Late one night in their dorm, BCIT computer science students Clayton Rannard and Kyle Dulay were scrolling Reddit when they realized they should post about the latest product they built: an app that analyzed Instagram accounts for fake followers and engagement.
The next morning, they woke up to a spike in traffic and the start of a costly server bill. The thread went viral: 10,000 audits in seven hours. That’s when the two recognized there was a need for better tooling in the creator economy and that what they created was only one part of a much bigger gap.
Six years later, following that signal led to building Collabstr, the world’s largest influencer marketplace connecting brands with creators. It has over 900,000 registered users across more than 120 countries and is used by leading startups to organizations and Fortune 500 companies. And while fully bootstrapped, the company has grown to eight figures in revenue, 14 full-time employees, and an office in Vancouver’s Yaletown.
What’s been key to Collabstr’s success is its focus on accessibility. The platform aims to help brands grow without needing massive teams or budgets and give creators greater opportunities to turn influence into a livelihood. That’s led to brands successfully launching and releasing new products and creators turning side hustles into full-time careers. Some have earned the equivalent of an annual salary from a single deal.
In contrast to competitors today, Collabstr flips the traditional “closed off” approach. Many have websites that require filling out a form for information, then going back-and-forth with customer reps and account managers. In many cases, they’ll gatekeep access until a contract is signed, which can mandate five to six figures upfront and a long-term commitment. Hidden fees for onboarding, training, implementation, or core features often follow.
Collabstr eliminates this friction with an open model. Everything is made public and users can get started right away with a subscription. There are three tiers—basic, which is free, pro at $299/mo, and premium at $399/mo—and any can be cancelled at any time. The only other fees outside its plans come from deal transactions. Depending on which plan is selected, the platform charges brands 5 or 10% of the amount, while 15% is taken from what creators receive.
Now, Collabstr’s working toward becoming the “operating system” for influencer marketing," diving deeper into creator management and ROI tracking and toward developing AI-driven content generation.
This is the story of two classmates-turned-co-founders, driven by the pursuit of financial freedom on their terms, who pivoted and iterated over and over again to turn a viral moment into a business and went from sending countless cold DMs and emails to becoming a leader in their industry.
