Eric Wei didn't break into the creator space from in front of the camera.
In fact, the 32-year-old followed a much more traditional career route: He went to Harvard, then got into investment banking and consulting. But once he started to work closer with creators thanks to a product management job at Instagram, Wei knew he wanted to follow his childhood dreams and pursue a more creative path.
" I said, 'Wow, here's a whole group of people who found a way to support themselves doing what they love.' I want to be a part of that world," Wei told Mashable. "I don't know if I can make content, so let me support them with their finances because I used to work in finance." That was the idea that led to Karat Financial, a tech company that helps creators with their banking and finances.
After building a client roster alongside the Karat team, Wei decided to launch a podcast through the company — the aptly named Karat Podcast, which features interviews with creators like Alex Hormozi, Swell Entertainment, and OfflineTV's creative director Brodin Plett. Beyond Karat, Wei also co-hosts the podcast The Joy of Missing Out alongside creator Chloe Shih.
I caught up with Wei at VidCon to learn about his experiences building up Karat, finding clients, and venturing out on his own content creation journey.
Mashable: What made you want to start a podcast through Karat?
Eric Wei: Having spent so much time around [creators], a couple of years ago, I said, "I have so many cool friends and clients, why don't we shoot some podcasts? Why don't we get to know each other a little bit?" I started with Nas Daily, a friend of mine I've known for over 10 years from school. And now it's been over two years, I've recorded over a hundred interviews with some of the biggest creators and streamers out there, like LaurDIY, Alex Hormozi, Alex Botez...and it's become so personally fulfilling now to share their stories. It's this very circular motion: I want to be creative, I started a company to work with creatives, and I've gotten to do it myself as well.
When you started the company, how did you build up that relationship of trust with creators? How was it not like, "I'm just some guy who wants to help you"?
In the beginning, 100 percent, I was just some guy, and it's because of that nobody wanted to work with us. I remember distinctly in 2020, the government had this program called PPP, which is free stimulus money for creators and businesses in general, and I went to creators and said, "Hey, I can get you access to this." And nobody was interested because they're like, you're just a random guy off the street.
In the beginning, 100 percent, I was just some guy, and it's because of that nobody wanted to work with us.
The next step was to go out and meet every single possible person connected to the space and try to build a genuine friendship. I would introduce myself: "Hey, I'm Eric. I have a lot of context experience to add from the tech and finance side. Is there something I can help you with that can become the beginning of a relationship?"
One of the first creators we worked with was Graham Stephan, who is a finance and real estate YouTuber. I saw that I had a mutual [connection] with him through Y Combinator, the incubator we went through, so I asked him to connect us. When I spoke with Graham, Graham had heard of us from another creator that I spent months cold networking to try and reach out to, so he was open to it. I actually flew out to hand-deliver the first Karat business credit card to him. It was literally only for 10 minutes, but showing that I cared and meeting him on the street in Santa Monica helped build an initial relationship — now he's one of my greatest friends and mentors, a client of care, and an investor as well. So you take that and you repeat it 500 times to build that initial set of relationships with creators because everything in this ecosystem is about trust.
Tell me more about that networking process. At a certain point, is it feasible to fly out to all 500 people? How did you develop it to scale?
So it's actually a three-step process. Step one is to go out and make the relationships yourself, and it's really hand-to-hand combat — you need to be everywhere, following every single lead.
Step two is then you think about how do I add value and build a relationship where they see that I care about them, and we can help each other?
Step three is then you host events where they meet each other. For example, every Saturday, I host creator pickleball with many of the biggest YouTubers in the world coming and playing. Then once they start to mingle and meet with each other and build friendships, you've now built a community that can operate and scale even without you necessarily being there. It's to the point where people know about me and about Karat because I'm how they met, and they go share with others, "Oh, here's the story of how we first got introduced to each other," and it grows. Then people come to you to join your community.
Have you found that making content yourself has also helped bridge that gap?
So much. Everything I just said helps scale relationships in the real world. But then you amplify it with content. If people meet each other at an event and make content about it, it becomes incredibly more powerful.
In many ways, the podcast is so helpful from a business perspective because it demonstrates to people watching that Eric and Karat have a relationship with Dr. K and ConnorEatsPants because they've made the time to sit down and do an interview together.
And those clips go viral. Then, whenever people meet you, they already say, "I actually know who you are, and what you've done, and you know my friends."
Did you have a moment where you were trying to build a relationship with someone, and you thought you maybe needed to back off? How do you make that call?
One hundred percent. What people get wrong in building relationships, and quote-unquote networking, is trying to push. I very much try and share everything I'm doing across different spheres of my life to see if there's something that may pique their interest, where we can genuinely bond over, or I can be helpful.
As a great example, LaurDIY is one of my closest friends. I met her initially because we were introduced to each other, and we spoke over the phone. She was interested in Karat but, at the time, actually declined. But I met her at an event years later, sharing everything I was up to. I mentioned I was going to a pickleball creator tournament a week later, and she actually loves pickleball.
And we built a friendship. We've played multiple times a week at this point for a year. So you share what you're doing in case there's something of interest, you ask what they do to see if there are thoughts you have, and ultimately, if there isn't something that they're intrigued by, you can't push. Another great example: Karat helps creators with their finances. I'll mention what I do, but if it's not something they need at the time, I leave it there because I know if they do need help, they will come to me.
You let it progress naturally.
Exactly. And I'll say this: not only do people sometimes push too hard, sometimes, people are afraid to bring any aspect of, "here's something I'd like to do with you together" to a friend. What I always frame it as is that you can do business with friends. And it's OK to also make asks as well, because sometimes when you do it in the right way, and you know there's interest, it actually builds the relationship and friendship in itself
I want to talk more about your podcast and the content that you make yourself. Do you remember your first viral moment?
It's impossible to do good content that's not aligned with yourself as a person. So many companies try and start podcasts that never go anywhere because they're always pushing the product. The first viral moment on that first episode I ever did on the Karat podcast with my friend Nas Daily was actually about relationships.
I had just gone through a breakup at the time, and I was sharing what I was going through. We talked a lot about attachment styles and how that then changes how you engage in relationships with other people. And Nas Daily was going through a public change in a relationship as well, so we were just talking human to human. That clip on TikTok literally got over 7 million views. While it wasn't aligned necessarily to carry the business, it helped me understand that if you want to develop good content, you have to be true to yourself. You don't have to try and stuff everything into one segment.
Have you found that you have audience members coming to you solely as podcast fans without knowing about Karat Financial?
Absolutely. The number one thing that matters when helping someone with their finances is whether they have heard of you before and whether they trust the brand name.
I don't expect everybody to know exactly what we do because it's a journey over time. For us, the podcast is successful not only from the personal POV of building these relationships but also from the business POV of helping people say, "Oh, I've heard of you before."
Do you consider yourself a content creator as well as a cofounder?
Absolutely, I do both. I have a business. I make content that supports the business, and sometimes, I even make content that's not directly tied to Karat because it is spiritually and personally enjoyable. And I don't think you're able to focus on what you want to do if you don't feel good about the life you've constructed for yourself.
Is that why you started your podcast with Chloe [Shih]?
Yes! I actually have a second podcast called The Joy of Missing Out with my very good friend, Chloe Shih. Every week, we sit on a couch and we just yap. We talk about how each of us in our 20s spent so much time working for others, and in our 30s decided to do something different on our own. And it's so beneficial personally because I found content to be the best possible occasion to just go spend time with friends and hang out.
Doing this has strengthened my friendship with Chloe. And yes, it also feeds back into the business because you build credibility with creators when they see you know how to make content yourself.
Speaking of making content yourself, are there certain platforms you favor?
Each one of them is really different. Instagram, because it started as a social network, is the most valuable for building relationships.
TikTok is really good for just trying things out, putting stuff into the ether, and seeing what the algorithm picks up. You get a signal of what people like and want from me. YouTube is great for developing essentially your own little media company. I probably spend the most time on Instagram because it's not just about producing the content, it's about following up and building friendships.
To talk a bit about the business side of being a content creator, do you have any advice for navigating brand deals?
One of the hardest things for a creator is the classic game of "What's your budget?" You ask them, and they turn back and say, "What's your rate?" It's just two sides staring at each other to see who blinks first. And there are only a couple of ways to resolve this.
First is who wants it more, which, when you're an early-stage creator, it's hard not to want. Second is to get information. Today, this is done through whisper networks, where creators will just hit each other up and say, "Hey, actually, what did you get for this?"
That's one of the things Karat's building out. When we work with creators, they agree to share financial information with us, and we anonymize it with their consent. We're building ways to actually build a database of what you can expect to monetize based on your social stats. We want to give you, when you're in that weird little social standoff, to have just a little bit more information.
Since you're someone who's constantly looking to connect with new creators, I'm curious — which creators do you think are slept on?
My number one area of study is creators who are figuring out how to build a business simultaneously. Historically, a lot of early-stage creators really focused on the media side. For example, they would develop really good content first and then build in the business pieces later.
I did a podcast with this entrepreneur, Alex Hormozi, where he says creators tend to focus 100 percent on the thumbnail and the title, but not enough on how do you actually monetize beyond just brand deals and assets.
So, a slept-on creator, who's actually a Karat client — one of the very first clients on our latest product, Karat Business Banking — his name is Mino Lee. He's about 21 years old and an entrepreneur. A lot of his content is literally like, "I am dropping out of school to try and support myself as a creator."
I remember finding him when he had like 3,000 followers and being like, who is this dude? Just producing these very candid shots of him being like, don't know how to do this, but my goal is to make $5,000 a day. And then to see him a couple of years later, now his goal is like, I want to make a million dollars. I think it's such a great example of a genuine way to do content while building your business, and the two feed and support each other. Now he's also developing businesses around helping other people do the same thing.
So I think that's a new mode: It's the creator as entrepreneur and the entrepreneur who figures out how to lead into content from the very start.
