Fixated is a creator management company founded in July 2023 by former BMG North America President Zach Katz and creator-turned-executive Jason Wilhelm. 

The Los Angeles-based firm, which secured a $10 million investment from Eldridge Industries in March, is applying music industry strategies to digital creators who are traditionally offered nothing beyond brand deals.

“In the music industry, it’s really simple. It’s, ‘Hey, kid, nice to meet you. You work at Starbucks, but you’re a very talented songwriter, and I’m going to give you $100,000 so you can quit your day job, and that’s just the beginning of where I’m going to invest in your career,” explains Zach, CEO of Fixated. “When I came into digital, it was just astounding to me that nobody was seeing creators as anything more than influencers. They weren’t getting respect at all. It was like, ‘Oh, you’re just a walking billboard.'”

Fixated works with digital creators across gaming, lifestyle, and entertainment verticals who need development beyond brand partnerships. The company currently manages creators such as The Sketch Real, the Botez Sisters, and LoveLiveServe, generating 3 billion monthly views.

Meeting of Minds and Expertise

The partnership between Zach and Jason binds together traditional entertainment expertise and direct creator experience.

Zach spent nearly two decades in the music industry before entering the creator economy. “I was initially a music attorney. Then, I was a manager, working very closely with Dr. Dre,” Zach recounts. His career continued through launching a record label that signed artists like Jason Derulo and Sean Kingston, then running BMG, one of the top four music companies in the world. Post BMG, Katz co-founded Raised In Space, a music-tech investment fund in partnership with Scooter Braun, before serving as President and COO of FaZe Clan in 2022.

Jason brings a firsthand creator perspective, having started as a Call of Duty YouTuber in 2011. “I helped take [Soar Gaming] from just being a sniping, trickshotting team into a full-on esports organization,” Jason explains. He then worked with the Sacramento Kings’ e-sports division before transitioning into creator management in 2018, adopting a particular philosophy: “thinking of them more as businesses rather than just influencers getting brand deals and helping them expand their content and build out their operations.”

This complementary leadership approach addresses a vital gap Jason identified: “Most creators are in their own echo chamber. If they have a problem with YouTube, they do one of two things. They either go and talk to their friend in the same niche as them, who’s probably experiencing the same problems they’re experiencing, or they go watch a podcast with someone like MrBeast on it.”

“I experienced this for many years in the Call of Duty space. And which is why a lot of people never broke out of the Call of Duty space because they just talked to their friends who were all in the Call of Duty space, all dealing with the same exact problems,” Jason elaborates, highlighting how this isolation limits creator growth.

A Development System Beyond Brand Deals

Fixated’s founders note that their approach to creator management differs from traditional models. Rather than starting with monetization opportunities, they begin with existential questions about the creator’s purpose.

“We start with the why,” explains Zach. “Why are you making content? What is your story? What is your journey? Why should people even pay attention? What is your superpower? What is your biggest weakness?”

From this foundation, they develop a strategic roadmap:

The process begins with identifying the most suitable platform for the creator’s content. “We figure out which content channels should this live on and why,” Zach explains. “Is your focus going to be telling long-form stories on YouTube? Are you a Twitch streamer?”

Once the primary platform is established, the Fixated team designs a supporting ecosystem across other platforms: “A YouTube creator might need strategic short-form content on TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram to drive audience growth, while a Twitch streamer would require different supporting content types.”

With a content strategy in place, Fixated selects brand partnerships that align with the creator’s image and audience expectations. “Not all brand partnerships are the same because if you do the wrong brand deal, your audiences are going to be turned off,” Zach cautions, noting that a selective approach preserves audience trust while maximizing revenue potential.

Beyond content and monetization, Fixated emphasizes building engaged communities rather than just accumulating followers. Zach frames this through practical questions: “How many of those followers will attend an event? How many of them will buy the products and merch?”

The roadmap extends to exposure through collaborations and media appearances. “Should you be collaborating with other creators? Should you be on certain guests, on certain podcasts?” Zach asks, highlighting how these carefully selected opportunities can introduce creators to new audiences while reinforcing their brand positioning.

This roadmap is implemented through monthly check-ins, where progress is measured against concrete metrics. “When you sign with us, you’re at X subscribers, and you’re getting X views per video,” Jason elaborates. “Here we are, one month in, and we’ve done these five things for you to help improve your engagement across YouTube. Let’s see how we’re tracking on that.”

“We measure that on a month-by-month and a quarter-by-quarter basis to ensure that we are continuing to go in the right direction and to ensure that the creator is still happy,” Jason adds. “If we’re in a place where we feel like things aren’t being well received, we try to fix them versus waiting and trying to solve things until it’s a huge problem.”

The Sketch Story: From 500+ Viewers to Mainstream

Fixated’s development approach is exemplified by their work with Sketch (The Sketch Real), a creator they discovered when he was just starting out.

“We found Sketch super early. Maybe 500+ or so people were watching him stream and fell in love with just his creativity, personality, and energy,” Zach recalls. Their immediate response was decisive. “We flew him out to L.A. the next day, pretty much. And locked in with him and put together an entire plan and strategy around his creativity.”

This strategy encompassed multiple content channels, platform-specific approaches, and strategic collaborations. “At this point, we have three other YouTube channels for him, a TikTok strategy, and a clipping strategy,” Zach explains. They facilitated collaborations with established names, getting him to work with great other creators, such as the FaZe guys, AMP, and Theo Von.

The commercial opportunities followed the content foundation, with “big brand deals” such as Prize Picks, Fortnite, and Madden. What differentiated their approach was the allocation of resources. “If we believe that this guy’s going to be the biggest thing in the world, let’s give him the resources and attention that give him an opportunity to be the biggest thing in the world,” Zach says.

Investment to Scale Impact

The recent investment from Eldridge Industries, along with an additional $2.8 million from other investors, supports Fixated’s approach and provides resources to expand their operations. 

As Zach notes, Eldridge, which has investments across entertainment, sports and media properties including Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and Dick Clark Productions, saw potential in Fixated’s development model.

“There’s a real opportunity today to get in front of this parade that’s coming,” he explains regarding the timing of the investment. “The parade is called digital entertainment, becoming the most important form of entertainment.”

Zach outlines clear allocation plans for the funds: “We want to allocate the funds towards what is already working, and what is already working is this very hands-on approach to building careers as a manager and a partner.”

According to him, the investment will specifically enhance: 

• Content capacity through hiring additional experts in direction, ideation, pre-production, filming, and post-production
• Direct investment in creator content production
• Expansion of the brand partnerships team
• Recruitment of “best in class executives” across key revenue drivers

Rather than pivoting to a more scalable but less effective model, Fixated is doubling down on what’s already working. “Taking what we are already focused on, except being able to put more resources into it, be able to put the money in towards being more valuable to our clients,” the founders summarize.

Developing the Next Generation of Managers

Beyond creator development, Fixated aims to establish a new industry standard by cultivating the next generation of talent managers. 

Jason identifies this as their X factor: “Let’s put together a real course for you to come in. If you have content expertise, hustle, and a drive to be wildly successful, the space is still super early.”

This approach recognizes the perspective young managers bring: “Those 18-21-year-olds who have been born in the space have an eye for talent like no other,” Jason notes. “Let’s give them a real seat at the table and a real pathway to become the next generation of managers in the space.”

Zach and Jason’s perspective challenges the prevailing industry convention that the latter characterizes as: “‘Okay, I’m going to build this company, I’m going to deploy some money, I’m going to scale my business and I’m going to sell it in five years and for a lot of money.’”

Instead, Fixated is building infrastructure for sustainable creator development, aiming to set a new benchmark against which other management companies will be measured. “Our goal as a company is to really set the industry standard,” Jason says.

Their ultimate mission, according to Jason, is simple but impactful: “We are building a company that is dedicated to helping them become the greatest versions of themselves.”