They Quit an Influencer Marketing Startup and Built Their Own. Now They're Projecting to Make $3M

"While working for the Paris-based startup, they saw how luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Sephora manage influencers with huge budgets, 100-person teams, and software that costs about $1,500 a month. At the same time, Yeager was running into friction as he engaged with local brands as a content creator."

"As the U.S. head of growth at Lefty, Davis, 27, wrestled with that inefficiency from the other side. The company's software worked well for global brands, he says, but fell short for fast-growing, location-based businesses trying to drive real foot traffic."

"Yeager tells Inc. 'there was no easy way' to communicate with the brick-and-mortar businesses he visited daily. That sparked an idea: 'I was like, Okay, this needs to be more automated-this whole space.'"

Aris Yeager and Philip Davis, who met at influencer marketing software company Lefty, identified a significant gap in the market. While Lefty's expensive software served luxury brands effectively, it failed to meet the needs of local, location-based businesses seeking to drive foot traffic through influencer partnerships. Yeager, a content creator with 3 million followers, experienced friction communicating with brick-and-mortar businesses. Davis, as head of growth, recognized the same inefficiency from the enterprise side. They launched Storytime in 2024 to automate and streamline influencer marketing for smaller businesses. Despite initial concerns about legal repercussions from their former employer, Lefty's co-founder Thomas Repelski became one of their earliest investors.

Read at Inc