Confidential — Investor Briefing Pack
LEVL — Commercial Briefing
Business model · unit economics · 36-month plan · risks · Q&A  ·  All financial figures are modelled projections, not validated actuals.
Prepared June 2026
Currency GBP (£)
Model SaaS + Marketplace
Horizon M1 → M36
Stage Pre-seed / Seed
What LEVL Is

Verified reputation infrastructure
for the creator economy

LEVL is a verified reputation platform for professional creators, talent managers, and brand sponsors. It gives creators a portable, verified professional record — built from confirmed campaign history, platform data, and counterparty endorsements — and gives managers and brands the tools to discover, evaluate, and work with creators based on evidence rather than follower counts.

The creator economy has an audience graph. It does not have a reputation graph. LEVL is building one.

Why this opportunity. LEVL did not originate from a desire to build a creator platform. It originated from repeated observation of a common commercial problem: important professional decisions are still being made using weak signals. Across multiple industries, trust becomes more valuable when it becomes portable, verifiable, and difficult to manipulate. The creator economy has audience infrastructure. It does not yet have reputation infrastructure. LEVL is an attempt to solve that specific problem.
Current Stage & Funding Strategy

Where LEVL is today —
and what comes next

LEVL is currently in the validation phase. The platform, trust model and ecosystem architecture have been developed as a working concept and are now being tested with creators, managers and industry participants. Feedback to date has been consistently positive around the core thesis: that reputation, trust and progression remain fragmented across platforms, creating friction for creators, managers and brands alike.

The current focus is not rapid scaling. It is validating scoring assumptions, onboarding a small pilot cohort and determining whether the LEVL trust framework influences real-world discovery and commercial decisions. The objective of this phase is simple: prove the infrastructure is valuable before expanding the network.

LEVL has been independently developed and self-funded to test a simple belief: reputation should be portable.
✓
Self-Funded
Complete
▸
Validation
Current stage
○
Seed Round
If validation passes
○
Series A
Growth capital
The founder has personally funded LEVL to this point. The concept, positioning, commercial model, trust framework, and investor thesis have all been developed and refined without external capital. What exists today — this brief, the website, the framework, the validation materials — represents meaningful pre-revenue work done at founder cost. The next challenge is not defining the idea. The next challenge is proving people want it.
Transparent position: LEVL has no paying users and no live product. Creator conversations, manager interviews, and sponsor discussions are underway — but demand is unproven. The seed round described later in this document will only be pursued after the validation stage produces sufficient evidence. Investors should evaluate this document as a rigorous plan for something that still needs market proof — not as evidence that market proof already exists.
Stage 2 — Validation Round
Validation Round
Current Stage
Target Raise
£5K–£15K
Purpose
Prove demand before committing to platform development
Stage Gate
Unlocks seed round if validation metrics are met
Use of Funds
Creator content production
Sponsor content production
Video creation
Paid social campaigns
Google Ads testing
Waitlist acquisition
Also Covers
Creator, manager & sponsor interviews
Acquisition channel testing
Conversion rate analysis
Feature prioritisation
Product requirement validation
The validation round answers four questions: Will creators join? Will managers onboard their full rosters? Will sponsors pay for verified discovery? Can any of these users be acquired at efficient cost?
Validation Success Metrics
Target Creators
500+
Waitlist signups
Target Managers
50+
Confirmed interest
Target Sponsors
20+
Verified engagement
Critical also
CAC data
Measured acquisition cost per segment
Manager Validation Programme

The most critical unvalidated assumption in the go-to-market plan is that one manager account leads to multiple creator onboardings. This will be tested explicitly during the validation stage — not assumed and not left to chance.

What we are measuring
Average creator onboardings per manager account. Creator activation rate within 30 days of manager introduction. Creator retention vs. directly-acquired creators. Sponsor engagement against managed creator portfolios.
What success looks like
Average 5+ creators onboarded per manager signup. Meaningful activation rates (creators completing verification, not just registering). Measurable acquisition cost advantage vs. direct creator acquisition. Positive manager feedback on portfolio value within 60 days.
If this assumption fails: If managers onboard individually rather than as a portfolio, the supply-side timeline extends significantly and the cold-start advantage disappears. In that scenario, the go-to-market plan pivots to direct creator acquisition with revised economics — and the seed round narrative adjusts accordingly. The validation stage exists precisely to catch this before significant capital is committed.
Participation Structure

A validation round at this stage would most likely be structured as one of the following, depending on investor preference and valuation discussions. No fixed equity or valuation is committed here — terms are subject to discussion.

Founder / Friends & Family
Close-circle capital from those who know the founder and believe in the thesis. Simplest structure at this stage — minimal legal overhead.
SAFE Agreement
Simple Agreement for Future Equity. Converts to equity at the seed round at a pre-agreed discount or valuation cap. Standard for early angel participation.
Convertible Note
Short-term loan that converts to equity at the next priced round. Defers valuation to seed stage when there is more evidence to price against.
Early Equity
Direct equity stake at an agreed valuation. Appropriate for investors who prefer a clean cap table from day one. Valuation subject to mutual agreement.

The purpose of this section is to introduce how participation may work — not to commit to specific terms. Structure will be agreed in conversation.

Stage 3 — Seed Round (Conditional on Validation)
Seed Round — Build the platform
Target Raise
£500K–£1M
Purpose
Build the platform once demand is proven — not before
Runway
18+ months to Series A milestone
Use of Funds
Engineering & product development
Verification system build
Infrastructure & API integrations
Initial team (4–6 people)
Also Covers
Creator onboarding & retention
Manager and brand sales
Legal, compliance, GDPR
Series A preparation
Why this staged approach matters to investors: Many startups raise significant capital before validating demand. LEVL intentionally keeps validation and development as separate stages. Validation capital proves the market exists. Seed capital builds the product for a market already proven to want it. This reduces risk at every stage — larger rounds are only pursued after the assumptions they depend on have been tested with real evidence.
The Problem

The market runs on claims. Not evidence.

For Creators
No portable professional record
Every new brand relationship starts from scratch. There is no verified history of past deals, delivery, or renewal rates. Creators cannot prove reliability — only reach.
For Managers
Roster value is invisible to the outside
Talent managers carry deep knowledge of their roster but have no standardised way to present verified creator credentials to sponsors. Every pitch deck is bespoke and manual.
For Brands
Hiring decisions made on vanity metrics
Brands spend thousands on influencer agencies without verified data. Follower count, engagement rate, and self-reported past campaigns are easily manipulated and not independently confirmed.
Current Validation

What exists today

The following represents early-stage validation ahead of a formal seed raise. Numbers are small — intentionally. The goal at this stage is signal, not scale.

◉
Product
Website live. Trust framework published and documented publicly. Waitlist active and collecting registrations. Core brand identity, positioning, and commercial model established.
◉
Research — Creators
Direct conversations with creators have confirmed the core problem: no portable, verified professional record exists. Pain around starting from scratch with every new brand relationship is consistent across creator types and niches.
◉
Research — Managers
Talent manager conversations have confirmed the manual nature of roster verification and pitch preparation. Recurring feedback: "We already do this — we'd pay for a tool that does it properly."
○
Demand — Sponsors
Early conversations with brand and sponsor contacts underway to test demand for verified creator discovery. No signed agreements at this stage. No rejections of the core proposition either.
Honest position: LEVL is pre-revenue and pre-product at this stage. The validation above is qualitative and directional. It confirms the problem is real, target users can articulate it clearly, and willingness to pay is plausible — not proven. That is the appropriate standard at pre-seed. Investors should weigh all projections in this context.
Why Now

The market is ready for
professional infrastructure

The creator economy is professionalising. The first wave was about audience growth. The second wave — happening now — is about professional accountability, repeat commercial relationships, and career longevity. LEVL is infrastructure for the second wave.
Platform data is now accessible
YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, and other major platforms expose API-level data that makes independent verification technically feasible at scale — without self-reporting.
Brand accountability pressure is increasing
High-profile influencer fraud cases and increased scrutiny on marketing ROI are pushing brands toward evidence-based talent selection. The appetite for verified credentials is growing.
Managers need tooling
Talent management in the creator space is still largely manual — spreadsheets, email, and PDFs. There is no dominant CRM or verification layer. The category is open.
Commercial Structure

Three user types. One compounding network.

Each user type plays a distinct role in the model. The commercial priority of each segment is different from its network importance.

Primary Commercial Wedge
Managers & Agencies
The anchor segment for early revenue. Managers pay the highest ARPU, have the clearest ROI case, and bring entire creator rosters on signup — one Agency account can onboard 10–30 creators immediately. They are the fastest path to both revenue and supply-side density.
Network Supply
Creators
Creators are the product, not the primary revenue driver at launch. Creator volume builds the reputation dataset that makes LEVL valuable to managers and brands. The £12/month Pro subscription validates intent and covers infrastructure cost — but creator growth is an adoption metric first, a revenue metric second.
Demand-Side Validation
Brands & Sponsors
Brands prove the platform has commercial value. Their willingness to pay for verified creator discovery signals that the data is worth something. Early brand accounts are as important as a proof point as they are as a revenue line.
Creator-first brand. Manager-first distribution. The public-facing narrative and the commercial acquisition strategy are intentionally different. The website leads with creators — because creators are the visible participants and the reputation network's public face. The commercial entry point prioritises managers — because managers bring creator supply and revenue simultaneously, solving the cold-start problem at scale. These two framings reinforce each other: the creator brand attracts the market, the manager channel builds it efficiently.
Go-to-market priority order: Managers first (supply + revenue simultaneously). Creators second (build the graph). Brands third (prove demand). Marketplace last (when deal flow exists to facilitate).
Initial Go-To-Market

Start small.
Prove what matters.

LEVL is not attempting to launch at scale. The initial go-to-market strategy is deliberately constrained: build a small, observable pilot cohort, validate the core assumptions, then grow through trusted relationships rather than broad acquisition.

01
Phase 1 — Pilot Cohort
10 creators · 3 managers · 1 sponsor partner. A closed, observable cohort where every assumption — trust scoring, discovery workflow, manager value, brand readiness signals — can be tested in a real but controlled environment. No vanity metrics. No press. Just evidence.
02
Phase 2 — Validate Assumptions
Use pilot data to confirm: Do trust scores influence real discovery decisions? Do managers find measurable value? Do brands engage differently with verified creators? If assumptions hold, the model scales. If they don't, the model adjusts — before capital is committed at scale.
03
Phase 3 — Referral-Led Growth
Expansion through trusted introduction: managers referring peers, creators inviting collaborators, strategic partnerships with industry bodies and communities. Growth that is earned through demonstrated value rather than bought through paid acquisition.
Network-Led Growth

Growth through
aligned participation.

LEVL is designed to grow through aligned network participation rather than relying solely on paid customer acquisition. The objective is not to incentivise recruitment for its own sake. It is to align the interests of creators, managers and ecosystem participants with the long-term success of the platform.

As the network becomes more valuable, participants benefit from introducing trusted individuals and organisations who strengthen the ecosystem. This creates a scalable acquisition model where growth is driven by reputation, trust and community participation rather than advertising spend alone.

Referral framework purpose. Participants who contribute to the growth of the ecosystem can share in the value they help create. Over time, this framework is intended to reduce customer acquisition costs while strengthening network effects and increasing participant engagement — making the platform more valuable for everyone already inside it.
The trust infrastructure is the core investment thesis. The referral framework is an accelerator of adoption — not the reason the business succeeds.
Model Philosophy

SaaS is the floor.
Marketplace is the ceiling.

Phase 1–2 · SaaS First
Subscriptions before transactions
Transaction fees at launch create friction at the worst possible moment — when adoption is the only thing that matters. Subscriptions deliver predictable, recurring revenue that scales with the team budget. They also validate that users find genuine ongoing value, not just one-time utility.
Phase 2–3 · Marketplace Layer
Facilitation fees when liquidity exists
Once deal flow is happening through LEVL — creators being discovered, deals being negotiated, campaigns being confirmed — a 5% facilitation fee becomes natural and expected. Introduced too early, it discourages the behaviour that creates the data. Introduced at the right moment, it adds a high-margin revenue layer with zero incremental infrastructure cost.
Why This Founder

The problem came first.
The founder followed.

LEVL is being built by Jonathan Starr, a commercial telecoms and partner ecosystem operator with 15+ years' experience working across fragmented networks of suppliers, partners, platforms and customers. That background matters because LEVL is not being approached as a creator app, agency tool or content platform. It is being built as reputation infrastructure: a trust layer that can sit across disconnected ecosystems and make progression, credibility and commercial readiness easier to understand.

The original insight came from seeing the same pattern repeat across industries: valuable people, partners and opportunities often exist in separate systems, but there is no portable way to prove trust, performance or readiness across them. LEVL applies that infrastructure thinking to the creator economy, where reputation is valuable but fragmented across platforms.

Month 36 — Base Case Projection

What this looks like
if it works

All figures below are modelled projections. See the 36-Month Plan tab for full quarterly breakdown and assumptions.

ARR — Base-Case Model
£5.84M
Bear: ~£2M · Bull: £11M+
Total Subscribers
9,935
Creator + Manager + Brand
Team Size
22
Indicative · lean structure
EBITDA
+ve
From approximately M34
Capital Required
£4.3M
Seed + Series A
Marketplace GMV
£2M/mo
Projected at M36
Gross Margin
~78%
SaaS + marketplace blended
On precision: £5.84M is the base-case model output, not a predicted outcome. Bear case (slower B2B adoption) projects £2M–£3M ARR. Bull case (major institutional partnership) projects £8M–£11M+. See the Risks & Scenarios tab for full scenario breakdown. Real outcomes will differ from any of these — that is the honest position at this stage.
LEVL
Confidential & Commercially Sensitive · Not for distribution
Investor Briefing Pack · June 2026
Modelled Projections — Not Validated Actuals
All LTV, CAC, churn, and margin figures in this section are early-stage estimates modelled from comparable B2B SaaS and marketplace businesses. No operating history exists to confirm these figures. They should be treated as directional targets and base-case assumptions, not proven performance data.
On Pricing — Current Status
The subscription pricing below (Creator £12–15/mo · Manager £79–499/mo · Brand £299–10,000/mo) represents the current commercial model based on market positioning analysis and comparable SaaS benchmarks. The current public website is a pre-launch waitlist and does not yet display subscription pricing. Final pricing tiers will be confirmed and stress-tested during the validation stage before any product is built. These figures should be treated as the working commercial model, not finalised pricing.
Pricing by User Type

Three tiers. Three distinct
value propositions.

Creator Freemium — adoption and network density
PlanPriceWhat they get
Free£0Profile, 2 platform connections, basic signals visible to verified viewers
Pro£12–15/moAll platform connections, full signal history, opportunity matching, verified badge, shareable Passport link, priority in sponsor discovery

Annual plan (~£120) reduces churn. Creators are price-sensitive but status-sensitive. One inbound sponsor deal — average deal exceeds £500 — pays 3–4 years of Pro. The subscription validates intent, not budget.

Manager B2B SaaS — primary commercial wedge, highest assumed LTV
PlanPriceWhat they get
Starter£79/moUp to 10 creators, roster dashboard, pitch pack export
Agency£199/moUp to 50 creators, pipeline CRM, brand matching, priority support
Enterprise£499+/moUnlimited roster, API access, white-label pitch packs, dedicated account manager

Managers have the clearest ROI: one deal closed through LEVL pays for a year of the tool. 200 Agency subscribers alone = £478K ARR. Each manager signup brings an immediate roster of 10–30 creators — making this the most efficient supply-side acquisition channel available.

Sponsor / Brand Annual contracts — demand-side validation and margin
PlanPriceWhat they get
Discovery£299/moSearch verified creators, view full reputation profiles, signal breakdowns
Partner£799/moAdvanced filters, direct contact, signal analytics, deal tracking
Enterprise£2,500–10,000/moAPI access, custom creator matching, dedicated account manager, white-glove onboarding

Brands already spend thousands per month on influencer agencies with worse data. A £3,600/year Discovery subscription is a rounding error if it avoids one bad hire or surfaces one reliable repeat partner. Sell annually — reduces churn and improves cash flow.

Unit Economics

Modelled LTV:CAC — targets, not actuals

The ratios below are projections based on assumed acquisition channels, average retention, and early-stage market comparables. They are illustrative of the model's structure, not validated performance.

Creator Pro
~18:1
Projected LTV:CAC · early-stage estimate
Assumed CAC: £15–25 (content-led, organic, waitlist)
Assumed LTV: £144/yr × 2.5yr avg retention = ~£360
Target gross margin: ~85%

CAC is achievable at launch given organic demand from a curated waitlist. Retention assumption (2.5yr) is the most sensitive variable — if creators churn at 6%/month, LTV drops to ~£200.
Manager Agency
~30:1
Target LTV:CAC · modelled assumption
Assumed CAC: £150–300 (outbound, LinkedIn, events)
Assumed LTV: £2,388/yr × 3yr avg retention = ~£7,164
Target gross margin: ~80%

The strongest modelled ratio in the stack. Manager retention is assumed to be high because the tool becomes embedded in their workflow and their roster data creates switching cost. This assumption has not been validated.
Brand Discovery
~7:1
Conservative assumed LTV:CAC at seed stage
Assumed CAC: £500–1,500 (sales-assisted, outbound)
Assumed LTV: £3,588/yr × 2yr avg retention = ~£7,176
Target gross margin: ~75%

7:1 is the weakest ratio at entry tier but acceptable at seed stage. Improves significantly with upsell to Partner (£799) or Enterprise. Brand CAC is higher because it requires direct sales engagement.

Early sales effort should be focused on the manager segment — highest modelled ratio, fastest to close, and each manager brings their full creator roster as a secondary benefit. This is the commercial entry point that makes the whole model more efficient.

Cost Structure

What the business actually costs

Infrastructure (variable — scales with users)

ItemSeed stageAt 10K+ users
Hosting (AWS / GCP)£500–2,000/mo£5,000–15,000/mo
Platform APIs (YouTube, Twitch, TikTok)£0–200/mo£500–2,000/mo
Storage / CDN£200–500/mo£1,000–3,000/mo
Email / comms£100–300/mo£500–1,500/mo

Instagram/Meta API is restricted at launch. Plan: creator-verified screenshots + counterparty confirmation, clearly flagged as "counterparty-confirmed" not "API-verified." This preserves verification integrity with slightly lower confidence for Instagram signals. Meta partnership conversation targeted at Series A.

Team (the dominant fixed cost)

RoleAnnual costNotes
Founders × 3 (CEO, CTO, Growth)£85–90K total drawDeferred pre-revenue; minimal salary pre-seed
Full Stack Engineer (M3 hire)£55,000First external hire — product velocity
Customer Success Manager (M7)£36,000Creator onboarding, churn reduction
Sales / Partnerships Exec (M10)£42,000 + OTEFirst dedicated revenue role
Phase 1 peak payroll~£160–190K/yr
Phase 1 monthly burn
£24–30K
Lean team, no office required
Marketing budget (Phase 1)
£3–8K/mo
Content + targeted outbound
Seed runway (£500K–£1M raise)
18+ mo
Before revenue contribution
Path to Breakeven

The gap, and how it closes

Breakeven is modelled at approximately £35,000/month in operating costs for a lean Phase 1 team. The table below shows what subscriber volume is required and why entry-tier pricing alone does not get there.

Base recurring revenue — entry-tier pricing only
All subscribers at minimum plan price · not accounting for B2B tier upgrades
SegmentCountPriceMonthly revenue
Creator Pro500£12/mo£6,000
Manager Agency80£199/mo£15,920
Brand Discovery (entry tier)15£299/mo£4,485
Subtotal — base recurring595 paying£26,405/mo
Gap: £8,595/month. At entry-tier pricing, 595 paying subscribers generates £26,405/month against a £35,000 operating budget. This shortfall is intentional in the model — it is not covered by adding more Discovery-tier brand subscribers. It is covered by B2B tier upgrades among the brand segment, as shown below.
With B2B tier upgrades — path to operational breakeven
Same subscriber count · realistic tier distribution among brand segment
SegmentCountPriceMonthly revenue
Creator Pro500£12/mo£6,000
Manager Agency80£199/mo£15,920
Brand Discovery (entry)5£299/mo£1,495
Brand Partner (upgrade)7£799/mo£5,593
Brand Enterprise3£2,500/mo£7,500
Total — operational breakeven595 paying£36,508/mo
With realistic B2B tier distribution, the same 595 subscribers generate £36,508/month — covering operating costs with a small buffer. The manager segment does the heavy lifting (£15,920 alone). Three enterprise brand accounts close the remaining gap. Manager-led onboarding makes this achievable within 12–15 months: each Agency manager signup brings 10–30 creators, compressing the supply-side timeline significantly.
18-Month ARR Target

Approaching Series A range

Modelled target for M18, assuming seed close in Q3 2026, 6-person team, and manager-led creator onboarding at scale. Marketplace revenue excluded — any deal flow is upside on these projections.

Creator Pro (projected)
2,000
Target · £288K ARR
Manager Agency (projected)
200
Target · £478K ARR
Brand Discovery (projected)
50
Target · £180K ARR
Total projected ARR
~£946K
Approaching £1M · Series A territory
Marketplace Layer — Year 2+

The model's upside —
not the launch model

Marketplace revenue is not baked into Phase 1 projections. It is the additional revenue layer that becomes available once deal flow between creators and brands is happening through LEVL. Introducing a facilitation fee before liquidity exists would kill adoption. The sequence matters.
VariableAssumptionProjected monthly revenue
Average creator–brand deal value£500–5,000—
Facilitation fee3–8% of deal value—
Target scale (Year 2–3)500 deals/month—
At 5% on average £2,000 deal£100/deal£50,000/mo
At M36 (2,000 deals at £1,000 avg)5% fee£100,000/mo

£100K/month in facilitation revenue at M36 is an additional £1.2M ARR on top of subscription revenue — at near-zero incremental cost. The key unlock is becoming the place where deals are initiated, not just where creators are discovered. This requires patience with the sequencing: SaaS first, marketplace when liquidity warrants it.

Community-Led Growth Engine

Referral programme that compounds

Paid acquisition for a creator SaaS is expensive and unreliable. Creators talk to other creators constantly — about tools, deals, platforms and opportunities. LEVL turns that existing behaviour into a structured, recurring growth engine. Every subscriber becomes a potential distribution channel, with no cold outreach required on our side.

This is not an affiliate programme. There are no one-time bounties, no link-sharing dashboards and no incentive to recruit people who will not stay. Payments are recurring and stop automatically when a subscription cancels. The structure aligns every referring creator's interest with LEVL's: long-term subscribers, not short-term sign-ups.

Two-tier structure, capped total liability
Tier 1 pays 20% of the referred creator's monthly subscription. Tier 2 pays 5% on creators introduced by those Tier 1 referrals. Combined maximum exposure per creator is 25% of subscription revenue. LEVL retains a minimum of 75% of every subscription before any operating costs. Rates shown are indicative launch rates; the structure may be adjusted based on validation findings.

Economics breakdown

TierRateAt £15/mo subscription
Tier 1 — direct introduction20%£3.00/mo per creator
Tier 2 — introduced by Tier 15%£0.75/mo per creator
Maximum total referral liability£3.75/mo = 25% of subscription
LEVL minimum retained (before operating costs)£11.25/mo = 75% of subscription

Worked example (illustrative — not a forecast)

250 founding creators each introduce LEVL to their network. Each of those 250 introduces 3 more. This produces 1,000 paying creators in total, with the majority acquired at near-zero external spend.

LineCreatorsMonthly cost
Tier 1 referrals (250 direct introductions)250250 × £3.00 = £750.00
Tier 2 referrals (250 × 3 each)750750 × £0.75 = £562.50
Total paying creators1,000Total referral cost: £1,312.50
£15,000
MRR at 1,000 creators (£15 × 1,000)
£1,312.50
Total monthly referral cost
£13,687.50
Net MRR before operating costs (~91% retained)
Strategic conclusion
1,000 creators acquired with a blended CAC of £1.31 per creator per month — and that cost falls to zero the moment any referred subscription cancels. The programme scales with the community: each new subscriber extends the distribution network without requiring additional marketing spend. Capital that would otherwise fund paid acquisition instead funds product and infrastructure. The incentive structure is permanently aligned: referring creators earn more by introducing people who stay, not people who churn.
LEVL
Confidential & Commercially Sensitive · Not for distribution
Business Model & Economics · June 2026 · Modelled projections only
36-Month Commercial Plan

Three phases. One compounding asset.

LEVL builds in one direction: verified reputation data accumulates, trust compounds, and the dataset becomes harder to replicate. All MRR and subscriber figures are projected base-case targets, not commitments.

PHASE 01
Foundation
Months 1–12
£20K
TARGET MRR AT M12
~560 projected paying subscribers
4–6 person team
~£500K–£1M seed raise
Approaching breakeven
PHASE 02
Growth
Months 13–24
£125K
TARGET MRR AT M24
~2,940 projected paying subscribers
10–14 person team
£3.5M Series A
Marketplace goes live
PHASE 03
Scale
Months 25–36
£487K
TARGET MRR AT M36
~9,935 projected paying subscribers
18–22 person team
£5.84M projected ARR
EBITDA positive
Revenue Projections

Quarterly MRR — all streams + marketplace

Projected MRR by Revenue Stream — Quarterly
End-of-quarter base-case targets · amounts in £ · all figures modelled
PeriodCreatorsManagersBrandsMarketplaceTotal MRRARR Run Rate
PHASE 1 — FOUNDATION · target burn: £24–30K/mo
Q1 (M3)1,2001,000——2,20026,400
Q2 (M6)3,0003,970——6,97083,640
Q3 (M9)4,8005,970800—11,570138,840
Q4 (M12) — Phase 1 close6,0009,9502,495—18,445221,340
PHASE 2 — GROWTH · target burn: £60–90K/mo
Q5 (M15)9,60015,9205,9852,50034,005408,060
Q6 (M18)14,40021,89010,4758,00054,765657,180
Q7 (M21)22,80029,85017,46518,00088,1151,057,380
Q8 (M24) — Phase 2 close32,40037,81024,95030,000125,1601,501,920
PHASE 3 — SCALE · target burn: £110–150K/mo
Q9 (M27)54,00057,71044,91052,000208,6202,503,440
Q10 (M30)72,00074,62564,87075,000286,4953,437,940
Q11 (M33)96,00099,50089,82095,000380,3204,563,840
Q12 (M36) — Plan close108,000124,375154,690100,000487,0655,844,780
Projected Subscriber Count by Tier — End of Period
Assumed churn: Creators 5%/mo · Managers 2.5%/mo · Brands 1.5%/mo · all modelled
PeriodCreatorsManagersBrandsTotalMarketplace Deals/mo
PHASE 1 — FOUNDATION
Q1 (M3)1005—105—
Q2 (M6)25020—270—
Q3 (M9)400302432—
Q4 (M12)500505555—
PHASE 2 — GROWTH
Q5 (M15)800801289250
Q6 (M18)1,200110211,331160
Q7 (M21)1,900150352,085360
Q8 (M24)2,700190502,940600
PHASE 3 — SCALE
Q9 (M27)4,500290904,8801,040
Q10 (M30)6,0003751306,5051,500
Q11 (M33)8,0005001808,6801,900
Q12 (M36)9,0006253109,9352,000
Growth Attribution

What drives the
subscriber numbers

Growth projections are not forecasts made in isolation. Each phase's subscriber targets are driven by specific, named acquisition channels. If those channels underperform, the projections adjust accordingly.

Phase 1 — M1 to M12
Manager-led and organic
Waitlist conversion provides founding creator cohort. Manager outbound (LinkedIn, creator agency network) drives the primary supply-side ramp — each Agency signup targeted to bring 10–30 creators. Content-led creator acquisition (social, SEO) runs in parallel at low cost. No paid acquisition in Phase 1 — burn must stay within seed runway.
Phase 2 — M13 to M24
Paid acquisition + partnerships
Series A funds the first meaningful paid acquisition budget. Performance marketing targets creators and managers simultaneously. Platform partnerships (YouTube creator programmes, MCN relationships) being pursued from M15. Brand inbound begins as the reputation dataset reaches meaningful depth.
Phase 3 — M25 to M36
Network effects and organic pull
By M24 the goal is that organic signups begin exceeding paid acquisition — creators joining because verified peers are already on the platform. Manager referrals become a structural channel. Brand word-of-mouth follows verified deal success. Paid acquisition becomes amplification, not the primary driver.
Key sensitivity: If manager-led onboarding averages 5 creators per signup rather than the modelled 10–30, Phase 1 subscriber targets take an estimated 30–50% longer to reach. The validation round will test this assumption before the seed round is pursued.
Phase Gate Milestones

What each phase must prove

MONTH 12 — PHASE 1 CLOSE
Product-market fit confirmed
500+ paying creators — not gifted, not discounted
50+ manager accounts — supply-side is using it
Net Revenue Retention >95% across all tiers
Creator monthly churn below 6%
First brand accounts active and paying
MRR approaching £18–22K
Series A narrative ready — growth rate + retention story
MONTH 24 — PHASE 2 CLOSE
Growth engine validated
2,700+ creators, 190+ managers, 50+ brands
Marketplace GMV >£600K/month — facilitation launched
£125K MRR — £1.5M ARR run rate
CAC payback below 9 months across all tiers
Series A deployed, 12–14 person team in place
One non-UK market live (US or EU)
10+ enterprise brand accounts at £2K+/mo
MONTH 30 — MID PHASE 3
Network effects visible
LEVL reputation signals referenced in press or by brands publicly
At least one major brand using LEVL for talent discovery at scale
£286K MRR — £3.4M ARR
Organic creator signups exceed paid acquisition volume
16–18 person team, cost-efficient structure
Series B scoping or revenue-funded path viable
MONTH 36 — PLAN CLOSE
Category leadership established
9,000+ creators, 625+ managers, 310+ brands
£487K MRR — £5.84M projected ARR
2,000 deals/month through marketplace
EBITDA positive — from approximately M34
22-person team, sub-£150K burn on £487K revenue
Multiple growth paths viable: Series B, strategic partnership, or revenue-funded
Indicative Hiring Plan

Planned capability expansion —
not a fixed roadmap

This is an indicative hiring plan based on expected capability requirements at each phase. Role descriptions, timing, and seniority will adapt to revenue growth, product priorities, and market conditions. Revenue-generating and product-critical roles are sequenced first. Support functions (finance, operations, legal) are deferred until growth requires them. All salaries are fully-loaded UK market rates.

Phase 1 · Months 1–12
M0 — Founding Team
CEO / Product Lead
Founder · minimal draw
£25–30K draw (deferred pre-revenue)
M0 — Founding Team
CTO / Engineering Lead
Founder · builds core platform
£25–30K draw (deferred pre-revenue)
M0 — Founding Team
Head of Growth
Founder or senior hire · creator acquisition, waitlist
£25K draw / £55K if external
M3 — First Hire
Full Stack Engineer
Product velocity — features and API integrations
£55,000/yr
M7
Customer Success Manager
Creator onboarding, churn reduction, manager relationships
£36,000/yr
M10
Sales / Partnerships Exec
Manager and brand outbound — first dedicated revenue role
£42,000 + OTE £15K
Phase 1 peak payroll: £140–190K/year. With deferred founder draws, holds below £110K.
Phase 2 · Months 13–24
M13
Backend / Infrastructure Engineer
Scale API, verification pipeline, data integrity
£62,000/yr
M15
Brand Partnerships Manager
Own the brand tier — enterprise relationships and deal flow
£52,000 + OTE £20K
M17
Data / ML Engineer
Reputation scoring, signal weighting, marketplace matching
£68,000/yr
M19
Head of Marketing
Brand, creator community, PR — category narrative
£72,000/yr
M21
Account Executive × 2
Manager and brand outbound — quota-carrying
£48,000 each + OTE £25K
M23
Head of Partnerships
Platform integrations — YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, agencies
£88,000/yr
Phase 2 peak payroll: £500–650K/year. Series A funds this. Revenue covers payroll from approximately M20–22.
Phase 3 · Months 25–36
M25
Engineer × 2
Product scale — mobile app, API, creator tools
£62,000/yr each
M27
Head of Sales
Owns full commercial function — manages AEs, sets targets
£95,000 + OTE £40K
M28
Account Executive × 2 (expansion)
International market — US or EU primary
£50,000 + OTE £30K each
M30
Operations Manager
Internal process, onboarding, compliance
£46,000/yr
M30
Marketing Executive
Content, creator community, events
£40,000/yr
M32
Finance Director
FP&A, investor reporting, fundraise prep
£82,000/yr
M33
Country Manager
Lead international territory — US or Europe
£75,000/yr + equity
M35
VP Customer Success
Enterprise retention and expansion revenue
£78,000/yr
Phase 3 peak payroll: £900K–£1.1M/year at M36. Against £487K MRR (£5.84M ARR), this is a 19% headcount-to-revenue ratio — efficient for a SaaS business at this stage.
Budget & Funding

What it costs — and where the money comes from

Two funding events required: Seed to reach product-market fit; Series A to capitalise growth. Phase 3 is revenue-funded. Series B is positioned as an offensive international raise — not a survival move.

Phase 1 · M1–M12
Foundation Budget
Payroll (team of 6)£160K
Infrastructure & APIs£24K
Creator acquisition£40K
Legal, compliance£25K
Office / ops / tools£18K
Contingency (10%)£27K
Total projected burn~£294K
Revenue offset~£70K
Net cash required~£224K
Seed: £500K–£1M · subject to validation outcomes · 18+ months runway
Phase 2 · M13–M24
Growth Budget
Payroll (team of 14)£580K
Infrastructure scale-up£72K
Sales & marketing£180K
Platform partnerships£60K
Legal / international£45K
Contingency (10%)£94K
Total projected burn~£1.03M
Revenue offset~£680K
Net cash required~£350K
Series A: £3.5M target · growth capital + 2yr runway
Phase 3 · M25–M36
Scale Budget
Payroll (team of 22)£980K
Infrastructure£120K
Sales & marketing£240K
International expansion£150K
G&A / Finance / Legal£80K
Contingency (8%)£125K
Total projected burn~£1.70M
Revenue (projected)~£2.85M
Net projected surplus+£1.15M
Revenue-funded · Series B optional
Projected Burn vs Revenue — Monthly Average by Phase
Phase averages · net burn = total spend minus revenue collected · all modelled
PhaseAvg Monthly BurnAvg Monthly RevenueNet Monthly BurnPeak HeadcountFunding Source
Phase 1 (M1–M12)£24,500£5,800£18,7006Seed (~£500K–£1M)
Phase 2 (M13–M24)£85,800£56,600£29,20014Series A (£3.5M)
Phase 3 (M25–M36)£141,700£237,500−£95,80022Revenue-funded
Month 36 — Projected Outcome

What it worked actually means

Month 36 — Base Case Projection
£5.84M ARR · 9,935 subscribers
EBITDA positive
A 22-person team has built verified reputation infrastructure for the UK creator economy — with a dataset no competitor can instantly replicate and a marketplace layer generating £2M+ in projected monthly deal GMV.
Product
Reputation graph is real and growing
9,000+ creators with verified signal histories
625+ manager accounts using LEVL as primary talent CRM
310+ brand accounts running discovery through verified signals
2,000+ deals/month facilitated through marketplace
Reputation dataset that predates any competitor by 3 years
Commercial
Revenue is diversified
Creator tier: £108K MRR — high volume, low concentration risk
Manager tier: £124K MRR — sticky B2B, 97%+ target retention
Brand tier: £154K MRR — enterprise relationships, expanding ARPU
Marketplace: £100K MRR — non-dilutive, improves with liquidity
Projected NRR above 110% — expansion revenue compounds
Investor Position
Multiple growth paths available
Series B: raise from strength into international expansion, not survival
Strategic acquirer interest: talent agencies, MCNs, platforms, LinkedIn
Revenue-funded path: EBITDA positive, no further dilution required
Reputation dataset predates any competitor by 3 years — acquisition value compounds
Valuation is a consequence of execution — not a projection we make
LEVL
Confidential & Commercially Sensitive · Not for distribution
36-Month Plan · June 2026 · Base case projections
Scenario Analysis

Bear, base, and bull —
projected at month 36

Base case is what the 36-month plan models. Bear case assumes B2B adoption is slower than projected — creators sign up but the manager and brand side takes longer to close. Bull case assumes a major institutional partnership (agency group, MCN, or platform) drives accelerated adoption.

Bear Case
B2B Adoption Slower Than Projected
£2.1M
Projected ARR at M36
Creators: 6,000
Managers: 200
Brands: 80
Marketplace: Minimal / not launched
Team: 12 people
Status: Viable — raise more or reduce burn
Creator-led growth works but without manager adoption, the supply-side onboarding advantage doesn't compound. Brand deals and marketplace revenue don't follow. Focus shifts to creator-direct monetisation and revised Series A narrative.
Base Case
Steady Two-Sided Growth
£5.84M
Projected ARR at M36
Creators: 9,000
Managers: 625
Brands: 310
Marketplace: £100K MRR projected
Team: 22 people
Status: EBITDA positive · Series B optional
Both sides of the marketplace grow steadily. Network effects begin to compound from M24+. Reputation dataset becomes a genuine moat. This is what the 36-month plan models.
Bull Case
Platform Partnership Unlocks Scale
£11M+
Projected ARR at M36
Creators: 18,000+
Managers: 1,200+
Brands: 600+
Marketplace: £250K+ MRR projected
Team: 30–35 people
Status: Category-defining · Series B active
A major agency group, MCN, or platform (YouTube, TikTok) formally endorses or integrates LEVL verification. Creator adoption driven by institutional demand for verified talent at scale.
Risk Register

Known risks and mitigations

Risk
Description & Mitigation
Likelihood
Impact
Creator churn too high
Creators join but don't sustain subscription if deal flow doesn't materialise. At 8%+ monthly churn, LTV assumptions collapse. Mitigation: manager-side adoption drives brand demand, which is the visible creator value. Onboarding must show verified signal progress within week 1. Annual billing reduces churn by 30–40% in comparable tools.
Medium
High
Manager onboarding slower than modelled
Manager-led onboarding is the supply-side strategy. If managers are harder to acquire than assumed, creator supply growth is slower and brand adoption is delayed. Mitigation: direct creator outreach as parallel channel; founding cohort programme locks in early supply independently of manager adoption.
Medium
High
Brand tier slow to adopt
Brands have existing workflows (agencies, spreadsheets, internal teams) and procurement friction. Mitigation: target mid-market brands without full agency support first — shorter cycles, more open to new tooling. ROI story is discovery speed + risk reduction, not replacing agency relationships.
Medium
Medium
Platform API dependency
YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram could restrict or change API access (precedent exists — Meta already restricts Instagram). Mitigation: diversify verification sources across counterparty confirmation, behavioural data, and manager endorsements. None of these require platform API access. Build proprietary data layer early. Meta partnership conversation at Series A.
Medium
High
Competitor replication
Large MCNs, LinkedIn, or influencer marketing platforms (AspireIQ, Creator.co) could add verification features. Mitigation: moat is the historical dataset — a competitor launching 18 months late builds an empty version of the same product. Data depth and temporal coverage cannot be bought or shortcut.
High
Medium
B2B sales cycle too long
Enterprise brands have 3–6 month procurement cycles that compress cash flow assumptions in Phase 2. Mitigation: focus Phase 2 on SMB brands at £299/mo self-serve — no procurement involvement. Let enterprise close later when the product is proven. Monthly contracts with no lock-in lower the entry barrier.
Low
Medium
Regulatory / data privacy
GDPR and evolving data regulations around professional identity and behavioural tracking require careful architecture. Mitigation: legal review from M1; signals tied to verified professional identity only; clear data processing agreements with all counterparties; opt-in architecture for all signals.
Low
High
Founder Realism

What we still need to prove

This plan is built on assumptions. Over the next 12–18 months, the following questions must be answered with evidence — not projections. A founder who cannot name what they still need to prove has not thought hard enough about the risks.

01
Creators will build and sustain portable reputation profiles
The model depends on creators actively completing verification and maintaining their profile over time. If creators treat LEVL as a one-time signup rather than an ongoing professional record, the data depth that creates the moat never materialises.
02
Managers will onboard their full talent portfolios
The cold-start solution depends on managers bringing 10–30 creators on signup. If managers onboard individually rather than as a portfolio, supply-side density takes significantly longer to build. This is the most critical unvalidated assumption in the go-to-market plan.
03
Sponsors actively use trust signals during creator discovery
The brand tier only works if sponsors change how they evaluate creators — replacing gut instinct and follower count with verified signal history. Behaviour change is a high bar. The ROI case must be evident from the first search session.
04
Verification creates measurable, demonstrable value
LEVL's model assumes verified reputation data is worth paying for independently. This requires demonstrated outcomes: faster deals, better retention, fewer bad hires. We need case studies and measurable impact data — not just testimonials about the concept.
05
Reputation signals improve conversion between creators and sponsors
The network effect assumption — that more verified reputation data makes the platform more valuable — only holds if the data actively influences deal outcomes. If verified signals are referenced but don't change hiring decisions, the differentiation is cosmetic rather than structural.
Model Assumptions

What the projections depend on

Key Model Assumptions — Sensitivity and Downside
All values are assumed targets · none are validated actuals
AssumptionValue assumedSensitivityIf wrong
Creator monthly churn5.0%HighEach +1% churn ≈ −£8–12K ARR at scale. Most sensitive variable in the model.
Manager monthly churn2.5%HighLow retention is the plan's anchor assumption. If managers churn like creators, the LTV:CAC story collapses.
Brand monthly churn1.5%MediumAnnual contracts naturally reduce this. Discovery-tier brands with no ROI proof point are most at risk.
Creator CAC at M12£22MediumIf CAC holds at £30 through Phase 2, payback extends but unit economics remain viable.
Manager-led creator supply10–30 creators/signupHighIf managers average 5 creators per signup, supply-side acquisition timeline doubles.
Marketplace deal avg value£1,000HighIf avg deal is £500, marketplace MRR halves. Subscriptions remain primary throughout.
Manager ARPU£199/mo avgMediumBlended avg — agencies on Enterprise offset solo managers on Starter. Mix is unvalidated.
Brand ARPU£499/mo avgMediumAssumes realistic Partner/Enterprise tier uptake. If all brands stay at Discovery, breakeven requires more subscribers.
Series A close (M14–16)£3.5M at ~£14M preHighSeed runway is 18 months — delay is survivable but Phase 2 hiring must be deferred. Valuation is assumed, not negotiated.
LEVL
Confidential & Commercially Sensitive · Not for distribution
Risks & Scenarios · June 2026
Investor Q&A

The questions investors ask —
answered directly

These are the questions a commercially experienced investor will raise in a first or second meeting. The answers below are prepared to be honest and specific, not evasive. Where the answer is uncertain, we say so.

How do you solve the cold start problem?
The two-sided cold start is solved by manager-led onboarding. Managers sign up and bring their entire roster — one Agency account brings 10–30 creator profiles immediately. This collapses the supply-side timeline. For demand, we start with mid-market brands and independent agencies where sales cycles are short and willingness to try new tooling is higher. We do not need enterprise brands to launch. We need 5–10 brands willing to pay £299/month to search a verified creator pool — that is a much lower barrier. The founding creator cohort (waitlist converts) provides initial supply while manager onboarding scales.
What stops YouTube, LinkedIn, or TikTok from building this themselves?
Platform risk is real and we acknowledge it honestly. The structural answer is that LEVL is cross-platform by design — YouTube verifying reputation only on YouTube helps no one who needs a creator active across YouTube, Twitch, and Instagram. The value is aggregation and portability across platform relationships, which no single platform has an incentive to provide because it would benefit competitors. LinkedIn is the closest comparable risk — but LinkedIn's creator economy coverage is thin and their model is professional network, not creator commerce. LEVL's moat is the dataset, not the feature set. A platform replicating the feature set in 12 months still has zero historical verified data.
What is the defensibility? Why can't someone just copy this?
The data moat. Once a creator's 2–3 year verified history is recorded in LEVL, rebuilding it elsewhere requires starting from scratch. Verified signals compound over time — a creator with a 4-year record is more valuable on LEVL than the same creator on any new entrant without that history. The reputation graph also becomes more valuable with every participant added — each manager who brings 20 creators is building the dataset that makes the next brand more willing to pay. A well-funded competitor entering 18 months late builds an empty version of the same product. They would need to either acquire us or wait 3–4 years to catch up on historical depth.
Your LTV:CAC ratios look high. Are they validated?
No — and we want to be clear about that. The 18:1 (Creator), 30:1 (Manager), and 7:1 (Brand) figures are modelled projections based on comparable early-stage SaaS and marketplace businesses. They are targets, not actuals. The most sensitive variable is manager retention — if managers churn at 5%/month instead of 2.5%, the LTV:CAC ratio halves. The creator ratio is achievable if CAC stays organic/content-led, but could compress quickly if paid acquisition is needed to hit subscriber targets. We flag these as assumptions throughout the model, and we expect to have real retention data within 6–9 months of launch to validate or revise them.
What does the Instagram API restriction do to your model?
It is a real constraint, acknowledged from day one. At launch: creator-verified screenshots plus counterparty confirmation, clearly flagged as "counterparty-confirmed" rather than "API-verified." This preserves verification integrity without overstating signal quality — the trust framework is explicit about what each verification source means and its confidence level. The plan is to open a Meta partnership conversation at Series A, when we have meaningful user numbers to justify their attention. TikTok has similar API restrictions and the same approach applies. The key point is that counterparty-confirmed signals are still significantly more valuable than self-reported data, which is what the market currently runs on.
Why is the creator tier priced so low at £12/month?
Because creator volume is the product, not the primary revenue. Creators being on the platform is what makes the platform valuable to managers and brands. Charging creators £30–50/month would slow adoption and damage the network effect at the exact moment when network density is the only thing that matters. £12/month is a rounding error relative to a single brand deal — but it validates intent, creates skin in the game, and covers infrastructure cost at scale. We are not trying to build a creator-tier revenue business. We are trying to build a reputation dataset that makes the manager and brand tiers commercially compelling.
What is your 18-month ARR target, and what does it prove?
Approximately £946K ARR: 2,000 Creator Pro at £144/year, 200 Manager Agency at £2,388/year, 50 Brand Discovery at £3,588/year. This assumes seed close in Q3 2026, a 6-person team by month 9, and manager-led onboarding producing at least 10 creator signups per manager account. At that ARR level, the business is approaching Series A range with a retention story to tell. The figure excludes marketplace facilitation revenue — any deal flow at M18 is upside on this projection. The £946K target proves that both sides of the market are willing to pay for verified reputation data, and that manager-led onboarding is a credible supply-side strategy.
Why doesn't the pricing in this document match what I see on the live website?
The website currently operates as a pre-launch validation asset and intentionally does not display final subscription pricing. The pricing in this brief — Creator £12–15/mo, Manager £79–499/mo, Brand £299–10,000/mo — is the current working commercial model used for financial planning and scenario modelling. It is based on market positioning analysis and comparable SaaS benchmarks, not a final public offer. Final pricing will be informed by validation findings, customer feedback, and market testing conducted during the validation stage. The two documents are not in conflict — they simply serve different purposes at different stages of the business.
If managers are your primary acquisition channel, why is the public-facing brand creator-focused?
Creators are the visible participants within the reputation network and therefore remain the centre of the public narrative — the website, the brand story, and the product's public face are all creator-forward. Managers are the preferred early distribution channel because they can onboard multiple creators simultaneously, accelerating network density without individual creator-by-creator acquisition. LEVL therefore operates with a creator-first brand and a manager-first go-to-market strategy. These approaches are complementary rather than contradictory: the creator brand attracts and validates the market; the manager channel builds it efficiently. An investor reading the website and then this brief should expect to find that distinction — it is intentional, not an inconsistency.
What is the long-term take rate and ceiling?
SaaS subscriptions as the stable base; marketplace facilitation as the growth ceiling. At scale, subscription ARR in the £3–6M range with facilitation revenue potentially matching or exceeding subscription revenue as deal volume compounds. We will not charge both a subscription and a transaction fee for the same user action in the early stages — that creates friction at the wrong moment. The sequencing is: prove the subscription model first, then introduce facilitation when deal flow is organic and users expect it. By M36, the base case projects £100K/month in facilitation revenue — an additional £1.2M ARR at near-zero incremental cost.
LEVL
Confidential & Commercially Sensitive · Not for distribution
Investor Q&A · June 2026