“We’re going to look after your dogs on the weekend. We’re going to be your best friend and go to parties with you.” 

That’s Edward Winters Ronaldson, CEO of Grail, saying exactly what his company isn’t going to do for influencers. Just to put his remarks in perspective, Edward says that the creator economy is witnessing a lot of talent management firms competing by offering “360-degree” services, hence his rather sardonic statement.

So Edward wants Grail to keep its focus down to a single priority: monetization. Has such a radical move paid off?

Edward affirms that his focused approach has yielded tangible results indeed – Grail has facilitated nearly 50,000 brand deals across 3,500 brands and agencies since launching in March 2021.

The Genesis of a New Model

The concept for Grail’s streamlined approach emerged from Edward’s experience running music marketing campaigns through his other company, Strudel. As TikTok became the primary platform for music promotion during the pandemic, he identified a critical gap in the market.

“Many of the managers we were working with were difficult to work with,” Edward explains. “Gatekeeping the creators, being really difficult on pricing, really difficult on contract negotiations. For the kind of deals that are getting done on TikTok, this feels really overbearing and difficult, obstructing the deal-making process.”

This observation revealed a fundamental disconnect: while traditional managers built elaborate service offerings and acted as gatekeepers, creators primarily needed help generating revenue. The additional services often created unnecessary complications rather than value.

Value Through Focus and Scale

Grail’s approach centers on a straightforward proposition: “We are laser-focused on helping creators make money on social media,” Edward emphasizes. This manifests through a simple one-page creator agreement without long-term commitments, ensuring creators maintain direct access to opportunities without gatekeeping. 

Creators retain complete control over their platforms and communications while benefiting from transparent deal-sharing and negotiation processes.

The company’s focused model enables rapid scaling, which in turn creates more opportunities for creators. “If we want to really focus on delivering value, like making money for creators, we need scale,” Edward explains. “We need to be able to get in the conversation with the brands.”

This scale creates powerful network effects: “You get a request like, ‘We need food creators based in New York City who love pizza, you’ve got someone on that roster who could be a good fit?’’ he adds. “As you do those deals, you build relationships with those bookers, the brands, whatever…and the next deal, when it’s looking for someone who loves pasta, who’s based in Italy, you know the creator to go to for that.”

Strategic Support Services

While maintaining its core focus on monetization, Grail offers several targeted services that directly support creator earnings. Their invoice financing service addresses payment delays, as Edward explains: “Creators who maybe have a client who’s going to take 60, 90 days to pay, even 30 days in some cases can be too long for people. The creators have an option to finance that so they can get money today for a small fee.”

As a TikTok creator agency partner, Grail provides crucial platform advocacy. “When people get banned or violations or whatever, there’s a human at the other end to speak with about it,” he notes. “When a creator gets banned from TikTok, it’s their livelihood, their business, and they have a robot at the other end telling them, you know, we can’t help.”

For creators ready to expand beyond social media, Grail offers product development support. “We can either help them bring that to life with our own team, or more commonly, we partner with other manufacturers, designers, or brand studios to make that come alive,” Edward details.

Market Shifts and Future Opportunities

Edward sees significant changes ahead in creator monetization. “I think shoppable content is going to completely change the landscape,” he predicts. “A lot of bigger creators are going to start getting frustrated that the brand deals are getting smaller, and instead of being 10k for a brand deal, they’re going to get offered seven and then five and three.”

This shift presents new opportunities, particularly for smaller creators willing to embrace performance-based partnerships. 

“Meanwhile, the ones who are going to be feeling giddy about how much money they’re making are going to be the micro influencers who are just going to take risks and work on commission,” he notes. “Some of these smaller microgrades on TikTok Shop are making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, millions of dollars a year in some cases. And you could only do that as a huge influencer three, four years ago, but now anyone can do that.”

Transparency and Trust

Grail’s success stems from its commitment to transparency with both creators and brands. “I think at least at Grail, the second there is even a brief to discuss or even a price, anything to discuss, the creator hears about it,” Edward explains. “It’s kind of pointless for us to negotiate something if the creator doesn’t know what they’re agreeing to.”

This dedication to transparency extends to their advice about management needs. Not every creator requires traditional management, and Grail helps creators understand whether their services align with each creator’s goals and potential. 

As Edward shares, they’re “trying to achieve greasing the wheels of influencer marketing, making it easy and a no-brainer for brands and creators to transact.”