separates the standouts from the stalled? Through conversations with some of the top operators in creator commerce, here are the key steps to doing it right and the common traps to avoid.
1. It’s Not About Audience Size, It’s About Audience Fit
As Charles Haynes, founder of Ziggurat, puts it, “If someone can’t convert their audience to an ad or to a live event, it’s unlikely that a product is going to fix that.” He adds, “If they have a very diverse demographic… they’re likely to find it more difficult to sell a product.”
Miles Sellyn of Rare Days echoes this: “The smaller the niche, the smaller the audience needs to be. We’ve worked with creators who have a hundred thousand followers who have built $10 million businesses.”
2. The Product Must Be the Right Product, Not Just a Product
The creators who succeed often start from a clear point of view. Haynes shares, “The best creators are those that have a really strong vision… When someone comes saying ‘I want to do a product, I don’t know what,’ that’s normally a poor indication.”
Product ideas shouldn’t just be imposed from the outside. At Warren James, Saurabh Shah and his team help creators dive deep into their own communities. “We’ll use AI to understand what themes people are picking up on,” he says. “We want each collection to tell some kind of story and be connected to the content.”
3. Validate Early and Often
Charles Haynes advises starting small: “If you have not produced a product before and you are a relatively small creator, then pre-order or a Kickstarter style project is probably the most sensible.”
“We’ll create surveys or smaller focus groups,” explains Sellyn. “Particularly for more software-oriented products, we create what we call ‘feature vignettes’—low-fidelity visualizations to test interest.”
4. Deeply Involve the Creator
The best launches have creators who are part of the process from day one. With 1UP Candy, co-founder Michael Schenker recalls, “We brought about 30 different types of innovations… and we all sat down with Brian (FaZe Rug). From day one, he was very involved.”
Chris Koch adds, “We expect our co-founder talent to join buyer meetings, attend retail locations and develop content around product drops. It’s a mixture of social and real-world engagement.”
5. Plan the Launch Like a Campaign
Warren James takes go-to-market seriously. Shah describes, “We’ll lay out the two weeks leading up to the launch, during the launch, and after. We coordinate emails, SMS, website experience and viral moments.”
This is a far cry from the old model of “drop a merch link and hope.” Today, creators who win are executing full brand strategies.
6. Secure the Brand Experience
One of the subtler signals that sets serious product launches apart is brand consistency, especially when it comes to where and how you’re selling. Choosing a dedicated, relevant domain name helps set the tone.
Using a domain like a .store extension, for example, can immediately communicate to audiences that this is a place to shop. It tells your community: “This is where my products live. This is where you can support me.”
It’s a small detail, but like great packaging or naming, it reinforces the message that this is a legitimate business.
The Future Belongs to Thoughtful Builders
What separates a creator-led brand that scales from one that stumbles? Intentionality, audience fit, product-market resonance, deep involvement and infrastructure that signals ownership.
As Charles Haynes reminds us, “No one’s a gatekeeper to these products being launched.” The tools are there. The question is: will creators treat this like a business, or just a side hustle?
The ones who do it right already know the answer.
