Advice line: scaling, influencers, and brand-building for early-stage founders

Executive overview

Early-stage founders face a common trap: chasing scale before they've perfected the product and experience. Digital ads no longer offer the cheap growth they once did. Troy Carter, who built Lady Gaga's career and invested early in Uber and Spotify, advises founders to prioritise storytelling, authentic partnerships, and patient brand-building over paid growth shortcuts.

The era of cheap digital ad returns is over — earned media and authentic relationships are now the primary growth levers.

Scaling a local food delivery business

• Pilot a nearby market before expanding — protect the brand experience above all else.
• At sub-six-figure revenue, penetrate your own market fully before adding cities.
• Cross-reference birth rate data with income levels to identify ideal expansion markets.
• Local co-ops are a better early retail test than national chains like Sprouts.
• As CEO, moving out of the kitchen means managing people — don't lose the brand's magic in that transition.

Structuring influencer and micro-influencer relationships

• Authenticity is non-negotiable — only work with people who genuinely love the product.
• Formalise relationships with clear deliverables: content, product feedback sessions, event appearances.
• Advisory shares (equity) create alignment and give you access to behind-the-scenes input, not just front-facing posts.
• Build in a clear call to action in content to measure conversion directly.
• Niche influencers in categories like outdoor gear carry disproportionate trust with their audiences.

Replacing paid ads with earned media and storytelling

• The 10X return on Facebook ad spend era is gone — brands that built on it must rebuild.
• Event-based marketing (fashion shows, pop-ups) generates word of mouth that paid ads cannot replicate.
• Make your social profiles valuable to your audience independent of product promotion — case studies, insights, community content.
• Study brand partnerships: Malbon Golf's collaborations (Nike, Wu-Tang) kept customers returning to a familiar product.
• For visually led products, the story travels further than the ad.

Founder mindset

• Don't panic when things go wrong — reactive decisions compound problems.
• Show yourself grace; being hard on yourself in hard moments is counterproductive.
• Patient, long-term brand-building consistently outperforms growth hacks.