March 07, 2025

E143: From Fame to Fortune: How Celebrities Turn Fame into Billion-Dollar Brands

19 minutes

In this episode of How I Invest, I interview Scott van den Berg, an expert in celebrity-founded brands and the managing partner of Hotstar VC. Scott shares deep insights into how celebrities are leveraging their platforms to build billion-dollar businesses and why some partnerships thrive while others fail. We discuss the shift in celebrity investments, the rise of creator-led brands, and key lessons from success stories like Ryan Reynolds' Mint Mobile, Kim Kardashian's Skims, and George Clooney's Casamigos.

Highlights:

Lessons from Ryan Reynolds: How he strategically invested in "unsexy" industries and built massive brand value.

The Power of Celebrity-Led Brands: How stars like Kim Kardashian, Logan Paul, and Ryan Reynolds built billion-dollar companies.

Equity vs. Cash Deals: Why traditional talent managers prefer cash over equity and how this impacts startup partnerships.

Product-First Approach: The importance of having a strong product, even when backed by a celebrity.

Celebrity Product-Market Fit: Why aligning a celebrity's brand with the right product is crucial for success.

The Over saturation of Celebrity Tequila Brands: Why so many celebrities enter the liquor market and the real economics behind it.

The Rise of the Creator Economy: How influencers are turning their massive audiences into thriving businesses.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls: The biggest mistakes startups make when partnering with celebrities.

Guest Bio:

Scott van den Berg is the managing partner at Hotstar VC, a fund specializing in investments in celebrity and creator-led brands. With experience in 55 celebrity-founded businesses, Scott has worked with stars like Selena Gomez, DJ Khaled, and Jake Paul. His team includes co-founders of some of the most successful celebrity-led brands, such as The Honest Company and Feastables. As a thought leader in the space, Scott shares insights on how celebrities can build sustainable businesses and transform their influence into long-term value.

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We’d like to thank @Carta and @Daloopa for sponsoring this episode!

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Sponsor:

At Carta, we’re on a mission to connect the participants in private capital — from investors and LPs to their portfolio companies — through a suite of financial intelligence and reporting software that’s purpose-built for venture capital and private equity. Since 2018, we’ve been empowering GPs, CFOs, and CEOs to escape obsolete systems of disconnected FP&A tools — all in favor of a single, unified software suite that helps them make impactful strategic decisions and deliver outstanding results for their investors. Learn more at: www.carta.com/howiinvest.

Sponsor:

Daloopa uses AI to provide the best fundamental data service for equity analysts globally. Daloopa empowers users to automatically update existing models and expedite new model builds so that users can spend more time on insights and ideas. Accurate data is central to all investment decisions and can influence speed and confidence for decision-makers. Daloopa believes that AI technology can improve clarity and efficiency for investors and financial markets. Learn more at: www.daloopa.com/how.

Stay Connected: X / Twitter:

David Weisburd: @dweisburd

LinkedIn:

David Weisburd: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dweisburd/

Scott Van den Berg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-van-den-berg-22b534150/

Links:

HotStar VC: https://www.hotstart.vc/

Questions or topics you want us to discuss on How I Invest? Email us at [email protected].

(0:00) Episode preview

(5:01) Sponsor: Tactic Bicarda

(6:20) Selecting and partnering with the right celebrity for a brand

(9:09) Sponsor: The Loop

(10:13) Navigating challenges with celebrity managers and agencies

(13:10) Hotstar VC's methodology in celebrity-founded brand investments

(16:43) Case studies of celebrity brand successes

(18:31) Key takeaways from investing in celebrity-driven ventures

(19:22) Closing remarks and upcoming episode teaser

(20:15) Sponsor: Vanguard

(23:45) Closing remarks

...more

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By David Weisburd

4.4

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