DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ I'm a 26-year-old software engineer making $75,000, and still dream of becoming a professional e-sports athlete. Here's how I balance work and my gaming endeavors
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-27 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Read previewThis as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Andy Collins, a 26-year-old software engineer from Chicago pursuing a professional esports career playing the first-person shooting game Valorant. Being a professional esports competitor wasn't the most well-known or traditional career path at the time. Valorant has only been out for four years, but its professional esports scene is rapidly growing in popularity. Even though I'm playing far fewer hours per day than before — I only spend around four hours after work each day playing other teams and strategizing for my weekly matches — I'm in my best-ever form. Are you a professional esports athlete and want to share your story?

Persons: —, Andy Collins, didn't, would've, Valorant, — you've, DarkZero, Valorant esports, I'm, wasn't, I've Organizations: Service, Business, Robert Morris University ., Valorant's Challengers League, North American, League, —, The Guard, Riot Games, DoorDash, Starbucks, Madison Locations: Chicago, United States, Austin, Valorant, mhall@businessinsider.com

☆ Influencer-marketing startup Grin has laid off staffers in a new round of cuts
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Amanda Perelli | Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The influencer-marketing platform Grin has laid off "many" staffers — in the company's third round of layoffs in recent months — a spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider. As the company grew, "a distance also grew" between the platform and its customers, the Grin spokesperson said in a statement. First, in November 2022, the company laid off 60 staffers, mostly in Grin's sales department, the company confirmed to BI at the time. Then, in March 2023, the company laid off several staffers across multiple departments, sources close to the company told Business Insider. The impacted staffers in this latest round of cuts will receive a three-month severance package and extended healthcare benefits, the Grin spokesperson said.

Persons: —, Grin, Brandon Brown Organizations: Business, Red, BI Locations: France

The pay data includes salaries ranging from a data scientist position that offers $170,000 per year at Discord to a staff engineer role that earns $250,000 or more at Patreon. AdvertisementHere are the annual salaries for a job at FaZe Clan:Legal Counsel: $142,273 median starting range; from $133,308 to $194,437FaZe Clan did not respond to BI's request for comment. At LTK, a senior software engineer would make $130,000Courtesy of LTKLTK, formerly known as RewardStyle, is an affiliate-marketing and social-commerce platform used by influencers across Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. At Teachable, a level II senior software engineer would make $190,000Teachable is a platform where creators can build and sell online courses and coaching programs. Here are annual salary ranges for several jobs at Teachable:Data Analyst : $69,826 to $85,000: $69,826 to $85,000 Senior Software Engineer : $160,000 to $180,000: $160,000 to $180,000 Senior Software Engineer - Core : $150,000 to $170,000: $150,000 to $170,000 Senior Software Engineer II : $190,000: $190,000 Software Engineer: $125,000 to $135,000Teachable did not respond to BI's request for comment.

Persons: upstarts, we're, Justin Kenna, they've, ByteDance, Teachable, Konstantin Savusia, James Nord, Brandon Brown, Ryan Brown, Brian Mechem, Warby Parker, Grin, Amanda Perelli, Anthony, Alex Zaccaria, Nick Humphreys, Linktree's, Amber Venz, Baxter, Read, Sydney Bradley, economy's, Patreon, Chris Best, Jason Henry Substack Organizations: YouTube, Business, FaZe, Safety, Software, Security, Enterprise Security, FaZe Clan, Fohr, Inc, Grin Technologies, Facebook, Keli Network Inc, Business Affairs, Jellysmack, Linktree, Ops, RewardStyle Inc, Networks, Mighty Networks, Mighty Software, Engineering, Sydney, Sydney Bradley One, BI, Staff, Social, Data Engineering, Trust, Quality Assurance, Hotmart, & $ Locations: California, New York, Texas, FaZe, Fohr, Jellysmack, Karat, Linktree, LTK, Instagram, Dallas , Texas, Teachable

☆ How FaZe Clan's future owner hopes to rein in pissed-off talent and build a sustainable influencer business
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Dan Whateley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Several of its top talent have revolted against the company on social media over the past year. Beginning in late 2022, Nordan "FaZe Rain" Shat posted a series of YouTube videos criticizing FaZe's leadership and spending decisions. He would oversee the brand alongside Thomas "FaZe Temperrr" Oliveira, FaZe's proposed president, and Yousef "FaZe Apex" Abdelfattah, set to become FaZe's COO. GameSquare CEO Justin Kenna, a former CFO at FaZe, said he knew he needed buy-in from FaZe talent for the deal to move forward. GameSquare wrote in a press release announcing its FaZe deal that it expects to record more than $18 million in savings by cutting "duplicate corporate costs" and other expenses following a merger.

Persons: Shat, FaZe's, influencer Richard, FaZe, Bengtson, GameSquare, Thomas, Oliveira, Yousef, Justin Kenna, Kenna, Bengston, Lee Trink, Tyler, Ninja, Blevins, we're Organizations: FaZe, Nasdaq, Ninja Labs

☆ FaZe Clan's plummeting valuation shows how risky it can be to bet your company's future on influencers
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Dan Whateley | Geoff Weiss | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

While esports as a category has broadly struggled with monetization , FaZe's difficulties stemmed more from its reliance on just a few influencers for revenue. The company makes money through revenue splits with its talent, brand partnerships, and esports winnings. For FaZe, that revenue is often concentrated on the backs of a few big stars. "This was too nascent of a business model to be publicly traded with too much 'key person risk' around influencers," Chapman said of FaZe. GameSquare has subsidiaries like merchandise brand Mission Supply Co., influencer-marketing platform Sidekiq, and streaming data analytics firm Stream Hatchet, all of which could potentially be applied to the FaZe brand.

Persons: Influencers, Clan, monetization, Michael Metzger, Josh Chapman, FaZe, Chapman, Justin Kenna, Kenna, we're Organizations: Drake, Konvoy Ventures, Clubhouse Media, YouTube Locations: influencers, GameSquare

Discord has laid off 4% of its staff, a spokesperson confirmed to Insider. The August layoffs impacted Discord's marketing team heavily, a source familiar with the matter said. The company is undergoing a reorganization of "some business units." Discord laid off around 4% its staff on Thursday, a company spokesperson confirmed to Insider. Several employees who identified as Discord staffers working on graphic design and entertainment partnerships posted about the layoffs on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Organizations: The New York Times

☆ Read the pitch decks from these creator economy startups that helped raise millions of dollars
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Here are the pitch decks that 24 startups used in Series A, Seed, and pre-Seed rounds. The phrase "creator economy" skyrocketed as a buzzword in 2021 as creators, VCs, and entrepreneurs rushed to cash in on a booming industry. So, how do creator economy startups land those investments? They broke down the pitch decks they used to secure millions of dollars in funding. Read the pitch decks that helped 24 creator-focused startups to fundraise millions of dollars:

Persons: —, Alexis Ohanian's Seven, Tony Tran, Tran, Jessica Wolf, who've Organizations: United Talent, Intelligence Locations: Skye

☆ Influencer-marketing platform Grin lays off staffers across marketing, engineering, and more teams: 'Unfair and unexpected'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Amanda Perelli | Marta Biino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The layoffs affected staffers across Grin's marketing, engineering, and more teams. Grin, a marketing platform used by brands to run sponsored campaigns with influencers on social media, is the latest creator-economy startup to lay off employees. On Tuesday, the company laid off a number of staffers across its marketing, engineering, and other teams, according to multiple people close to the company. In November, a spokesperson for Grin confirmed the company had laid off 60 staffers. Those November layoffs, which affected about 13% of its staff, mostly impacted staffers in Grin's sales department, the spokesperson said at the time.

FaZe Clan has laid off 20% of its staff as it found itself with less capital than expected. Esports organization FaZe Clan has laid off roughly 20% of its employees in a restructuring that began in December, a company spokesperson confirmed. In the memo to staffers, FaZe CEO Lee Trink wrote that the company expects to report a year-over-year revenue increase of more than 25% for 2022. As I described, I'm extremely proud that we expect to report the revenue growth for 2022 will show an increase of over 25% from 2021. As we embark on 2023 with a more streamlined, nimbler organization, our key focus is on the core aspects of what makes FaZe FaZe, and what has allowed the brand and the business to grow at an incredible pace over the past five years.

☆ I'm a high-school senior who earns thousands a month editing YouTube videos. It's taught me lessons I want to apply to feature films.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Marta Biino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ayden Naenna is 17 and works part time as YouTube video editor while in school. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ayden Naenna, known as Aidden on social media, a 17-year-old YouTube video editor from Santa Clarita, California. I didn't know a lot about video editing when I started getting paid for it. The way YouTube videos are edited, however, is very different from that of movies or TV shows. With a YouTube video, it's more a brief moment that you won't necessarily think about later.

☆ My agency make 5 figures a month managing famous gamers' social media. Here's how I built it aged just 20.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Marta Biino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Two years later, his agency, Fuji Media, has 57 clients and makes five figures a month. Here's how much he makes and his tips to grow a client base and work with big creators. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Anthony Fujiwara, 20, a social-media manager from Los Angeles, California. The remaining clients work with four other editors I work with as contractors. I called the accounts things like, "Viral Fortnite Moments," "Viral Apex Moments," and, "Viral Twitch Moments."

☆ Read the pitch decks that helped 16 creator economy startups raise millions of dollars
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Here are the pitch decks that 16 startups used in Series A, Seed, and pre-Seed rounds. So, how do creator economy startups land those investments? Skye, a career-coaching startup, had different decks depending on the type of investor or fund they were pitching to. They broke down the pitch decks they used to secure millions of dollars in funding. Read the pitch decks that helped 16 creator-focused startups to fundraise millions of dollars:

To see how much jobs in the creator economy pay, Insider analyzed salary data from 142 work-visa applications filed with the US government and decided on between October 2020 and June 2022. The pay data includes salaries ranging from a data scientist position that offers $170,000 per year at Discord to a staff engineer role that earns $250,000 or more at Patreon. At Cameo, a principal software engineer would make $230,000Steven Galanis, CEO of Cameo. Senior Manager, DevOps : $140,000: $140,000 Statistician: $116,979 to $170,000 (Spotter said it internally calls this position "Data Analyst.") At Teachable, a senior software engineer would make $150,000Teachable is a platform where creators can build and sell online courses and coaching programs.

Organizations: & $

☆ Read the pitch decks that helped 14 creator economy startups raise millions of dollars
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The "creator economy" is catching the attention – and wallets — of notable VCs. Here are the pitch decks that 14 startups used in Series A, Seed, and pre-Seed rounds. So, how do creator economy startups land those investments? They broke down the pitch decks they used to secure millions of dollars in funding. Read the pitch decks that helped 14 creator-focused startups to fundraise millions of dollars:

☆ Patreon's valuation plummeted 70% as it indefinitely postponed its IPO, leaked memo reveals. Here are the company's 2 priorities looking forward.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Geoff Weiss | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Patreon's SVP of finance told staff in a memo last month that the company's valuation fell 70% in the past year. "Our 409A valuation has decreased substantially — by 70% — over the past year," Carlos Cabrera wrote to staff in a September 3 memo that was viewed by Insider. In the memo, Cabrera mostly attributed Patreon's declining valuation to macroeconomic conditions, as well as issues specific to the company. The $39.45 value was the highest-ever 409A valuation for Patreon, Cabrera told Insider. This likely impacted the company's valuation since 409A calculations are based partly on what comparable public companies are worth.

Twitch's September announcement that it will cut creators' revenue share spawned heated backlash. "There's, yes, angst and there's a lot of noise about [revenue share] right now," said Scott. "You take the streamer rev share and you add on the Prime earning," Minton said. "It's not an easy concept to understand, but in totality, we're effectively paying a 65% rev share, if you include Prime." "The rev share split change will only make a small dent in their journey to boost profitability.

☆ Leaked memo reveals Patreon's valuation plunged 70% in the past year and the company is postponing its IPO plans
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Geoff Weiss | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Search resuls for: "FaZe Clan"

17 mentions found