# 1stCollab

> 1stCollab is a San Francisco-based, AI-powered influencer marketing platform (YC W23) that automates the entire creator-campaign workflow - sourcing creators, outreach, negotiation, contracts, payments, and taxes - while optimizing for ROI. Founded in 2022 by ex-Pinterest leaders Leon Lin, Varun Bansal, and Andrew Liu (with Carina Cater leading influencer strategy), it connects thousands of creators each week with brands like Notion, Character AI, Quora, Framer, and Gamma, letting marketers do in hours what once took teams months.

- **Founded:** 2022
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, United States
- **Founders:** Leon Lin (Co-Founder & CEO), Varun Bansal (Co-Founder), Andrew Liu (Co-Founder), Carina Cater (Co-Founder / Influencer Marketing)
- **Team size:** 16 employees
- **Products:** Creator Discovery & Sourcing, Automated Outreach & Negotiation, Contracts, Payments & Taxes, Content Review & Analytics, Creator Marketplace
- **Notable:** Accepted into Y Combinator's Winter 2023 batch, Connects thousands of creators with top brands every week, Reports helping larger brands save over $1M annually in influencer spend

## Products & services

- **Creator Discovery & Sourcing** — Instantly sources thousands of relevant creators across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube using ML that predicts creator performance.
- **Automated Outreach & Negotiation** — Handles outreach, price negotiation, and ROI predictions so brands skip the manual DM-and-haggle grind.
- **Contracts, Payments & Taxes** — Manages contracting, payouts (often within hours), and tax paperwork end-to-end for both brands and creators.
- **Content Review & Analytics** — Content approval workflows plus real-time analytics and A/B testing to optimize campaign ROI.
- **Creator Marketplace** — Free-for-creators side with matched brand opportunities, auto-updating media kits, one-minute applications, and roster tools for managers/agencies.

## Achievements

- Accepted into Y Combinator's Winter 2023 batch
- Connects thousands of creators with top brands every week
- Reports helping larger brands save over $1M annually in influencer spend
- Founded by ex-Pinterest Head of Discovery and Pinterest/Coupang product and engineering leaders

## Latest updates

- **2023-08** — Reported latest funding tranche of $130K, with roughly $630K raised in total; classified as seed stage.
- **2023-01** — Participated in Y Combinator Winter 2023 batch and publicly launched the automated influencer marketing platform.

## Links

- Website: https://1stcollab.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/1stcollab

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/1stcollab
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-07