12 Influencers Who Have Become Successful Startup Founders

The typical creator playbook used to feel quite set in stone; you built an audience, posted regularly and eventually picked up brand deals promoting someone else’s products.

Now it’s starting to look a little different as more creators are taking things a step further and becoming founders themselves. These aren’t quick merch drops or one-off collaborations – they’re businesses with teams, customers and plenty of work happening behind the Instagram posts.

From Creator To Company Owner

Having an established audience definitely gives businesses a better head start. Instead of launching businesses straight into the internet and hoping someone notices, creators are able to put their companies in front of people who already know who they are. And once you look past the usual beauty brands and merch drops, there are some really cool businesses being built by people who started out by posting online.

1. Emma Chamberlain

Emma Chamberlain built her huge YouTube following through unfiltered vlogs where coffee became a recurring part of her content. Turning that obsession into a business was probably one of the more predictable moves she could have made.

According to Chamberlain Coffee’s website, that personal interest eventually became a standalone beverage company selling coffee, matcha and ready-to-drink drinks. It has since grown into a proper retail operation with distribution beyond Emma’s own social channels.

2. Alix Earle

Alix Earle became one of TikTok’s biggest names thanks to her seriously unfiltered “get ready with me” videos and her knack for making viewers feel like they’re catching up with a friend. Now she’s putting that audience behind her own business; Alix co-founded Reale Actives with dermatologist Dr Kiran Mian, moving into skincare rather than just promoting someone else’s products.

This business just makes so much sense given how much of Earle’s career has been built around recommending products to her followers. With Reale Actives, she’s now gone from telling people what she uses to helping create the product herself.

3. Niko Omilana

Niko Omilana built his following through high-energy YouTube videos, pranks and loads of general chaos. His move into business has taken him into a very different category with Shades. Launched in 2025, the sweets brand sells sunglasses-shaped gummies in three flavours – The Originals, Tropical Blast and Straight Up Strawberry.

Niko has also stated that he wants Shades to become one of the biggest sweets company in the world – and having tried the sweets myself, I can confidently back his vision.

4. Cassey Ho

Cassey Ho started building her online audience more than a decade ago through Blogilates and free Pilates workouts. Over time, that fitness community gave her a pretty good idea of what people actually wanted from their workout gear.

POPFLEX describes itself as a fitness and lifestyle brand, creating activewear, gym bags and fitness accessories designed to solve the kinds of problems Cassey had come across herself. What started with online workouts eventually became a retail business of its own.

5. Magui Corceiro

Magui Corceiro was already a well known Portuguese model, actress and influencer before becoming a co-owner and partner of Portuguese swimwear brand Missus. She has taken an active role in the business and is involved in developing the brand.

According to the company’s site Missus focuses on locally manufactured swimwear made with recycled materials. Magui has gone from being the person modelling clothes to having a say in the brand creating them.

6. Caspar Lee

Caspar Lee spent years building one of the biggest YouTube careers of his generation before moving into a completely different area of business. He co-founded Proper Living, a company that is focused on accommodation for students and young professionals in South Africa.

The company started with student accommodation and has since expanded its portfolio into boutique hotels and more, with Caspar saying it was approaching 1000 rooms. I’d say that’s quite a big change from making YouTube videos in your bedroom, but it shows just how far a creator’s career can go once they start looking beyond content and brand deals.

7. Kat and Deja Clark

Australian TikTok creator Kat Clark has built a huge online following alongside her two daughters Latisha and Déjà, who have also developed their own audience across social media.

Kat went on to launch Kaladé, a personal care brand, while Déjà founded Sunny Dé, which is a lifestyle and swimwear business. Their companies are separate, but both have been able to build on audiences they already had online.

8. Jess Hunt

Jess Hunt was already established as a fashion and beauty creator when she co-founded REFY along with entrepreneur Jenna Meek. The brand initially launched with a brow product before expanding into a much wider makeup range.

That first product gave them a starting point, but REFY has now grown into a full beauty brand stocked by major retailers including Sephora and Selfridges, which has given it a life way past her personal Instagram account.

9. Tamara Francesconi

Tamara Francesconi built her online presence around fashion, lifestyle and travel before taking her experience into the business world with OSAI. The company describes its business as a travel consulting service that creates tailored trips and experiences for its clients.

There’s no lipstick, activewear or coffee involved here – instead, Tamara has turned her knowledge and connections in the travel world into a really useful business.

10. Aimee Smale

Aimee Smale built her online presence alongside her work in fashion before launching Odd Muse. The brand focuses on structured, timeless pieces designed to sit outside the usual fast-fashion cycle.

Social media has played a really important role in its growth, giving Aimee a direct way to put the brand in front of an audience; her story also proves that you don’t need millions of followers before you can start building a business with ambitions of its own.

11. Josh Suggs

Josh Suggs took something he was already doing as a creator and turned it into a business. His street-interview videos became the foundation for StreetTalk, a media and advertising company that creates social campaigns for brands.

The company has taken a format that started as creator content and turned it into something brands can actually use in their own marketing. Instead of making sponsored videos for other companies, Suggs built a company that makes those campaigns itself.

12. Kayley Reed

Kayley Reed moved from creating fashion content to founding Hermana Agency, a talent management business for content creators. Rather than building a company around products, she built one around the people making the content. Hermana says the agency helps creators in areas that include brand partnerships, strategy and the business side of their careers.

Her smaller audience compared with some of the other names on this list shows that you don’t really need celebrity-level reach to build a company around an opportunity.

More Than Just An Audience

These founders are working across some pretty different industries – there’s coffee, property, travel, advertising, talent management, fashion, beauty and fitness. Some built companies around interests their audiences already knew them for, while others took skills and connections from their online careers into completely different areas.

Having an audience can open the door to all sorts of opportunities beyond social media. A camera, a phone and a loyal following can take creators into completely different industries. For these creators, that has meant becoming business owners as well as content creators – and building something that exists past their next sponsored post.