A cycling team just changed how I see the creator economy...

I’ve learned to rein it in and only mention it from time-to-time. Readers with a sharp memory will remember my mention of the fully member-funded cycling media company, Escape Collective.

But this week I’m diving into the world of cycling because what just happened in professional cycling is a creator economy story that points to the future.

A YouTube channel just raced the Giro d'Italia.

Not as a challenge video, a stunt, or as a guest feature. But as owners of a professional cycling team.

Here's how it started.

In 2019 three Dutch mates - Bas Tietema, Josse Wester, and Devin van der Wie -  rock up to the Tour de France in a van with a plan to make a bunch of content about the sport they love.

No accreditation. No special access. They slept in tents and had a simple plan: make daily challenge videos from the roadside. 

One of those videos was a techno song dedicated to stage winner Dylan Groenewegen - it’s pretty horrible and completely awesome at the same time.

What happened next was less a set plan and more a compounding series of good bets and a mindset open to opportunities.

The audience kept growing and more brands came knocking. By the following year, they had a bigger idea: what if the YouTube channel became a professional cycling team?

So in 2021 they put that to the test launching an amateur team - part YouTube challenge, part proof of concept - I love an experiment. 

Needless to say it went well. Here’s a quick timeline:

2023: they made the leap launching a 12-rider Continental squad - the lowest tier of professional cycling. They kept their own name - The Rockets - and title sponsor Unibet. 

Come with me down this sidestreet. In pro cycling, team names are entirely interchangeable - they change year to year based on whoever is paying as naming sponsor, with little identity of their own. The Rockets kept the name and built the brand around it. Which in a sport where teams are essentially billboards, that's pretty radical. 

2024: Another step up to ProTeam status - the second division of pro-cycling - and invitations to race at bigger races.
2025: They continue to improve as a race team, earning a call up to the biggest and most brutal pro one day race - Paris-Roubaix. 

2026: Dylan Groenewegen - the guy they made that song about in 2019 and one of the best to ply his trade as a sprinter (81 career wins, six Tour de France stage victories), signed with the Rockets.

And in March they won their first ever WorldTour race.

Throughout this time the content kept coming and the audience and community grew - they gave fans the kind of access traditional cycling media & teams couldn’t.

And last week they wrapped up racing the Giro d’Italia - a race second only to the Tour de France.

Seven years from a techno song by the side of the road to the start line of a Grand Tour. 

This isn’t really a cycling story

You’re probably asking “why are you telling us this Ant?” Because this is the future for creators. And it really comes down to mindset.

Bas Tietema understood from day one that the audience wasn't the end goal. It was an asset. The trust he earned from his audience -  the genuine, leaned in, invested attention of people who loved cycling and loved their story - that was what they could build value from. First content. Then an amateur team. Now to the peak of professional sport.

Most creators never make that leap. Not because they can't - but because they never stop thinking of their brand as a channel.

That’s why I share this story. Because it shows what’s possible.

So, here's my question to you: what could your brand really become?

Not what content could you make next. Not what your next revenue stream is. But where can you take the trust and attention your audience gives you? What could you build with it that goes beyond the feed?

Because here's what I think is coming.

The next great brand in almost every category - sport, food, fitness, gardening, finance, fashion etc - will come from a creator who built genuine audience trust first, then used that trust to move into the category with an unfair advantage.

The next iconic cycling team is a creator brand. The next major gardening brand? Creator-founded. Pick a niche, the next great category defining brand will likely come from a creator with the right audience, the right obsession, and the willingness to think like a founder

The Rockets didn't just build a team. They proved a model. Creator brands can enter traditional industries, bring a fan-first culture that the incumbents struggle to replicate, and compete on the biggest stages in the world.

That’s why I tell you this story. It’s a cycling story, that's really a creator economy story.

Now I’m off for a ride!

If you want to go deeper into the business of being a creator - I'm running an MBA for Creators in 60 Minutes session  at VidCon on Friday 26 June. This year titled From Content Machine to Business Founder. 

If you’re going to be there, put it in your schedule and come say hi!

✌🏼 

Ant Co-founder, Changer

Got your own take on where the creator economy is heading?

Send it through - it might end up on the Creator Generation podcast or in the next newsletter.

Or submit VIA the form here.

Get practical revenue frameworks from creators who are actually running them, honest takes on what's working on platforms right now.

And a real answer to the question every creator is quietly asking: how do I make this last?

Plus food, drinks, and the kind of conversations that don't happen online.

📍 Adelaide CBD
📅 Thursday, 30th July
⏰ 5:30pm - 9pm
🎟️ Absolutely free

P.S. Know a creator who would benefit from our emails? Do them a solid and forward it to them.

P.P.S. If someone forwarded this to you. Thank them from you and from me 😉 and make sure you subscribe here. 

(P.P.P.S (it’s now a thing). Hit me up with any questions or comments at [email protected] or dm me on linkedin. I read & respond to everyone.

✌🏼 Ant
Co-founder, Changer