6. Zack Honarvar — The Art of Managing Creators

Zack Honarvar is the founder & CEO of One Day Entertainment, a company that has managed creators like Yes Theory (9M on YouTube), Airrack (15M on YouTube) and The Cheeky Boyos (11M on TikTok). He is also the cofounder of Fan of a Fan, a merchandise company for creators who want to build brands. In 2021 he co-founded Creator Now, a venture-backed startup building the film school for creators which recently was acquired by vidIQ. Zack was born in Iran, moved to Canada when he was four, and graduated from college in Canada and became an early employee at Shopify before becoming a creator manager & founder of One Day Entertainment.

What we cover:

(04:18) The path to talent management

(07:00) How it started with Yes Theory

(09:42) The role of luck & timing

(13:31) Taking career risks

(16:25) Good vs. great talent managers

(18:50) Meeting Scooter Braun

(20:14) Lessons in dealmaking

(22:36) Brand sponsorships 101

(26:25) Collaborating with Will Smith

(27:21) The manager-creator relationship

(29:07) Manager vs. maker schedule

(30:56) How creators can find structure

(33:04) Entrepreneurship as creativity

(34:23) Lessons from content creation

(36:53) The struggles of being a creator

(38:55) Career pivots & reinvention

(41:48) Dulma's journey with validation

(45:34) The secret to networking

(48:39) Redefining "success"

Links & resources:

Zack’s Instagram