Jake Paul says the reason he and select creators have stayed on top for over a decade is that they learned to actually pull cash out of their fame, unlike many influencers who have followers but no revenue. ✦ AI generated
Jake Paul · a16z Podcast · 2026-06-22 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 29:11
“It's interesting because there are a lot of people who will get big but not be super durable... I'm curious why some people get big for a period of time, but ... I don't hear about them years later.”
I think that's been a reason for us to continue to exist because I think a lot of people in the space don't know how to actually pull cash out. They could have a lot of followers but not the cash and cash is king. So I think that's been another very important reason for the I don't even know 13, 14 years of being at the top of the influencer game.
verbatim transcript · starts at 29:11
29:11that and don't even But I also have I'm on a A16Z podcast where like now people in the tech world are hearing about what I'm doing but they probably won't watch my Tik Toks. So I'm doing all these different things and growing audiences in all of these different worlds. And um I think that's been the key. And then I think also knowing how to monetize it and make money. And I think that's been
29:38a reason for us to continue to exist because I think a lot of people in the space don't know how to actually pull cash out. They could have a lot of followers but not the cash and you cash is king. So I think that's been another uh very important reason for the I don't even know 13 14 years of being at the top of the influencer game.
30:04>> Yeah. >> I I think to me Jake is a startup in it of himself and in startup land right it's all power law >> and I think essentially Jake has hit escape velocity. So, I think I think Jake gets even more powerful in this new era of AI generated characters and and just infinite noise because you'll have a lot of AI generated content and the people that
30:30you grew up watching, loving and just supporting or hating as as a child and like that generation is now going to take over from the boomers who are going to be dying off and all of that. Um, I think you compound just like in OpenAI and Enthropic are compounding even faster. So that's sort of like I'm just kind of excited just on the on the path forward because it's basically like
30:55celebrity survivor battle, right? Like literally everyone has died off except for like the predestined few. And I think the predestined feud literally should be like the future billionaire trillionaires if you just extrapolate out that exponential because there's going to be fewer real people that like you like care about. >> And I think where I would almost like juxtapose Jake and Logan with like a Mr. Beast and I don't I mean whatever I'll