Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim
Speaker 1: Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 2: So, when Carol and I were out in Hollywood earlier
Speaker 2: this month for Bloomberg's inaugural screen Time event, we interviewed Drew,
Speaker 2: a fool of wallows. She is the TikTok star. She's
Speaker 2: got nearly eight million follow ups. So cool, right, very cool.
Speaker 2: But I was struck by something when we saw her. Carol,
Speaker 2: her huge team, multiple managers, agents, social media folks, all
Speaker 2: traveling with her, and it just reminded me. I couldn't
Speaker 2: get her to tell us just how much money she
Speaker 2: made doing this. But needless to say, or suffice it
Speaker 2: to say, being an influencer is big business.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and she's content creator and host of the comments section.
Speaker 3: You probably know her well with all those followers that
Speaker 3: are out there. You know, it's a reminder that this is,
Speaker 3: as you said, big business when it comes to influencers.
Speaker 3: Jess Huntershen and Emily Ward are the co founders of
Speaker 3: Shine Ventures. It's an influencer talent management company. They're branching
Speaker 3: out from focusing on influencers to angel investing with the
Speaker 3: launch of Shine Ventures, which focuses on early stage startup,
Speaker 3: so we got lots to talk about. Just an Emily
Speaker 3: joining us now on Zoom from Toronto. Guys, welcome, Welcome
Speaker 3: to Bloomberg Business Week. Curious. First of all, tell us
Speaker 3: a little about your world and then kind of transitioning
Speaker 3: or adding on to what you do. Shine Ventures Jess
Speaker 3: for Emily, feel free to start.
Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you, thank you for having us. We appreciate
Speaker 4: it and you are right, it is big business. So
Speaker 4: we started first in talent management, so we have Shine
Speaker 4: Talent Group and now Shine Ventures. But with Shine Talent
Speaker 4: Group we started that gosh way back. We talk about
Speaker 4: influencer years being somewhat like dog years. One is seven, right,
Speaker 4: so we started at about nine years ago, which means
Speaker 4: that we're ancient now. But we started in Toronto doing
Speaker 4: very very small scale talent management with a really big
Speaker 4: focus on people in the digital content creator space.
Speaker 1: Can you give us.
Speaker 4: For sure, say some of our our favorite Canadian talent.
Speaker 4: We have the Birds Papaya, We have Alicia mccaville, We
Speaker 4: have just Jamie p Which this is such a funny
Speaker 4: industry because I feel like if you know them, you
Speaker 4: really really know them. If you're kind of, you know,
Speaker 4: if this industry is what you live and breathe, but
Speaker 4: otherwise you might have no idea that these people are
Speaker 4: out here making, you know, lots and lots of money
Speaker 4: and doing all kinds of home things.
Speaker 1: Okay, how much money are we talking here?
Speaker 3: Jima's obsessed with understanding the dynamic.
Speaker 2: I want to know how much money are we talking here?
Speaker 5: Well, all confidential when it comes to our talent, but
Speaker 5: I think, you know, every average consumer can discern when
Speaker 5: they're looking at what some of these social creators are
Speaker 5: doing today that it's not just the collaborations on Instagram
Speaker 5: and YouTube, that the industry has expanded and they're.
Speaker 6: Doing their own product lines. They are doing you know,
Speaker 6: mainstream ads. They're involved in product development with major brands
Speaker 6: as well. You can start to kind of add up
Speaker 6: the dollars yourself.
Speaker 3: It's fascinating. It's just a part of kind of a
Speaker 3: slice of life, right that we are learning more and
Speaker 3: more about. I mean, my husband's obsessed with YouTube channels,
Speaker 3: people who sale and like all the money that they're making,
Speaker 3: Like can we do this?
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, you know, I don't know, probably not
Speaker 1: build up that following you got.
Speaker 3: To build up patrons. Patrons, it's all about patrens. Hey listen.
Speaker 3: So talk to us about though, getting more involved in
Speaker 3: investing in early stage startups. And I'm curious, Emily about
Speaker 3: kind of what you are specifically looking for and where
Speaker 3: you are what you are looking for and where you're
Speaker 3: already to investing some money.
Speaker 6: Yeah. So, as Jess was saying before, like we're rather
Speaker 6: ancient in this industry. It is such a new industry.
Speaker 6: But Shine Talent Group has been around since twenty fifteen,
Speaker 6: and honestly, it was always something in conversations between Jess
Speaker 6: and I that we thought when we got to a
Speaker 6: different point of success, we really would want to be
Speaker 6: investing in other businesses and using the skills that we've
Speaker 6: developed in the talent space, which is truly spotting emerging
Speaker 6: great talent and translating that into the small business world
Speaker 6: as well. So in terms of what we're doing with
Speaker 6: Shine Ventures, we're very much looking at like early stage startups,
Speaker 6: and each year we are going to be focusing on
Speaker 6: a different niche, and that niche will be dictated by
Speaker 6: the trends that we're seeing in our core business and
Speaker 6: Shine Talent Group. So this coming year, huge focus in
Speaker 6: the menstruation through menopause space.
Speaker 2: So Jess, I want to kick it on over to you,
Speaker 2: because the question that I have when it comes to
Speaker 2: what you're investing in in Shine Ventures is why now.
Speaker 2: I mean, we're at a point where interest rates are
Speaker 2: the highest they've.
Speaker 1: Been since two thousand and seven, and.
Speaker 2: Essentially the era of free money is over, So startups
Speaker 2: are going to have a tougher time raising capital in
Speaker 2: this environment and money's quite tighter.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they will, But I think that's why we've always
Speaker 4: been so enamored by the startup phase and you know,
Speaker 4: somewhat still consider ourselves to be in that. But I
Speaker 4: think that's the cool thing about startups is they're so
Speaker 4: scrappy and you know where, like our focus is really
Speaker 4: on investing in the founders who can tell incredible stories
Speaker 4: and get people to like understand what it is that
Speaker 4: they're selling and what need their you know what hole
Speaker 4: in the market they might be fixing. So I think
Speaker 4: startups like where like big big business and interest rates.
Speaker 4: You're right, obviously they're at an extreme high right now,
Speaker 4: but startups have the ability to be incredibly nimble and
Speaker 4: scrappy and that's what we just like. That excites us
Speaker 4: so much about that space. So we're we're excited to
Speaker 4: see what they're going to do.
Speaker 3: And Emily, I'm curious, like what will be the mix
Speaker 3: of the business. So is it that venture and angel
Speaker 3: investing is going to become much more of what you
Speaker 3: guys focus on or is it still kind of a combination.
Speaker 6: Well, I think it will be split. But Shine Talent
Speaker 6: Group has grown tremendously. We have a amazing team, a
Speaker 6: great great sceniorallyadership teams. So Justin and are looking for
Speaker 6: other spaces where we can help to grow and invest.
Speaker 6: And also there is a relationship between the two Shine
Speaker 6: Talent Group and itself. The talent who we represent, a
Speaker 6: lot of them have interests in their own businesses. We're
Speaker 6: going to be taking a keen look in terms of
Speaker 6: the opportunities that they're presenting to us and have a
Speaker 6: different kind of relationship Undershine Ventures.
Speaker 3: Does something you invest in have to have somebody who
Speaker 3: can be an influence or connected to it. I only
Speaker 3: ask because I'm kind of my team kind of knows this.
Speaker 3: I've been obsessed a little bit with Shark Tank and
Speaker 3: it's so interesting that somebody will come with a business
Speaker 3: good idea but just doesn't gain traction, and then they
Speaker 3: talk about either tapping into one of the sharks and
Speaker 3: their social presence and their ability to influence people to
Speaker 3: sit up and take notice and then start helping to
Speaker 3: essentially help the business grow. So I'm curious, Emily, if
Speaker 3: that's something that you guys will think about before you
Speaker 3: make an investment.
Speaker 6: I hear that, and I think where we have delineated
Speaker 6: is about we are looking for people who are good storytellers.
Speaker 6: So that can be through the skill of influencing, you know,
Speaker 6: over the years, or it can just be an incredibly
Speaker 6: passionate founder who has that ability to like bring people
Speaker 6: into their story and have people drawn to follow them along.
Speaker 2: So it's interesting to hear of the timing of this.
Speaker 2: And I'm also wondering about, Emily, if there's we're stuck.
Speaker 3: On high rates right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like it's like what we spend all day
Speaker 1: talking about.
Speaker 2: I'm also wondering about where we are when it comes
Speaker 2: to the influencer economy because there are so many influencers
Speaker 2: out there, and I'm wondering if there's any kind of
Speaker 2: fatigue coming from consumers, they're like, Okay, well, I get
Speaker 2: that this person has a lot of followers. I get
Speaker 2: that this person, you know, does these brand partnerships, but
Speaker 2: are they actually still effective like they were a few
Speaker 2: years ago.
Speaker 6: Yeah, And I think actually some of what helps us
Speaker 6: sometimes with the fatigue that comes in is it starts
Speaker 6: to create a line between like the high performance talent
Speaker 6: and talent that perhaps are just dabbling in this market itself. Also,
Speaker 6: the style of influencing, the style of content changes over
Speaker 6: the years. So what was working five years ago, nine
Speaker 6: years ago when we began is very, very different than
Speaker 6: what is working with consumers today. So I think the
Speaker 6: talent who aren't don't have the ability to kind of
Speaker 6: change with the times. That way, they do fade out
Speaker 6: and their consumers do lose interest and traction. But the
Speaker 6: whole concept behind influencing, I mean, this has been around
Speaker 6: for like decades and decades and decades. We're just noil
Speaker 6: playing in the space of social media.
Speaker 3: Well, and one thing I want to get to we've
Speaker 3: about a minute left, just come on back in on
Speaker 3: the conversation. In terms of you guys, are Shine Ventures
Speaker 3: focusing on women's the women's health space, in this year
Speaker 3: and talk to us a little bit about what you
Speaker 3: are thinking of targeting that you see there. And we're
Speaker 3: seeing a lot of interesting kind of entrepreneurial ventures and
Speaker 3: innovation happening. Well.
Speaker 4: I think it's also demonstrates like how the two connect,
Speaker 4: like how Shine Talent Group and Shine Ventures connect in
Speaker 4: that we're seeing a huge interest in that kind of
Speaker 4: age demographic of women, Like we're talking the like forty
Speaker 4: five to fifty five demographic on Instagram and TikTok is
Speaker 4: an absolutely booming market with people who have very high
Speaker 4: disposable income and they're getting into that age now where
Speaker 4: they've grown up on social media, like they understand social media,
Speaker 4: they've been a part of that for a long time,
Speaker 4: and they're now getting into that more like menopause stage
Speaker 4: of their life and they want to talk about it.
Speaker 4: So these products that have been very taboo and kind
Speaker 4: of kept behind closed doors and we didn't really discuss
Speaker 4: them publicly, we've seen powerhouses in the last number of
Speaker 4: years start to talk about menopause in a really open way.
Speaker 4: So that's where we're really like taking that trend data
Speaker 4: and looking at like, Okay, what are the businesses going
Speaker 4: to be that come as a result of that, and
Speaker 4: what are the business is going to be that will
Speaker 4: launch themselves on social media and create really aging and
Speaker 4: interesting conversation consumers will want to take part in.
Speaker 3: Well fun to check in with you guys, Jess Hunterton
Speaker 3: and Emily Ward. They are the co founders of Shine Ventures.