Flexible working hours and the pandemic have created opportunities for creative expression and side hustles. In addition to their full-time jobs, content creators with a creative and tech background are earning tens of thousands of dollars.
As we look ahead to the next decade, we’re witnessing the rise of content creators from all sectors (art, design, tech) ditching the 9 to 5 to become full-time niche influencers. In 2020, we called this trend “Me as a Service (MaaS).”
Under MaaS, the “product” is the content creator and what they produce (i.e. YouTube videos, TikToks, curated or original newsletters, or podcasts). Over the last few weeks, we’re seeing this trend accelerate thanks to AI tools that break down barriers to creation.
MaaS has expanded beyond niches, with technical content creators becoming the next generation of influencers, helping early-stage startups get their products vetted and validated.
These content creators:
- Onboard potential users
- Break down your value proposition
- Answer FAQs
- Use simple words to explain what you do
- Create high quality content for your product
- Test, validate, and review your product
From software engineers teaching a new stack to designers showing tutorials on how to use Figma, meet the content creators you can leverage to onboard and recruit new users.
Content Creators Testing New Software
Finding the newest and coolest software is only a quick search away. Just by typing a few words into your YouTube search bar, you can find hundreds of thousands of videos on the newest software, tutorials, website builds, you name it.
It’s now easier than ever to preview a new tech stack before paying for it or spending weeks exploring it yourself. That’s why startups are partnering with technical content creators to get their products tested, validated, and reviewed. Some of our favorites include:
- Console.dev
- Code with Ania Kubow
- Hussein Nasser
- Internet Made Cooler
- Code My Journey
- Trio.dev
- Technology Advice
- Traversy Media
Console.dev
Founded by David Mytton and Max Jennings in 2009, Console.dev helps developers find the best tools to do their job.
Both Mytton and Jennings are both experienced technical founders who have successfully built and sold companies. Most recently, Jennings co-founded Hoop, an app to help families discover fun, new activities for their kids. The app was selected Apple’s App of the Year twice.
With 35+ years of developer experience combined, Jennings and Mytton have built a true platform for devs by devs, providing five main resources:
- Console Devtools Newsletter: With over 25,000 subscribers, the newsletter discusses 2-3 of the newest tools and new beta releases each week.
- Jobs Console: A weekly email digest that matches 2-3 jobs with the preferences of each individual developer.
- Console Zero: Their investment arm that funds early stage startups where developers are the primary end user.
- Console Podcast: The podcast features interesting people in the dev tools space. They recently hosted an episode with Meri Williams, CTO at scaleups like Moo, Monzo, and Healx.
- Interviews with Experts: Console.dev interviews the creators of the tools they share, recently interviewing Sagar Batchu, creator of API platform Speakeasy.
Code with Ania Kubow
To support more women in STEM, Ania Kubow left her corp software engineer job to become a full-time content creator. The channel has grown rapidly, with 328,000 subs in just three years.
The channel covers programming languages, products and courses in:
- JavaScript
- React
- React-Native
- Next.js
- Node.js
- Express
- GraphQL
- Serverless Functions
- DataBase work and so much more!
Before becoming a content creator, Kubow was a financial derivatives broker in Singapore and London and had a background in mathematics, physics, engineering, and design.
Now Kubow uses her skills and has built a community that brings women together from all walks of life to create more opportunities for themselves using creative dev tools. Some examples include:
- Learning how to build and sell your own API
- How to create and sell NFTs
- How to build your own online portfolio from scratch
Hussein Nasser
Bahrani software engineer Hussein Nasser learns with his audience and teaches by example. Nasser credits his engineer journey to his uncle, who gave him his first book on programming in 1998.
"I just fell in love with programming. My dad also got me a computer, and I fell in love with computers. You can tell a machine to do whatever you want. You can build an application, and the fact that a teenager could do that. So I started building applications and apps.” – Hussein Nasser
In 2009, he started a blog, writing about his passions – technology and GIS tech. A content creator at heart, he always had a passion for sharing his knowledge with people he loved.
This start led to book publishing deals and eventually, his YouTube channel. Nasser has been creating content since 2014, growing his account to over 277,000 YouTube subs.
He currently hosts the “Backend Engineering Show,” a series where he covers:
- Predictions on trends like low/no-code
- Updates and breakdowns from new features and tools from big tech companies like Google, Bytendance, and Twitter
- Crash courses on platforms like Docker, django, NGINX
- Upcoming changes in operating systems like Linux and how it’ll change the game for cloud providers
- What’s behind the outages of your favorite tools (i.e. Slack)
Internet Made Coder
With over 157,000 subs, the Internet Made Coder YouTube channel helps new devs feel less alone. Finnish content creator and developer Tuomas Kivioja shares videos on coding and how-to’s to show that learning programming doesn’t have to be difficult.
“I’ve lived my entire life believing that everything is figure-out-able. Anything you want to learn, in this day and age, because of the internet, you can learn it.” – Tuomas Kivioja
Some of his content include:
- Tutorials on how to use productivity tools like Notion for folks with a CS background
- Courses on programming languages like Python and Javascript
Code My Journey
Former software engineer Stacy Kutyepov launched Code My Journey, a multi-channel brand featuring a blog, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok channel to demystify complex topics and tools.
With 212,000 Instagram followers and 180,000 blog subs, Kutyepov shares tips and resources on how to:
- Use the best developer tools
- Learn software engineering
- Build a career in the tech industry
- Increase productivity
With this reach, Kutyepov has landed partnerships with companies like Udemy, who are leveraging her audience on their own platform.
Trio Developers
With companies like Deel streamlining hiring and revolutionizing WFH internationally, we’re seeing an increase in educational technical content shared abroad.
Software engineer Daniel Alcanja knows this firsthand. Since 2001, Alcanja has worked with US-based tech companies all the way in Brazil. He saw the instant benefits of working remotely, and started Trio Developers to give remote software engineers a chance to compete in markets outside their home country. Trio has two models – hiring and recruiting engineers to work with companies like Airbnb and Hubspot, while being content creators to reach the next generation of international devs.
By providing strong educational content, Trio shares trends, new tech, and resources to help extend opportunities to people in LATAM. Just through SEO, the company reaches 105,000 international developers per month.
Technology Advice
With 100 million tech buyers and over 6.1 million site visitors every month, Technology Advice helps businesses connect their products to new users. Technology Advice started as an idea in a dorm room, and has exploded into a professional resource featuring over 200+ techy topics.
Technology Advice also creates content in multiple mediums, including:
- Podcasts: B2B Nation features career advice and practical tips–they recently hosted an episode on company marketing AI solutions, staying current in the world of B2B marketing.
- Tools: They offer tools like the Program ROI Calculator for digital marketers.
- eBooks: Technology Advice offers free eBooks for anyone wanting to learn more about content marketing.
- Articles: Marketing articles on different topics, like marketing on social media sites.
- DemandFest: Virtual sessions with B2B marketers focusing on marketing shifts and generating revenue.
- Solutions Media Kit: Their kit on how they connect buyers with software and their social media stats that make them a trustworthy partner for startups.
Traversy Media
Traversy Media is an authentic space for people who want to learn software development. Created by Brad Traversy in 2009, this YouTube channel features the best web development and programming tools for devs, including:
- A list of 200+ design & UI resources for devs
- Reviews of the state of web dev
- Tips on the best text editors
Traversy Media reaches 1.97 million people, and its hottest video is an HTML crash course video with 6 million views. The secret? His authenticity and relationship with his audience.
Content Creators Giving Authentic Reviews and Recommendations
The importance of live reviews to an early-stage startup shouldn’t be underestimated. With 95% of consumers relying on reviews before making a purchase, reviewer content creators who focus on reviewing new products can play a big role in your company’s early days.
Geekflare
Chandan Kumar created Geekflare in 2015 as a personal project to share ideas and latest trends in various fields. Now, Geekflare has evolved into a one-stop shop for free resources (articles, tools, API) to help marketers, bloggers, designers, freelancers, and startups. Gleekfare reviews products in:
- Cloud computing
- Web security
- Web hosting
- Digital marketing
- Design
Capterra
If you’ve tried to find the best software or product for your company and checked Google results, there’s a high chance you hit a Capterra link. Why? Because Capterra owns SEO for product reviews with 2.1 million searches per month.
Capterra is a website that allows users to compare and review software products. It also provides a directory of software vendors and allows users to submit reviews of products they have used.
SaaS Genius
SaaS Genius is a smaller version of Capterra with an active community designed to help businesses find the best software for their needs. The site has 2,500 monthly visits through SEO. It offers a variety of tools to help businesses compare and contrast different software options.
The company differentiates from competitors by giving a “Genius Score,” which rates the software based on usability, feature, and support.
SoftwareWorld
Anyone can have their software reviewed, validated, and promoted thanks to SoftwareWorld. With almost 50,000 organic searches per month, SoftwareWorld makes it easy to connect products with users, reviewing software with their personal experience and customer stories. The company goes into great detail of each software, showing comparisons of:
- Software benefits
- Software features
- Pricing
- What makes it unique
- Technical and support details
- Awards
- Real customer feedback
Content Creators Teaching New Skills
Just by searching “Stable Diffusion” or “AI generated image,” you’ll discover thousands of results that feature artwork built with AI along with quick, easy tutorials on putting it to your own use.
That’s what technical content creators are doing for startups and new software: taking a practical approach to how-to’s. They’re educating users on how to use the best new tools and becoming trusted partners of onboarding teams.
Some of our favorite content creators in this category include:
- Amigoscode
- Maya Bello
- Codedamn
- Bukola Ayodele
- Dulma
- Mizko
- DesignCode
- Aliena Cai
Amigoscode
Over 50,000 “amigos” use Amigoscode as their educational tech resource. London engineer Nelson Jamal helps students and programmers deeply understand how to use a new software.
Take his video on IntelliJ IDEA, an integrated development environment written in Java. The course goes over how to install the tool and configure it step by step without using buzzwords. This is a great example of leveraging a content creator’s magic to help onboard your users.
Maya Bello
Software engineer Maya Bello is changing the narrative for Black women in tech,inspiring them to code through her social channels.
Building a base of over 12,600 subscribers on YouTube and 16,200 followers on Instagram in ten years, Bello gives youth and underserved communities access to the best resources, tools, jobs, and opportunities in tech.
Bello recently partnered with Girls Who Code and DojaCat to promote the world's first code-able music video, DojaCode and we’re here for it!
Codedamn
Codedamn is a multi-platform YouTube channel, blog, educational resource, and Instagram teaching programming skills to anyone with an internet connection. The content creator behind? Mehul Mohan.
With the goal of making coding accessible, Codedamn offers technical courses and timely and topical content to his 326,000 subs.
His latest trendy videos on tools and software include:
- This AI is crazy
- You might get sued for using GitHub Copilot
- This one platform enables multi-user coding
Bukola Ayodele
With over 300,000 subs on YouTube and 12,800 followers on TikTok, Bukola Ayodele showcases the unconventional pathways content creators can take to success,, sharing testimonials and tutorials on how to master complex topics like a pro.
Ayodele’s content is casual, targeting Gen Z entering the workforce or workers who are swapping careers. In her videos, she shares strategies around tools and tasks you do often including:
- How to master data structures and algorithms
- Automate good morning texts with Python in 5 minutes
- Automate Spotify with Python
Brands like 3M are partnering with Ayodele to showcase their efforts in fighting climate change.
I Am Dulma
Dulma is a former Google employee turned full-time TikTok content creator. Known as “TikTok B-School” and a direct-to-consumer (D2C) expert, her account breaks down:
- The latest D2C trends
- How you can become the face of your brand
- Startups to invest in
- Celebrity influencer news
In just two years, she’s grown her TikTok account to over 97,000 followers, showing that it’s never too late to jump into becoming a full-time creative on established platforms. Her work has been featured by The New York Times, GlossyCo, and MorningBrew. If you’re a D2C brand, stay tuned for Dulma’s analysis.
Mizko
With the rise in need for product designers in the 2010s, the demand for more content to become a designer is growing. Lead designer, freelancer, and founder of a design agency that generates over $6,000,000, Mizko knows this.
With a strong YouTube channel and design community platform “The Designer Ship,” Mizko offers new and veteran designers content on all things product design,specifically Figma. Teaching the ins and outs of Figma, The Designer Ship has reached over 4,000 clients.
Build Authentic Engagement & Growth with Content Creators
Content creators with a technical and creative background have a knack for building authentic, clean, attractive content.
At Worklife, we’re excited to see the growing impact these content creators have on early stage startups. They’re uniquely positioned to provide more personalized ways to understand your value proposition and product features.
As you find the right content creator to work with, take a look at:
- Their audience – are people sharing how useful their content is in the comments?
- Types of topic – is this person able to explain what I do? Does this person have videos that are similar?
- Price – can you afford it? These content creators will usually be cheaper than hiring someone full-time. Plus, you can re-use this video. Our tip is to find niche small or medium size content creators who are as excited as you are.
Have a favorite content creator? Tell us more on Twitter!
Want to read more on content creators and the creator economy? Check out these stories we love:
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