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The HotStart VC Podcast

Scott van den Berg
Creator Economy
Youtube
Entrepreneurship
Celebrity Brands
Proda
Celebrity and Creator-Founded Brands
Skincare Industry
Final Boss Sour
Eli
Roster
Bioavailability
Storytime
Rebuildr
Lexxy
Oh Norman
Social Media
Canary
Paradigm Sports
Y Combinator
Mindful

Breaking down how celebrities and creators build billion-dollar brands — hosted by Scott Van den Berg.

PublishesWeeklyEpisodes33Founded8 months ago
Number of ListenersCategories
EntrepreneurshipBusiness

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Artwork for The HotStart VC Podcast

Latest Episodes

Ford Coleman is a creator entrepreneur with over 400,000 followers teaching career advice and hiring strategies to college students and young professionals, and the founder of Runway, a platform that helps college students land their first internship... more

Azhar Muhammad is the COO of Paradigm Sports, the athlete representation firm behind some of the most successful athlete-founded companies in the world, including Conor McGregor's Proper 12 Irish Whiskey, which sold for $600 million just three years ... more

YouTube

Yoni Bierig is the co-founder of Tempted, a wine-based ready-to-drink Shirley Temple cocktail co-founded with influencer, DJ, and entrepreneur Sommer Ray, whose previous company Imarais Beauty was just acquired.

Yoni had no experience in the beverag... more

YouTube

Deborah Benton is the founder and Managing Partner of Willow Growth Partners, an emerging growth consumer fund that has backed some of the most successful celebrity- and creator-founded brands in the market, including Katy Perry's De Soi, Gal Gadot's... more

YouTube

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Recent Guests

Azhar Shels
CEO, Paradigm Sports
Paradigm Sports
Episode: How the Firm Behind Conor McGregor's $600M Exit Builds Companies With Elite Fighters
Deborah Benton
Founder, Willow Growth Partners
Willow Growth Partners
Episode: Why This Investor Is Skeptical of Celebrity Brands But Still Backs Them | Deborah Benton
Kristina Subbotina
Avid startup lawyer who built Lexxy, a legal operating system for startups and investors
Lexxy
Episode: How This Creator Entrepreneur Used Legal Horror Stories to Build an AI Startup Doing $400K in ARR
John Foraker
Executive/CEO of Once Upon a Farm; former investor
Once Upon a Farm
Episode: How Actress Jennifer Garner and John Foraker Built a $724M Baby Food Brand That Just IPO'd
Sherry Wong
Creator, founder of Roster
Roster
Episode: How This Creator Built an AI Hiring Platform Used by the World's Biggest YouTubers | Sherry Wong
Rita El Haitmy
Founder of TechBible and Eli, AI platform creator
TechBible / Eli
Episode: How This Creator Turned 400K Followers Into an AI Startup | Ghita El Haitmy building Eli
Haven Lough
Skincare founder and content creator
Haven Skin
Episode: How Haven Lough Turned 5 Million Followers Into a Skincare Brand That Sold Out in 24 Hours
Aris Yeager
Founder of Storytime and The European Kid creator
Storytime / The European Kid
Episode: How The European Kid Is Building a New Currency | Aris Yeager Storytime
Jay Fujiwara
Creator and founder of BigBean, an AI-assisted visual English-learning app
BigBean
Episode: How Jay Fujiwara Leveraged 13M Followers to Build Bigbean, an AI Language Learning App

Host

Scott Van den Berg
Host of The HotStart VC Podcast

Chart Rankings

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Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

The Business Behind Katy Perry’s Non-Alcoholic Brand | Scout Brisson, CEO of De Soi
Q: What is the number one piece of advice for founders launching with a celebrity co-founder?
Date before marrying: build trust and understand the long-term fit, clarify roles and motivations, and ensure alignment on vision and governance to avoid future conflict and misalignment between the founders and the celebrity partner.
The Business Behind Katy Perry’s Non-Alcoholic Brand | Scout Brisson, CEO of De Soi
Q: What is the approach to influencer marketing and community building for De Soi?
The approach evolved from traditional influencer dinners and unboxings to leveraging micro-communities and real-life activations, such as fitness studio ambassadors and local events, to drive authentic engagement and convert community members into customers.
The Business Behind Katy Perry’s Non-Alcoholic Brand | Scout Brisson, CEO of De Soi
Q: How did De Soi get retailers to understand and stock the product early on?
Early retailer adoption came both from inbound interest and Katy's consumer-credible presence; some buyers initially didn't understand the category, but persistence, education, and showing value through partnerships and on-shelf activations helped turn conversations into shelf space.
He Covered Creators Before the Creator Economy Existed | Joshua Cohen (Tubefilter)
Q: What inspired Gospel Stats and how can brands use it?
Gospel Stats began as an internal tool for tracking sponsorships and evolved into an enterprise SaaS that helps brands identify sponsors, measure sponsorship activity, and analyze competitive landscapes across YouTube.
He Covered Creators Before the Creator Economy Existed | Joshua Cohen (Tubefilter)
Q: How has Tubefilter evolved since its early days covering creator content?
Tubefilter expanded from niche coverage to a comprehensive ecosystem view, broadening topics, events like the Streamy Awards, and new platforms like Gospel Stats to provide data-driven insights and sponsorship intelligence.

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Frequently Asked Questions About The HotStart VC Podcast

What is The HotStart VC Podcast about and what kind of topics does it cover?

The show consistently spotlights the intersection of celebrity/creator influence and consumer-brand building, with a strong emphasis on how brand strategy, retail partnerships, and operating discipline drive long-term value. Across episodes, guests range from high-profile celebrity founders and investor-experts to creator-entrepreneurs who turned online followings into scalable businesses, covering topics from due diligence and funding strategies to product development, go-to-market moves, and the evolving creator economy. A notable throughline is the tension between leveraging fame and maintaining authentic brand performance, plus practical lessons on retail channels, profitability, and governance that are valuable for founders, investors,... more

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1. The LOL Podcast

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The HotStart VC Podcast launched 8 months ago and published 33 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on The HotStart VC Podcast?

Recent guests on The HotStart VC Podcast include:

1. Azhar Shels
2. Deborah Benton
3. Kristina Subbotina
4. John Foraker
5. Sherry Wong
6. Rita El Haitmy
7. Haven Lough
8. Aris Yeager

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