My name is Harry and I run a company called forCreators! I founded it in Singapore in October 2023, and now, we have just finished Q1 of our second term as a startup.

This article is about my experience of establishing an agency focused on English-speaking Vtubers, only to see it fail within a year. Today, January 31, 2025, marks the last day of this journey, and it seems like a good time to reflect on everything from our founding to the pivoting of the business.

From the title, it sounds aggressive, but there's no heroic story here—just a lot of failures and reflections. I hope sharing my honest perspective might be helpful to someone out there. Think of this as a "My Failure Experience" piece.

Why an English-Speaking V-Liver Agency?

First, let me explain why I decided to establish an "English-Speaking V-tuber Agency" and the background behind it.

What I used to do and what I want to do

I am half Japanese and half Taiwanese, raised as a big fan of anime, manga, and content. During university, I spent more time studying abroad and doing internships than attending classes. In October 2019, six months before the COVID-19 pandemic began, I joined the live streaming app 17LIVE as a new graduate. For about three years, I worked as an assistant to the then-president Mr. Ono in the global president's office. I experienced the rapid growth of the live streaming industry during the pandemic and witnessed the industry's challenges in expanding to the US and the Middle East. We eventually lost ground to TikTok Live. After these intense three years, I decided to go independent. For about a year, I worked as a freelance business development and marketing professional in the entertainment and Web3 fields before founding my company.

I saw potential in the overseas VTuber market. I wanted to take on the challenge of "competing abroad with Japanese culture." Before founding my company, I visited anime conventions in Southeast Asia and North America, met with the presidents of local VTuber agencies, and listened to their market insights. From these experiences, I formed several hypotheses.

Initial Hypotheses and Aims

  1. The Time Lag Between Japanese and Global Markets - VTubers are one of the few new cultures originating from Japan. As a major trend starting from Japan and spreading globally thanks to companies like COVER and ANYCOLOR, I sensed a slight time lag in the market phases. The current situation in Japan might resemble the overseas market a few years later (about 3-4 years). This might be one of the few areas where "reverse time machine management" can be achieved.
  2. The Coming Long Tail Wave - When talking to various overseas V-related people, everyone unanimously says that YouTube and Twitch are saturated, with too much competition, but there's no other place to go. In Japan, platforms like Reality and IRIAM are the destinations beyond that, but overseas, they're still in the early stages. Reality is already growing rapidly in North America, but when talking to streamers, they say they want to become VTubers, but creating avatars in North America is very expensive (local illustrators charge more than twice the price in Japan), making it impossible. In Japan, there are plenty of affordable options on platforms like Coconala and Booth, but these options are lacking overseas. I felt that the long tail era is yet to come.

The V-Liver agency model has a high dependency on platforms, but it is relatively easy to generate cash without digging deep into the red. I thought that by generating cash as a V-Liver agency, I could expand the surrounding network and develop into the next business.

Concerns about the value of an "agency"

I have had major concerns about the "agency" model for a long time. With the evolution of the creator economy, the value of agencies is diminishing. As more tools become available online for individuals to acquire information, find work, and create content, I feel it has become difficult to establish the unique value that only an agency can provide. On the other hand, the V-Liver agency world thrives on numbers. Instead of having ten talents earning 10 million yen each, the model relies on having a hundred talents earning 1 million yen each. At 17LIVE, where I previously worked, I saw many agencies that claimed to do "management" but, in reality, did not support the talents and just took a commission. I strongly wanted to avoid such an exploitative situation, but it is also challenging to provide comprehensive support on a large scale. The amount that each talent can earn is not high, so the management cost per talent inevitably has to be low.

Of course, there are no V-Liver agencies in North America, and there are hardly any agencies in the VTuber industry that have more than ten talents. So, how can we credibly manage a large number of talents? The nuances of "agencies" in Japan and North America are slightly different. In Japan, companies are generally seen as strong, but in North America, it's the opposite—the talent uses the company. The company must provide clear benefits by mediating what talents can't do on their own; otherwise, it isn't considered an agency. This raises the question, "How do we export the V-tuber agency model?" The business model of talent agencies was something I had been thinking about since before the company's founding.

The Answer and Concept: "Academia"

In this context, we proposed the "Academia" model. We aimed to be like "My Hero Academia" - a place like a "school" where people who want to become VTubers gather, learn from each other, and improve themselves. We provide regular lectures, shared assets, and bonuses as incentives, while individual management is almost non-existent. The premise is that talents join with this understanding.

Becoming the Launchpad for Next-Generation VTubers

From our Academy, talents would start their careers not on YouTube/Twitch, but on a new mobile streaming app. The talented individuals who achieve results in this space would then transfer to a so-called "talent agency" with more management resources and become top stars across multiple platforms. This was our ideal blueprint.

Early Days of Establishment

The first few months were truly a period of "trial and error."

Knocking on the Doors of English-Speaking Talents

Firstly, I hired an American staff member who contacted individual VTubers and streamers one by one. For those who showed interest, I conducted online interviews myself. Since I was based in Asia while talking to North American talents, it was common for meetings to be scheduled late at night, and I conducted interviews almost every night. Although I'm not a native English speaker, talking this much every day gave me the confidence to quickly build relationships with anyone I met for the first time.

Creating a Community Aiming for a "One-Team Feeling"

Through repeated introductions and pitches about our concept and inviting talents to join as talents, we received positive responses. Despite the differences in needs and situations, many talents were positive about NEXAS's concept and the idea of connecting and forming a community with like-minded talents. It felt like recruiting for a startup, where we were gathering companions with the same enthusiasm to embark on a new journey. The talents who passed the interviews and joined the community naturally gathered in Discord's voice chat, playing games and chatting all night. Initially, the atmosphere was very positive, and there was a strong sense of excitement that something was about to begin.

Marketing Strategy: How to Dispel the Fear of an Unknown Agency?

With about 30 talents in the first wave ready for debut, we began launch marketing as an Academia. As a new player without major capital, achievements, or recognition, gaining fans in the English-speaking market required "trust." This led us to collaborate with existing major talents.

Through introductions from friends and direct messages, we connected with well-known figures in the ENVTuber community like filian and lopi, who kindly agreed to give lectures to our talents as guest instructors.

They shared their secrets to growing from tens of thousands to millions of subscribers as individual creators, how they create content, their mindset, routines, and more. The amount of learning from this experience was enormous, and I, as a facilitator and a fan, couldn't help but ask countless questions... I can't thank them enough.

Major Backlash and Aftermath

Just as we were fully prepared and the debut stream was about to happen, it all went wrong. When we confidently posted about our "Academia concept" and the schedule to debut 27 talents over three days, we were met with a storm of negative comments.

"This will never work," "Too far from the norm," "Why such a reckless endeavor?" "Who is this foolish founder?"

These were some of the opinions we received in large numbers. I understand their perspective, as unknown talents from an unknown agency debuting on an unknown platform might be hard to grasp. However, the heartless comments deeply demotivated our talents.

To be honest, seeing the efforts of over six months being torn apart right in front of us, and people calling the talents who joined our agency fools, made me emotional. I ended up engaging in arguments with some commenters, which only fueled the fire. I truly regret this.

Do you know what "Dramatuber" is?

Anywhere in the world, there are streamers who thrive on gossip and scandals. We were no exception and became their targets. Just before the talents' debut, my LinkedIn, Twitter, and past company information were dug up and harshly criticized with misunderstandings in various Dramatubers' streams. Losing my emotions was, in hindsight, a valuable experience... I became completely unable to think, canceled all meetings, and spent about five hours meditating in a sauna near my house to reset my mind. Despite feeling down, I apologized to the talents and motivated myself, the team, and the talents to work hard and focus on the debut stream the next day.

Merry's Public Execution Stream?

As the backlash grew, I received a DM from Merrywhether, one of the top ENVTubers with 400,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter), 500,000 on YouTube, and 300,000 on Twitch. He invited me to talk on his channel, expressing genuine interest in our concept as he himself runs a Webtoon company and a VTuber agency. I decided to accept his invitation, thinking, "If I don't clear up the misunderstandings here, there will be no more chances."

It was a Gamble

This was a gamble. In a language that I'm not a native speaker of, facing a barrage of questions in a live stream without knowing the questions in advance and without making any mistakes that would delight the Dramatubers—this could be a public execution. I asked several people who knew Merry about him, and they said he wasn’t someone who maliciously attacked people, but rather someone who expressed his opinions while fairly supporting his fans. So, I decided to focus on conveying my passion sincerely and logically and clearing up misunderstandings. For 1.5 hours, I answered Merry and his fans' tough questions in English. I was so nervous that I couldn't eat anything before the stream, but I managed to avoid any dangerous remarks or misunderstandings, and it went better than Fuji TV’s press conference.

Result: Becoming Great Friends with Merry

After that, Merry openly supported NEXAS, and the anti-comments disappeared as people thought, "If Merry says so...". He also volunteered to give special lectures for NEXAS and became a friend who would go out for meals together. I was truly saved.

Early Success Experience

Thanks to the controversy, our visibility increased, and the performance on the debut day was excellent. The talents prepared thoroughly, and the viewers were excited. At that time, our partnered platform was generously distributing money, so the more the talents worked hard, the more they earned, and the events were highly competitive. There was the unique excitement of the early days of a live streaming app.

400 Applications for Auditions Right After the Debut

Despite the Backlash, 400 People Applied Despite the backlash, I was astonished and encouraged by the 400 people who empathized and wanted to join. This reaffirmed that the trends toward the long tail and new platforms, as well as the new agency model, were not mistaken.

Why Couldn't the Agency Continue?

The "Debut Fest" was a great success, and the first three months were good, but then things started to go wrong rapidly.

Envy and Temptation from Other Platforms

In Japan, VTubers and VLivers are completely different, and there's almost no explanation cost. However, in North America, there is no clear distinction, and everyone aspires to become a VTuber. While IRIAM's early days saw VTubers just starting and live streaming apps gaining some traction, in North America, VTubers are shining now, and there are no people specialized in mobile streaming.

"Why not stream on YouTube?"

When talents interacted with other VTubers on X, they received many invitations to collaborate on YouTube. However, initially, we restricted other platform streaming as a condition of the platform support we received. Talents had to explain, "The agency restricts us..." This led to negative perceptions among talents, and as we gradually eased restrictions, talents naturally shifted to the "more fun" platforms. Consequently, our main battleground became ambiguous.

Contracts That Cannot Enforce Streaming Time

Running an agency globally comes with many legal and cultural challenges. Specifically, imposing any obligations in the contract increases the company's responsibilities significantly, leading to a dilemma. As a result, the contracts were lenient, and the most critical aspect of the business—streaming time and commitment—became the hardest to control. Looking back, I think there were better ways to handle this, such as indirect promotion by setting up a system where they would have to leave if they didn't meet streaming targets.

Different Approaches to Mental Health

The approach to mental health in Western countries and Japan is entirely different. It is difficult to express without misunderstanding, but the Japanese-style approach of perseverance and push management was challenging to implement. It's evident that early creators won't attract viewers immediately and that it won't always be fun. However, the difficulty in communicating and motivating them to push through the mental challenges was very high.

Increasing Staff Costs

Around the same time, ANYCOLOR's NIJISANJI EN faced a significant backlash. In short, their Japanese-style management of Western talents led to top talents leaving. Managing North American talents with Asia-based staff widened the gap between the company and the talents. Talents who left began exposing internal affairs despite NDAs, and President Tazumi posted an apology video. Such incidents were happening.

Although our strategy differed, our talents were watching this, and we had no choice but to hire staff in the same time zone as the talents, which naturally led to high labor costs. As the number of talents rapidly increased, we faced pressure to increase staff accordingly, causing our cash to dwindle. In hindsight, we should have endured this; our management was not grounded.

The End of the "Generous Period"

The initially abundant reward campaigns ended, and the top talents could no longer earn as much. This was also cited as a reason for Pococha and 17LIVE's withdrawal from the US market. The tipping culture is weaker in Asia, and there is a strong emphasis on how much of the tipped amount goes to the talent. Creating reasons for people to tip a lot on the spot was challenging, and we realized talents were earning much less than expected.

AI Controversy Leading to a Boycott

The ENVTuber community had extreme anti-AI sentiments. While it's understandable that some believe AI art takes jobs away from illustrators and view anyone using AI art as enemies, the extreme reaction to the partner platform's AI-powered streaming features and creator expansion efforts was unexpected. Talents, not wanting to be disliked, declared, "I won't stream here anymore!" to avoid getting involved in AI topics, leading to many stopping their streams.

Of course, focusing solely on YouTube or Twitch didn't guarantee earnings. In terms of time efficiency, streaming on the partner platform was still more lucrative for both talents and the company, but things spiraled out of control.

From here, the initial strategy and business model began to collapse.

"Negative Spiral" in the Community

The Discord server, initially intended as a place for everyone to learn and grow together, gradually transformed into a hotbed of negative opinions. More and more often, I noticed groups of people gathering in voice chats to air their grievances about management and the platform. Complaints also mounted against our continued recruitment of talents as per our initial strategy and our handling of talents who went silent. While I wanted to abolish the community function, staff opposed this, arguing that it would eliminate its value. Each incident within the community led to talents taking breaks from streaming, and the community became a reason not to strive, which was the worst possible situation.

A Time for Decisions

By this time, it was clear that we could not sustain the business without making significant changes to our business strategy.

  1. Fundamental Reforms (Operations, Contracts, etc.) - Double down on the initial strategy, even if it means losing many talents, by introducing more enforceable measures.
  2. Changing the Main Battleground (Platform) - Shift focus to YouTube/Twitch, where the talents' interests lie. However, conversations with other small agency owners in North America revealed that many were struggling more than anticipated. Only large capital enterprises that could afford to burn money for a few years or small businesses that secured investment funds through other ventures had been sustainable since we entered the market in 2023.

Ultimately, we had to acknowledge that our initial hypothesis was off the mark, and a comeback along the same trajectory seemed impossible.

Pivoting and the Future of NEXAS

Ultimately, we decided it was difficult to continue as a V-Liver agency, so we shifted toward closing the agency function.

It's More Rational to Recruit Talents Who Have Already Achieved Results Individually

The VTuber industry is unique in that producing talents from scratch has become the default, driven by the dream of turning characters into IP. However, in fields like music or real-life influencers, it's becoming more common to discover and scout popular individuals or those who are starting to grow, rather than nurturing newcomers from scratch. For example, VShojo in Japan is famous for not owning IP, focusing instead on acting as agents for sponsors and merchandise. Brave Group's V4Mirai, referred to as "Adoption" locally, welcomes already active indie talents. Similarly, Hololive's new group "FLOW GLOW" includes former AKB members and YouTubers, indicating a shift in the industry.

Platform Dependence is Everything for V-Liver Agencies

We considered the model of earning management fees or bonuses from platforms B2B-style, rather than splitting revenue with talents. However, this model also depends heavily on the platforms. It boils down to whether the platform is lucrative and whether the agency's reward structure is favorable. Notably, live streaming apps differ greatly in earnings potential based on the platform. It's common for talents who used to stream elsewhere to see their revenue triple on 17LIVE and then double again on TikTok Live without changing their approach. Unfortunately, NEXAS could not leverage this effectively.

Specialized Functional Agents Could be the Future

Managing everything comprehensively no longer fits the times. A more sustainable model might involve specializing in certain functions, such as sponsor negotiations, merchandise, content production, or mental health care, without taking away revenue from talents. This might mean creating new revenue sources for them. While this diverges from the traditional VTuber agency's appeal of creating character IP from scratch, it aligns with the idea of expanding and selling IP, as described by Plott's Okuno-san.

Ending the Talent Agency Function

Official Closure on January 31, 2025

We decided to formally close the agency on January 31, 2025. For the talents who wished to continue their activities individually, we transferred the rights to their avatars and other assets. Talking about the closure and contract termination with the companions who supported us from the start and staff who had grown as talent managers was an extremely painful and humbling experience.

Reactions Following the Closure Announcement

We announced the closure in early December last year. While there were a few who said, "I knew it wouldn't work!" the majority asked, "Why are you closing?" expressing regret. Despite the short period, we were grateful to have garnered so much support from fans.

The Overseas VTuber Market Continues to Grow

In the course of running NEXAS, I was fortunate to establish a significant network with VTuber agencies and indie talents, primarily in North America and Southeast Asia. While the talent agency approach did not work out, I haven't given up on this market. I am confident it will continue to grow, although it might take some time.

In Japan, Hololive might be the only well-known player internationally, but the streamer with the largest subscriber count on Twitch is Ironmouse from VShojo. Filian's videos, including clips, achieve over 100 million views per month. These top talents are starting to become central to the culture.

Returning to the Origins and Exploration

That said, I am still exploring whether we can sustain ourselves solely as an advertising agency. Considering the slower-than-expected market growth, I believe relying solely on the advertising agency business may be challenging. While I fully understand the startup mantra of FOCUS, I am currently trying various approaches to identify the next area where we can invest significant resources.

What the Company Aims to Do

The company's goal is to create new cultures worldwide by supporting creators. To achieve this, we aim to support creators and bridge the gap between Japan and other countries. This includes exporting Japanese creators, content, and culture abroad, as well as bringing overseas creators, content, and culture to Japan. We will continue to support creators with a global perspective, spreading Japanese content and culture overseas and introducing overseas creators to Japan. This aspect remains unchanged.

Being half Taiwanese and half Japanese, I don't have a strong desire to make Japan win per se. I enjoy many overseas creators and content, and their growth doesn't lead me to think that Japan is losing. Instead, I feel embarrassed by the situation where unique cultures are born, yet there are too few people capable of globalization, resulting in a national power gap. I want to contribute to changing this situation.

Currently, the small-scale projects we've started as a company include:

  • Creator Support Business
  • Roblox Business

Creator Support Business

Our creator support business has started initiatives in the two directions mentioned above. Firstly, we aim to help Japanese content creators expand overseas and English-speaking creators enter the Japanese market. While we are still in the experimental stage, we are fortunate to collaborate with members who have careers at MyAnimeList and Tokyo Otaku Mode, as well as influencers active overseas. We hope to create unique support that only we can provide by sharing knowledge and expertise.

Roblox Business

I am collaborating with a 21-year-old young entrepreneur partner I met in Malaysia to develop solutions to expand IP within Roblox. Although examples are gradually increasing in Japan, I believe that doing something on Roblox is the quickest way to access the world in the IP industry. With 380 million monthly users and GenZ/α spending an average of three hours a day on this game platform, new games and IPs are already emerging here. We aim to support the expansion of IPs.

This partner company has been deeply involved in Roblox projects for TWICE and BLACKPINK and has successfully managed fan communities on Roblox. Besides music artists, large IPs such as ONEPIECE and Attack on Titan have recently started moving, indicating a shift different from the "metaverse marketing" of a few years ago. By leveraging the operational expertise and development resources of the partner company and our ability to attract customers from outside the platform, we are jointly developing solutions to help brand IPs both domestically and internationally.

If this sounds even remotely interesting, I would love to hear from you!

Summary – Moving Forward from Failures

Running a V-Liver agency for about a year ultimately ended in "failure." Over the past year, I kept running into walls and feeling my limitations, yet I tried my best to shape the business. Honestly, there were tough times mentally, but I feel that I gained a lot from the experience.

To those rare individuals who have read this article to the end:

  • If you want to promote VTubers or anime to overseas audiences
  • If you're interested in utilizing IP on Roblox
  • If you're interested in creative projects that bridge Japan and the rest of the world
  • Or if you have an interest in me or forCreators itself

Whatever the reason, please feel free to reach out. Although I still have room to grow, I am committed to moving forward and searching for the next opportunity! 💪

Thank you for reading up to this point! And to everyone who has supported and been involved with us, thank you very much!

I look forward to your continued support.

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Pub: 05 Feb 2025 03:55 UTC

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