The surge in partnerships in the creator economy has exposed a fundamental issue in brand-creator transactions.

“Everyone just throws around, ‘I want $5,000 or $10,000, even $20,000’. A lot of brands pay this and then, if they even track revenue, they’re unhappy,” laments Kazzy Khazaal, founder & CEO of Dreamwell AI.

This sentiment stems from, what Kazzy believes, widespread reliance on surface-level metrics. So, he set up Dreamwell AI to address a critical challenge in influencer marketing: helping brands identify creators who generate measurable returns on investment. 

“I hate words like engagement rate or awareness. I don’t even know what this means,” Kazzy notes. While these metrics serve major corporations like Coca-Cola, who “can’t measure billboards, but they know it works,” smaller brands require concrete performance data.

A Data-First Approach to Creator Worth

With recent pre-seed funding of $2.3 million led by Tim Draper, Dreamwell distinguishes itself from conventional influencer platforms by identifying creators based on performance metrics, instead of basic demographic filters. “We try to focus a lot on the value of an influencer, like how much somebody is really worth,” Kazzy explains. “We try very hard to find profitable influencers that actually convert for the brand because that’s what the brands want.”

This approach aims toward a broader goal: “If we want to build a stock market for influencer marketing, like how much is this person worth? I don’t know, but we should try to figure it out,” Kazzy says, signalling the need for a shift from current practices where creator pricing often lacks concrete justification.

Target Markets: Three Key Segments

Dreamwell serves three distinct customer groups:

For agencies managing multiple brand partnerships, the platform provides comprehensive campaign tools. “There’s agencies that manage multiple brands,” Kazzy explains. “They might have like 30, 50 brands under them, and they need a tool to help them find new influencers to manage the campaign, organize the campaign itself, because there’s so many different pieces to put together.”

Consumer product companies compose the second primary segment, particularly those focusing on direct sales through creator collaborations. These brands seek creators who drive purchases: “Ultimately it’s brands looking for conversion,” Kazzy emphasizes. Their success metrics directly correlate with sales performance.

Software companies seeking user acquisition represent the third segment. “For them, they don’t need to sell physical products obviously, and they don’t even need to generate revenue sometimes because they want free signups to their software,” Kazzy notes. “They just want free trial signups or we just want new registered users to our platform. We don’t care about tracking revenue because for us as a business, we know we have a freemium model that converts.”

Technology Development: Prioritizing Core Functions

While competitors emphasize AI features, Dreamwell takes a methodical approach. “Everyone’s saying AI, AI, AI,” Kazzy acknowledges. “We’re using AI and we want to start using more AI to basically automate a few tasks. But first, without getting too distracted, I want to make sure we do the basics very, very well.”

The recent funding supports two primary development areas:

The first focuses on building sophisticated valuation systems. “Part of the raise was to get machine learning engineers to help us,” Kazzy reveals. The challenge involves multiple variables, such as the different brands and influencers involved. Dreamwell prioritizes developing comprehensive evaluation methods over quick solutions.

The second concentrates on enhancing user experience. “We’re redesigning the software because we are able to raise money and we hired a really good designer from EA Sports,” says Kazzy. “We’re redesigning the entire software now to make it more intuitive and use all the user feedback we’ve gotten in the past year.”

Protecting Brand Investments

This mission particularly resonates with emerging brands and startups. “I’m very empathetic towards their hard earned budget, especially for founders, like entrepreneurs that bootstrap,” Kazzy emphasizes. This commitment to safeguarding brand investments attracted lead investor Tim Draper, whose portfolio companies understand the complexities of influencer marketing.

Kazzy brings unique insight as both creator and operator. “I was in a very unique place in the middle of the marketers as a marketer and as an influencer with the influencers,” he explains. “I had the trust of the influencers because I was an influencer too. I wasn’t just some random business person trying to just make money from them.”

Setting New Standards in Creator Partnerships

Dreamwell aims to transform how brands and creators establish partnership value. This approach sometimes creates tension, particularly with creators questioning their valuations. “It pisses off influencers because a lot of them are like, ‘I want 6,000, not 1,000,’ but you’re not worth 6,000,” Kazzy admits. “And that’s fine because I’d rather piss off the influencer who’s not worth that than ruin a brand’s $6,000 that they worked so hard to get.”

For brands seeking reliable creator partnerships, Dreamwell provides clear accountability. As Kazzy concludes, “We’re aware of this and we want to make ourselves accountable. That’s why we focus so much on the value.”