Lee surprised his millions of subscribers by quitting YouTube at the height of his career.
Former YouTuber and serial entrepreneur Caspar Lee has built a career that very few can match. At his peak, the British-South African creator had millions of subscribers and the potential to earn millions through the YouTube Partner Program and sponsorships. However, in 2019, Lee chose to leave YouTube to pursue a career as an entrepreneur. And just like on YouTube, he’s found great success with his businesses. Lee recently shared his experiences and tips for aspiring entrepreneurs.
YouTube successes and failures
During his heyday on YouTube, Caspar Lee collaborated with many celebrities on videos, including Ed Sheeran, Dwayne Johnson, Chris Pratt, and Kevin Hart. He also starred in the film “Spud” and served as an executive producer on the BBC show “Joe and Caspar Hit The Road.” However, his sudden disappearance from YouTube left fans confused.
“It’s really hard to maintain that level of audience,” Lee told CNBC. “Maybe. [as] “It was easy, but as YouTube evolved, it became more competitive,” he added.
Lee said he didn’t want to rely on his content or the YouTube platform in his 30s and 40s, so he wanted to do something outside of YouTube. That’s how Lee began his journey as an entrepreneur.
“Just like when I started YouTube, not many people were doing it yet, I wanted to start the next thing before too many people were doing it,” Lee said.
From YouTuber to serial entrepreneur
Lee launched his first venture, influencer marketing company Influencer.com, in 2017. Along with Ben Jeffries, Lee serves as the social media influencer marketing platform’s chief visionary officer. At the time, the company raised £3 million (valued at about $3.6 million at the time) in a Series A round led by Puma Private Equity, according to Tech Crunch.
Lee then partnered with fellow YouTuber Joe Suggs to found talent management company MVE in 2018. The company was formed in partnership with IMG and Endeavor Group, and now provides management services to creators around the world through offices in London and Los Angeles.
After MVE, Lee co-founded Proper Living, a Cape Town-based accommodation platform for students and young professionals.
By 2020, he was named to Forbes Europe’s “30 Under 30” list for his work on Influencer.com.
So far, Lee’s most successful venture is Creator Ventures, a London-based venture capital firm that he co-founded in 2022 with his cousin Sasha Kaletsky, a former private equity investment professional.
The firm plans to raise its first $20 million fund in the coming months to invest in several consumer internet startups, including AI language learning app Praktika, newsletter platform for creators Beehiiv, and text-to-speech AI voice generation tool Eleven Labs.
Caspar Lee’s advice to aspiring creative entrepreneurs
Lee feels that creators are born entrepreneurs, but that creators who want to be successful entrepreneurs need to stand out on their own without relying on fame.
“The support you can get from creators can only go so far,” Lee says, which is why he recommends building a business that relies on providing great service.
He also wants aspiring content creators to do it for fun, rather than focusing on making money, as the chances of financial success are low. He advises aspiring YouTubers to find ways to be successful without relying on followers or fame.
“When you create content about yourself, you’re relying on your own relevance. Whereas, if you know how to create content about a particular subject, you can rely on the relevance of that subject,” he told CNBC.
“The other thing I want creators to think about is how can they continue to create content on an ongoing basis without relying so much on their own relevance?”
