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Super Fans co-founder and CEO Fernando Parnes discovered his entrepreneurial spirit early on in life. After moving from Brazil, where his family was involved in both the financial and media worlds, to the United States, he would sell his stake in a clothing line before he graduated high school. Later, after some successful investments, he and his fiancée put together a team for a wellness startup, and, while that startup didn’t ultimately take off, the group did.
With the team having experience in the influencer sector, they explored different social media channels as a way to interact with creators and followers — and they discovered the industry they wanted to be in.
“When you find a creator or an influencer that you really resonate with, you know, that has a potential of both teaching you a lot and really impacting your life. So because we saw that positive effect, we realized this is a market we really wanted to be in.”
Now, with the software platform Super Fans, Fernando and his team have developed a way for content creators and influencers to attain “super powers to grow their revenue and superfan community,” as noted on the company’s website.
How Super Fans Got Its Start
In the early stages of what would become Super Fans, Fernando reached out to content creators whose work he enjoyed. After making contact, he got information from them about just what they needed help with so that they could continue to find success.
“So we’d spoken first with, I want to say, well over a hundred, you know, Instagram influencers, YouTube creators, Instagram creators, TikTok creators. Just really having conversations around what are the biggest pain points? What are the biggest struggles that you go through? And you know, then from there we narrowed in on where we thought we could provide the most value.”
From there, the Super Fans team decided to focus on helping creators build both revenue and follower base, and they created software that creators can use to achieve these goals.
“So essentially, what we’ve created is a no-code builder. And a revenue stream generator as we call it. So it’s essentially a no-code builder that creators can use to put together new digital products, experiences, and events for their fans that they can distribute directly to their fans under their own brand and monetize.”
Because creators who use Super Fans don’t need their fans to give the company their personal details, creators continue to own their audiences’ information.
What Makes Super Fans Different Than Other Platforms and Services
While some platforms may offer creators specific, limited opportunities to grow their revenue streams, Super Fans is all about letting creators be, well, creative. Creators can decide for themselves just how they want to interact with fans, rather than follow someone else’s guidelines.
So, just what are some of the things creators can do on Super Fans? Fernando gave the example of one creator who used Super Fans to release a limited-edition line of merchandise. And, using the platform, that creator was able to make it so that every fan who purchased a piece of merch was able to gain access to an exclusive event. Another creator used Super Fans to release an entire online course.
“So both of those things are buildable and accomplishable using our platform. And then we handle the delivery to the fan as well. So, you know, you can embed this on your website. Fans can sign up directly with you and consume that experience. Through our software.”
Clearly, the possibilities when using Super Fans are incredibly far-reaching.
“Almost anything is accomplishable, especially because we are working hands-on with our creators. So if it’s not something our platform can do, we’ll figure out a way to do it in some other way and make it easy for our creator. However, in the future, my vision is that no, there will be no limit to what you can do.”
How Creators Can Get Started Using Super Fans
Fernando explained that Super Fans is mostly working with creators who have already started to earn money with their platforms, making $15,000 or more a year. As Super Fans is still accumulating seed money for their official launch and is in public beta testing, creators interested in using the software can message Fernando directly on Twitter to receive an invite code.
Now, you may be wondering what it costs to sign up for Super Fans. And the answer is … nothing. Though a small monthly fee could apply in the far future, creators can use Super Fans for free, as the company follows a revenue-sharing business model, taking a small amount of the money creators pull in from using the platform. Interestingly, while the percentage Super Fans takes out at the start of its relationship with a content creator begins around 10% to 15%, the company will lower that number over time to around 7%. Why? The short answer: “It keeps our incentives aligned with creators,” Fernando explained.
“Software costs don’t scale necessarily in the same way that time costs for influencers do, right? So if you’re an influencer or creator with hundreds and hundreds of thousands of fans or millions of fans, your time is worth a lot. So if you are, you know, generating millions and millions or hundreds of thousands in revenue every year on our platform, because our costs don’t scale on the same that your time and your commitment costs do, it just makes sense to keep incentives aligned by scaling our cut down.”
Fernando aims for Super Fans to help creators make lots of money, as he believes in the content creator and influencer career path.
“Influencers and creators are really at the forefront of a new type of business. They are a new type of business. And, you know, it’s my mission to enable that business, to really bring that into our world. I think it’s a very positive development in our world, and I just want to support it.”
How Super Fans Interacts With the Creators It Works With
Fernando explained that Super Fans has a very direct line of communication with the creators using the platform. While the company may grow and Fernando may become less able to speak with creators himself, he remains adamant that there will always be a team available for creators to speak to, describing it as “a primary focus” of the company.
“We love for them to think of us as their tech team, right? Their tech staff. It’s more than a platform. We provide the software, but we do have, you know, all of our creators right now are on a Slack channel with me. I speak with them if not on a daily basis, at least, you know, three times a week. And everyone gets my phone number.”
One Campaign That Fernando Parnes Is Especially Proud of
“It’s really incredible to see what a creator who has 230,000 subscribers on YouTube, you know, [can do]. [It] is certainly an amazing achievement, but [they’re] still a growing creator, right? … And look at the kind of distribution and impact he can have just from that direct to fan relationship. So, yeah, that campaign was mind-blowing to me.”
Fernando noted that audience engagement was also something they measured and tracked with the campaign, and his team discovered that there was a 60% reengagement rate. So, not only were fans spending money to support CHEFPK, but they were also commenting and interacting with the campaign after they did so.
“That campaign really showed me that the value CHEFPK provided to his fans, it was far beyond. … He was something really special in their lives and his content was something special in their lives. And the other way was true to his audience … “
Where Super Fans Is Heading in the Future
While Super Fans is in beta testing now, Fernando and his team have big ideas for the future of the company. Ideally, they want to continue supporting content creators, helping them build their audiences and grow their revenue with ease and without disrupting the fan experience.
“It’s very ambitious, but I would like to be, you know, the layer of technology that’s empowering individual creators to have direct fan relationships. … My dream is that in the next few years we enable creators to really delight their fans without the fan necessarily having to know that we’re doing that.”
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