CLLCTVE

CLLCTVE operates a digital platform that connects creators — initially college students — with brands seeking Gen Z creative talent. Creators sign up to build a portfolio that aggregates content from multiple platforms into one profile showcasing their skills, interests and experience, and can apply to brand opportunities with a single click. Brands browse the talent pool, review portfolios and, where interest is mutual, form partnerships for creative projects. The platform has been described as a hybrid of LinkedIn and Hinge for the creator economy, and in its earlier framing as a job-networking style service comparable to LinkedIn or Handshake in which students are certified for marketable skills.

The company was founded by Kelsey Davis while she was a student at Syracuse University, with early development alongside fellow Syracuse student Brendan O'Keeffe, who studied Information Management and Technology at the university's iSchool. CLLCTVE addresses what Davis identified as fragmentation and inefficiency in the creator economy across talent acquisition, staffing and creator payouts. Beyond its portfolio product, the company's stated direction is to broaden into a general platform for democratizing access to paid creative work for creators and for brands sourcing creative talent."]

Founding story

Kelsey Davis was raised in Atlanta, where a high school video production class introduced her to recording and editing. She bought her own equipment and began freelancing for Atlanta-area organizations including Coca-Cola, the YMCA and SkyZone Sports, then attended Syracuse University for an undergraduate degree in Television, Radio and Film at the Newhouse School of Public Communications, later completing a master's in Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises at the Whitman School of Management. As her freelance work grew she began paying fellow students to help, and organized gatherings, pop-ups and workshops for other student creatives — a group she called a "collective." When the club proved popular, she moved to turn it into a business, partnering with Syracuse iSchool student Brendan O'Keeffe to build CLLCTVE as a venture. Davis has said that while producing content she traveled internationally for consumer brands including Coca-Cola, Land Rover, Puma and Conde Nast, and observed gaps in talent acquisition, staffing and creator payouts that shaped the product.

Business model

The platform is free for creators, who sign up to showcase projects and be certified for marketable skills, while brands pay a subscription to source talent and data insights. The company has also described client-centered service work alongside the technology platform.

Brand-side subscriptions for access to talent sourcing and data insights; creator accounts are free.

Traction

CLLCTVE partnered with its first brand client, Good Uncle, a college-campus food delivery app, to film a commercial. It was selected for the spring 2020 LaunchPad Lift cohort, which carried a $10,000 grant, and was a Techstars 2020 company. Founder Kelsey Davis won $10,000 as second place in a pitch event at LaunchPad Propel in New York City in November 2019.

Latest developments

Tulsa-based agency The Social Bar was named social media agency of record for CLLCTVE, taking on content strategy, planning, creation and distribution across the company's social platforms. In March 2024 Techstars published a profile describing the company's continued growth and its plan to extend beyond a portfolio platform toward broader access to paid work in the creator economy.