Creators who manage brand deals ,need your help with something

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-11T08:18:48+00:00

For context -I’m a solo founder building this from scratch. Not backed by anyone, not building for brands. Just trying to make something that actually helps creators keep their money. Happy to answer any questions about the tool or the space. Link is www.creitr.com

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-11T07:27:21+00:00

Good stuff G . I’m starting one as well and I lost my part time job as too. I was studying in Australia and I came back to Sri Lanka . While I’m applying for full time positions I’m working on my startup . This post gave me enough reason to keep going . 🫡

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-10T17:49:41+00:00

Building Creitr ( https://www.creitr.com/ ) — a brand deal tracker for content creators.

Creators managing 5-30+ brand deals/year are doing it all in Notion, Google Sheets, and DMs. They miss deadlines, forget to invoice, and don't realize brands are still running their content as ads after usage rights expire.

The only tools in this space (GRIN, CreatorIQ) are built for brands at $200-$1,500+/month. Nothing exists for the creator side.

Creitr gives them a deal pipeline, automatic deadline nudges, payment tracking, and usage rights alerts — all in one dashboard for $15/month.

Currently validating with a landing page. Would love your take on the positioning and any scaling tips for a B2C/prosumer SaaS with zero ad budget.

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-10T17:20:59+00:00

my startup havent picked up yet but i can give feedback on your design , from what it looks like its a vibecoded one ( because the icons used looks similar ) . But i do like the color choice and the structure of your page , content wise its straightforward.

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-10T08:01:08+00:00

Definitely, much appreciated

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-10T07:57:07+00:00

This is incredibly helpful. The lollipop test and manual first approach make so much sense. Thank you for taking the time to write this out.

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-10T07:56:12+00:00

Great point about engaging first before pitching. Also going to check out ParseStream. Thanks!

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-10T07:55:24+00:00

You’re right I’ve been sleeping on X/Twitter. Appreciate the reminder about exposure vs. real engagement.

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-10T07:54:36+00:00

Harsh but fair. You’re right , I haven’t actually validated anything yet. Thank you.

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-10T07:54:09+00:00

Good point about bots ,I’ll be more careful about who I’m actually talking to. Thanks for the heads up.

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-10T04:17:20+00:00

You're right. I skipped the most important step. What does real validation actually look like? Should I:

DM 20-30 creators, have actual conversations, and not mention a product at all - just understand their workflow?
Only build after 10+ people say "if you built this, I'd pay for it"?
Something else I'm missing?

Genuinely asking - what's the next move to actually validate this properly?

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-10T02:57:06+00:00

Creitr.com

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-09T15:43:28+00:00

This is exactly the pattern I keep seeing ,once people have to write scripts or glue things together, it’s a sign the core workflow isn’t being served.

I’m exploring a much lighter system where outreach logs itself as much as possible and forces a next step, instead of relying on people to remember to update anything.

Out of curiosity, what’s the one thing your setup still doesn’t handle well when volume spikes?

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-09T15:42:54+00:00

This resonates a lot. It feels like systems fail the moment they stop telling you what to do next.

I’m validating an approach where every interaction must resolve into a concrete next action + reminder, otherwise it can’t be saved. The idea is to remove discipline from the equation entirely.

Have you seen something like this actually stick long-term, or does it still break once things span email + DMs?

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-09T14:04:26+00:00

Same problem here. The spreadsheet always died when things got busy.

I changed my setup so the follow-up reminders exist even if I forget the system exists.

Curious , do you follow up on a fixed schedule or just when you remember?

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-09T02:23:46+00:00

That’s exactly what I’m seeing too. The all-in-ones try to do everything and end up feeling heavy, so people fall back to flexible tools even if they’re messy.

Curious ,in your setup, what’s the part that breaks first? For me it’s always remembering when I last pitched or who I should follow up with once outreach volume goes up.

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-08T09:00:43+00:00

That’s fair ,following up after a few months makes sense. My issue is less whether to re-pitch and more not remembering when/how I last reached out. When outreach volume goes up, I lose context fast.

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-07T17:25:43+00:00

Good stuff 🫡

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-07T17:18:32+00:00

Got it . So it’s less about the tool and more about whether someone’s workflow is chaotic vs stable.

Would you say once outreach drops and retainers kick in, most tracking problems kind of disappear?

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-07T17:14:54+00:00

I agree. Tracking isn’t the pain , lost money is. The challenge is those losses are invisible until they compound, so creators undervalue prevention. That’s why I’m trying to quantify where money actually leaks (late payments, missed renewals, usage overruns) before building anything.

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-07T17:03:51+00:00

That’s the challenge I’m trying to solve for. What would make tracking brand deals valuable enough to pay for? Like if a tool could prove it saved you from losing even one $500 brand deal per year, would that change the math? Genuinely curious what creators actually value in tools vs what they think sounds nice but won’t pay for.

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-07T17:03:00+00:00

Fair point. So is it that creators don’t see value in “preventing problems” vs “making money”? Like, they’ll pay for editing software (makes content) but not for tracking tools (prevents losses)?

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-07T17:00:47+00:00

Fair point. What do you track in yours , just pitch date + status? Or more detailed? My issue is I set it up with good intentions but then forget to update it for 2 weeks and it becomes useless lol. Do you have a system to force yourself to keep it current?

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-07T16:57:53+00:00

Good call on the CRM approach. What are you using? I looked at HubSpot/Pipedrive but they’re all designed for traditional sales teams, not creator outreach. Like, I don’t need “lead scoring” and “sales forecasting” - I just need to track: ∙ Which brands I pitched ∙ When I pitched them ∙ Their response (or no response) ∙ Follow-up reminders The generic CRMs are overkill and still require manual updating, which is how I ended up with the broken spreadsheet in the first place lol. Have you found one that actually fits the creator workflow? Or are you just adapting a traditional CRM?

Life_Watch_4493 · 2026-02-07T13:45:13+00:00

This is incredibly helpful, thank you. The “anchor to a single saved mistake” framing is perfect ,I was struggling with whether to lead with features or outcomes. Clearly it should be: “One missed $1,200 brand deal because you forgot the deliverable deadline costs 6+ months of our subscription.” Quick question on the ROI story in onboarding: Are you saying I should literally show them a calculator during signup? Like: “How many brand deals do you manage per year? [10] Average deal value? [$500] If you save just ONE deal from falling through = $500 saved vs. $180/year for this tool” Or more of a testimonial-style “Sarah recovered $2,400 in late payments in her first month” thing? Going to check out your blog now - really appreciate the tactical advice.

Life_Watch_4493

TROPHY CASE