What do projects actually want from KOLs?

We've deployed $1M+ in creator campaigns over the past year, working with dozens of creators across different verticals.

Through that experience, we've noticed a few things worth sharing because we believe helping individual creators grow is how this entire ecosystem takes the next step toward truly competing within the Global Creators Economy.

At @AccVentures, we work hands-on with teams across product, strategy, and growth. Marketing is one part of that work. And through running campaigns, we've developed a clear sense of what separates creators who build lasting careers from those who cycle through opportunities without gaining traction.

First, a reframe

We'd encourage you to drop "KOL" from how you see yourself.

Above all, you're a creator. You're part of the creator economy, a legitimate and growing sector that extends far beyond CT.

This isn't just semantics, it actually shapes how you operate.

KOLs wait for briefs and post what they're told. Creators build audiences, develop perspectives, and produce work that stands on its own. KOLs measure success in deal flow. Creators measure it in influence, reputation, and the quality of opportunities that find them.

The distinction matters because the market is maturing. Projects are getting smarter about who they work with. The "pay for reach" model is giving way to something more interesting: partnering with people who actually move culture, especially at a small scale.

Position yourself for where things are going, not where they've been.

1. Depth over reach

Follower count is becoming a weaker signal every month.

Algorithm changes have restructured how content spreads. A creator with 2,000 engaged followers who trust their perspective will often outperform one with 50,000 passive followers who scroll past everything.

Projects understand this now. When we evaluate creators, we look at the quality of engagement, the specificity of the audience, and whether the creator is genuinely connected with how their followers think and act.

The question isn't "how many people will see this?" It's "how many people will care?"

2. Intellectual investment

Here's something we see often: creators who don't actually understand what they're promoting.

They receive a brief, make minor edits, and post. The content is technically correct but fundamentally empty. It reads like what it is: an ad with someone's name attached.

The creators we return to operate differently. They ask questions. They research the project independently. They form opinions that go beyond the talking points. Sometimes they push back on the brief entirely because they found a better angle.

This is what intellectual investment looks like. It's the difference between being a distribution channel and being a trusted voice.

When you take a partnership, you're lending your credibility. That's worth taking seriously. If you can't invest the time to understand what you're endorsing, it might not be the right partnership.

3. Organic presence

A profile filled entirely with paid content isn't a creator. It's a billboard.

And people don't follow billboards.

Your page benefits from texture. Genuine observations about the market or what you're passionate about. Opinions that aren't sponsored. Content that reveals what you actually think, not just what you're paid to say.

The paid work should feel like a natural extension of your existing perspective. If someone can't tell the difference between your organic content and your partnerships, that's a good sign.

If they can immediately spot every paid post, that's worth reflecting on.

4. Consistent over-delivery

The agreement says one post. You deliver one post.

That's the transaction. But transactions alone don't build relationships.

What we've noticed: the creators who stand out engage with the project beyond the scope. They leave thoughtful comments. They mention the team in relevant conversations without being asked. They share updates organically because they're genuinely interested in how things unfold.

None of this is required. All of it is remembered.

Projects talk. We talk to projects. The creators who treat every engagement as the beginning of a relationship, not the end of a transaction, tend to get opportunities that never hit the open market.

5. Proactive thinking

Most creators are reactive. They wait for opportunities to come to them, then respond.

The ones who stand out generate their own momentum.

They pitch ideas before being asked. They notice trends and connect them to projects they've worked with. They propose collaborations, content series, Twitter Spaces, initiatives that create value for everyone involved.

This is the difference between being a vendor and being a partner. Vendors fulfill requests. Partners create value that wasn't there before.

We're far more likely to bring opportunities to creators who've shown they think beyond the immediate brief.

6. Strategic selectivity

Short-term thinking: accept every deal that pays.

Long-term reality: your reputation is the average of your partnerships.

Every project you promote says something about your judgment. Take enough questionable deals and your endorsement starts to mean less. Your audience learns to tune out your recommendations because they can't tell what's genuine and what's just paid.

The math is straightforward. One misaligned partnership might pay well today but cost you future opportunities because your signal got noisier.

Being selective is an investment. The ability to say no is part of what makes your yes valuable.

7. Due diligence

This industry makes due diligence difficult. Information is limited. Teams are often pseudonymous. Even sophisticated investors get burned.

However, that doesn't mean skipping it entirely.

When a promoted project fails badly, the creator takes reputational damage. Sometimes it fades in weeks. Sometimes it lingers for months. The severity often depends on how obvious the red flags were and whether you took time to look.

Basic due diligence isn't complicated:

• Who's behind the project? Are they findable?
• Does the product exist? Can you use it?
• Who else is involved: investors, partners, other creators?
• Does the timeline and roadmap make sense?
• Does anything feel off?

You won't catch everything. But you'll catch the obvious ones. That's often the difference between a temporary setback and lasting damage to your reputation.

7. Thoughtful disclosure

Disclosure is genuinely nuanced.

The moment an audience sees "paid partnership," many discount the content entirely. But hiding the relationship isn't the answer. It negatively impacts trust faster when discovered.

The solution is in how you frame it.

What works: Disclosing clearly while emphasizing your editorial independence. The partnership compensates for your time and reach, but you retain full creative control. You only take partnerships that align with what you'd discuss anyway. If it doesn't fit your perspective, you don't take the deal, which makes the deals you do take more meaningful.

What doesn't: Burying disclosure hoping no one notices. Using partnership as an excuse for lazy content. Promoting things you'd never organically engage with.

The goal is for your audience to think: "They partnered with this project because they actually find it interesting" rather than "They'll promote anything for money."

8. Network as asset

Here's something worth understanding: we value diversity.

We don't want five creators who all sound the same, reach the same audience, and produce interchangeable content. We want varied perspectives, different audiences, distinct voices.

What this means for you: other creators aren't really competition. They're potential collaborators.

Building genuine relationships with other creators pays off. Engage with their work. Collaborate on content. Refer opportunities that aren't right for you but might be right for them.

A network of creators who operate differently but support each other becomes collectively more valuable than any individual. You can offer things together that none of you could alone.

The creator known for lifting others up is genuinely more interesting to work with than the one who views everything as zero-sum.

9. Long-term orientation

Comparison is a trap. Someone will always have more followers, land bigger deals, appear more successful.

None of that is particularly relevant to your trajectory.

The more useful comparison is you versus your past self. Is your content sharper than it was six months ago? Is your engagement more meaningful? Are you building relationships that will compound over years?

Learn from others. Adapt what works. But stay focused on your own growth curve.

The creators who win over one year look nothing like the ones who win over one month. The longer game is worth playing.

10. Beyond transactions

Purely transactional creators are easy to spot. They do exactly what's paid for, nothing more. They disappear when the campaign ends. They optimize for rate over relationship.

These creators get short-term work. But they often don't build careers.

The alternative: treat some collaborations as investments. Maybe the compensation isn't ideal, but the project is interesting and the team is exceptional. Maybe there's no compensation at all, but you believe in what they're building and want to support it.

Not every post needs a price. Not every relationship needs immediate monetization.

The creators who understand this tend to accumulate something more valuable than any single payment: a reputation that generates opportunities others never see.

The underlying principle

Everything above points to one idea: creators who focus on building long-term value become more valuable than those focused on extracting short-term payments.

What separates the two is mostly mindset. One group sees each campaign as an isolated transaction to maximize. The other sees it as one data point in a longer arc, an opportunity to demonstrate what they're capable of, a chance to compound their reputation.

We're always looking for creators who operate with the second mindset. When we find them, we remember them. We bring them into projects early. We think of them when opportunities emerge.

That's the game now. And we think it's a better one.

If you truly understand this…

…then you should know that we're always interested in connecting with creators who think about their work this way.

If the perspective here aligns with how you operate, or how you want to operate, we'd like to meet you.

Complete this form and we'll have you on our radar for future collaborations.

No promises. But the right fit tends to find its way to the right opportunities. Tell us below which point you found the most valuable and feel free to share other tips below.

Acc.Ventures is a venture studio working hands-on with different teams across product, strategy, and growth. We wrote this because we believe the creator ecosystem improves when creators operate with intention.