“Can they build on you?”: Hannah Holland on when creators really need management

Not every creator needs a manager – and signing with one too early can do more harm than good, according to HLD Talent founder Hannah Holland.

Holland has overseen the careers of creators including podcaster and presenter GK Barry, who has gone from building an audience on TikTok to working across mainstream television and radio.

“I’m a big believer [that] not everyone should have management,” she told The Daily Influence. “You think you do, and you like the idea of it. But ultimately, you’re giving 20% away, and can they build on you?”

Too many creators mistake being ready to grow for being ready for management, Holland says, while HLD starts from a different question – whether representation will actually add anything to what a creator has already established.

“A big thing we ask ourselves is, ‘Do we add value? Can we add value, or are we just going to take from what you’ve already built?’”

Holland is no stranger to spotting where value can be added. She launched HLD in 2019 after spotting an opportunity in micro-influencers while working in magazine and talent management.

“I just saw that they had this ability to sell,” she said. “It just started to feel like untouched territory at the time.”

Now she applies that logic when selecting talent, looking for creators who can tell a story, stand out from the crowd and work across different platforms.

She is also careful not to sign creators who feel too similar to someone already on HLD's roster.

“I want to make sure that I can’t see another talent within you,” she said.

Beyond talent, Holland pays close attention to how creators work with other people, with poor communication, a lack of effort and rudeness among her biggest turn-offs.

“It’s just all the things that you would want in an employee or a friend,” she said. “If you’re rude to people, I really don’t like that.”

She is equally wary of creators who see management as an employer-employee relationship.

“Managements don’t work for you, and you don’t work for us. We are a team.”

The creator-to-TV crossover

The crossover is playing out elsewhere on HLD’s roster too, with former Love Island contestant Shakira Khan moving into presenting – part of a wider shift Holland believes was “inevitable”.

“For the longest time, TV has gatekept how you enter the market,” she said, noting social media has given a new generation a different route in.

But getting through the door is only part of it. Holland said building a career in television requires a willingness to keep pushing in the face of rejection.

“Are you willing to go to 1,000 meetings and be rejected?” she said. “In a world now where everything is such instant gratification, are you willing to not have that?”

Even so, Holland is clear that success on social media does not automatically translate to television.

“Every digital talent I meet now wants to be on TV, and every TV talent wants to be on digital,” she said. “There’s a certain amount of digital talent who can do TV well. Not everyone can.”

Autocue, live presenting and radio can take years to master, while creators accustomed to controlling their own output also have to adapt to a different way of working.

“You control your own content. You control your own edit. TV, you do not do that,” she said.

Holland said creators looking to expand beyond social media should avoid focusing on one route. She describes Instagram as a “portfolio”, TikTok as a place to show personality and YouTube as a showcase for creativity.

The battle for creator content

Just as creators are becoming more strategic about where they build, platforms are also wising up to their value. YouTube is reportedly offering some of its biggest creators millions of dollars to keep content away from Netflix, a move Holland believes is overdue.

“YouTube has made a lot of money from creators for a very long time, so it’s right that they give back,” she said. “They were the last ones to do it. I think they’re really behind, actually.”

But Holland sees little value in creators getting sidetracked by the battle between platforms and instead says they should build wherever they are offered the best overall deal – with ownership becoming an increasingly important part of that calculation.

“I think the biggest problem we’re facing now is the greed of networks approaching talent, basically owning 50% of your IP,” Holland said.

She warns creators against giving away too much ownership early, particularly when they do not yet know how successful a project could become.

“Believe in yourself. It might work out, and then you’re spending a long time figuring out how to regain your IP.”

More broadly, Holland believes the industry needs to become fairer as more businesses look to benefit from the creator economy.

“The moment everyone realises it’s an ecosystem, and ecosystems only work if everyone works together, the better this industry will become.”