Creator/Course
a Moment sub-brand · 2020–2022
Co-founder
In one line
During COVID I co-founded Creator/Course inside Moment and grew it to $1.2M+ in its first year. Revenue-share partnerships, courses shot in the field and 50+ courses with Alex Strohl, Mango Street, Colin & Samir and Sam Elkins.
Context
Moment had 600k YouTube subscribers, 1M Instagram followers, and personal relationships with 300+ creators. When COVID froze paid advertising, those relationships became the foundation for a new business.
Moment had built real trust with street photographers, documentary filmmakers and adventure creators, and a lot of them told us they wanted to make online courses but didn’t have the setup to do it. When COVID hit and paid advertising paused, I broke away from my growth role to co-found Creator/Course and turn that into a business. We brought the resources, they brought the vision.
What I Built
The whole brand from scratch: the partnership model, how we produced, the course framework and the marketing.
- DesignedA revenue-share model so both sides were invested. I reached out to 300+ creators in our network and asked if they wanted to build a course.
- DirectedEvery course out in the field. A street photographer winding through NYC, an iPhone filmmaker across Japan, a road trip through Montana and Wyoming. Fun to watch, beautiful to look at, and you came away knowing more.
- ContractedAlex Strohl, Mango Street, Colin & Samir, Sam Elkins and 45+ others. I briefed and produced every course with the Moment team.
- OwnedThe marketing strategy and launch creative. The course trailers became the ads, so one production budget did two jobs.
Strategy
These courses were made by real creators, shot in the real world, for an audience that already trusted Moment’s taste. The location was the curriculum.
On the model
With revenue share, both sides want the other to win. Creators were partners with a stake in the outcome, and you could feel it in everything: the prep, the shoot and the final course.
On in-field production
Sitting in a studio explaining photography is different from watching a street photographer move through NYC, thinking on the fly and making decisions in real time. We shot every course in the place that made that creator's work make sense.
$1.2M+
Revenue in year one from a standing start. Some courses cleared $100k in the first 30 days.
50+
Courses covering product photography, filmmaking, YouTube, business. Filmed across the globe.
300+
Creator relationships in the database. Revenue-share model meant both sides were invested in every win.
The model is what made it work: real creators, real locations and both sides with skin in the game. The audience trusted Moment’s taste, and we made sure every instructor lived up to it.