The Sidemen just launched a $25M VC fund

Rarely been this excited to share something with you all.

What's probably the worst kept secret in our world is finally official - The Sidemen have announced their next move, and it's a big one:

They've launched a venture capital fund. 🤯

Say hello to Upside VC!

And true to Sidemen form, they're not doing this small:

$25M target for Upside Fund I

Elite LPs including Felix Capital, Thema & the founders of Twitch, Unity, FaceIt & MLG

12 investments already in the portfolio including Howbout, MILE, Ceartas DMCA and Nimbi Supply

The bit that's got me most excited?

The Sidemen's inventory and creativity is, when right, open to portfolio companies free of charge.

This is massive for a few reasons:

1. It's the natural evolution of what top creators are doing with their influence and capital

2. It opens up new possibilities for how creators can support the startup ecosystem

3. It's another proof point that the creator economy is just getting started

It's a huge step for the boys and for the entire space.

More to come on this very soon, but I wanted to share this with you ASAP because it perfectly illustrates what I've been saying all along:

Thinking like a creator opens doors far beyond just content creation.

This is exactly what we talk about in our Think Like A Creator community - how creator principles can be applied to build businesses that go far beyond just posting videos.

Creator Spotlight 🔍

I came across this Twitter thread from YouTuber strategist LowKeyJude breaking down Zack D. Films - who he calls "Mr Beast's greatest threat."

Some wild, wild stats:

• 35 billion views

• $3.6 million earned

• All in under 4 years

The thread breaks down Zack's formula:

1. Insane visual hooks

2. Intro-less content (jumping straight to the interesting part)

3. Repeating proven formats (what-if stories, real stories, interesting facts)

4. Building a "content moat" through 3D animation

5. High volume (posting 4 Shorts DAILY)

6. Mass appeal topics

7. Abrupt endings

Two things jumped out to me:

First, his "content moat" - choosing a format that's high-effort, hard to learn, and expensive, making it nearly impossible for others to copy him effectively.

Second, volume.

By posting 4 Shorts daily across multiple platforms, he's engineering virality through sheer volume and rapid testing.

This ties back to what I was saying last newsletter about consistency being the ‘boring’ secret to success.

Zack goes viral because of consistent, high-volume output that gives him more data points than his competitors.

Look beneath the surface of an overnight success story and you'll almost always find someone who's been relentlessly consistent.

Remember, the creator mindset is all you need to grow 🌱

Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here to get the next one straight to your inbox.

If this email landed in your spam or promotions folder, move it to your primary inbox so you never miss an update from me.