Sandbox Studios’ Jackie Fast on the New Ways Celebrities Are Partnering With Startups

Minnie Ingersoll
Minnie Ingersoll is a partner at TenOneTen and host of the LA Venture podcast. Prior to TenOneTen, Minnie was the COO and co-founder of $100M+ Shift.com, an online marketplace for used cars. Minnie started her career as an early product manager at Google. Minnie studied Computer Science at Stanford and has an MBA from HBS. She recently moved back to L.A. after 20+ years in the Bay Area and is excited to be a part of the growing tech ecosystem of Southern California. In her space time, Minnie surfs baby waves and raises baby people.
Sandbox Studios’ Jackie Fast on the New Ways Celebrities Are Partnering With Startups

Jackie Fast doesn’t think celebrities make good entrepreneurs. Instead, they make great assets for young companies.

On this episode of the LA Venture podcast, the Sandbox Studios managing partner discusses why many celebrities are exploring startups. Sandbox is a $30 million seed-stage fund that invests in brands that are being built by celebrities.


“The motivation for me is absolutely everything,” Fast said. “Why is this person doing this? Often—I mean, 100 times out of 100—it's not because they care. They want to make more money.”

Fast started her consultancy, Slingshot Sponsorships, at 24, after she was passed over for a role at the organization at which she was working.

“I was very qualified for the role. Even to this day, I still am annoyed about it. I applied and the CEO just said, ‘You're too young. You need more experience’.” She quit soon afterward and by 26, Fast signed Prince as her second client—without realizing that the iconic musician was notoriously uninterested in sponsorships.

“Prince was one of my first clients and—I didn't know this at the time—but the reason we got Prince was because nobody wanted to work with him to do commercial stuff. Because he didn't care. He's all about the music.”

Fast helped launch his album “20Ten” through Spotify and the DailyMail. It was the first time an album had launched on the growing music platform, and the move helped Prince quickly climb the charts.

“That just catapulted me into the music scene,” Fast said.

She took on clients including The Rolling Stones, Duran Duran and One Direction.

“My whole ethos was that social media and digital technology was changing and shaping the way that consumers and fans could engage with the things that they loved,” Fast said.

Slingshot prepared Fast to evaluate celebrity-backed companies and consider how their audiences can help a product thrive.

“A brand fundamentally is trying to ship product. So there are certain times when consumers are more receptive to information. And a lot of that is when they are enjoying themselves, they're having fun, they're in a calm place,” she said. “So any of those kind-of core emotional, humanistic things that connect people with other people—if a brand can insert themselves in the middle of that—that's where the recall comes from. That's where you start associating your own individuality with a brand.”

Celebrities began eyeing equity deals more seriously after George Clooney sold his tequila company, Casamigos, for $1 billion in 2017. Instead of promoting the brand for cash as most celebrities do, Clooney—one of its founders—opted for equity. When the brand eventually sold, he did well.

“When George basically did nothing and made a billion dollars, everybody was like, ‘Oh my goodness, we should be doing this. Why are we taking fees?,” Fast said.

The problem, she added, is that most talent agents make their money through commission and wouldn’t benefit from equity deals. Many of them ignored celebrities’ requests, leading frustrated talent to reach out to startups on their own—sometimes even using DMs to initiate contact. Often the resulting deals were not good ones, Fast said. Large talent agencies including CAA and WME have since set up venture arms for their clients.

Sandbox’s portfolio includes Kylie Cosmetics, Fabletics and Aviation Gin. The fund also invested in the animation studio Invisible Universe, alongside partners including Reddit co-founder and investor Alexis Ohanian. Invisible Universe partners with celebrities to create animated characters and build their following on social media. Once they gain traction, they can become the basis for books, shows, podcasts and other creative ventures.

“With these small animation companies, they can turn around ideas in a day and a half,” Fast said. “They create short form content that goes on Instagram Stories, TikTok [and] Reels, and they build momentum and following through lots of short-form content.”

While Fast invests in products built by celebrities, she said she views them less as entrepreneurs and more as a way for companies to gain instant brand recognition.

“I'm investing in a route-to-market and an asset that most companies don't have access to,” she said. “I don't look at the celebrity as like a person or a founder. I look at the celebrity as the marketing arm or the marketing special dust that you can add to a product.”

dot.LA editorial intern
Kristin Snyder contributed to this post.

Click the link above to hear the full episode, and subscribe to LA Venture on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Subscribe to our newsletter to catch every headline.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec
LA Tech ‘Moves’:

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.

***

Read moreShow less

This Week in ‘Raises’: GITAI Lands $30M, Steno Gains $15M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local space robotics startup raised fresh funding to expand the flight model manufacturing facilities throughout the U.S. and increase employment, while a remote litigation platform raised more funding to continue growing its footprint in new markets across the country, develop service channels for its clients and continue expanding its tech team.

***

Read moreShow less

Gitai Secures $30 Million in Funding to Continue Space Robotics Developments

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

Gitai Secures $30 Million in Funding to Continue Space Robotics Developments
\u200bPhoto: Gitai

Space robotics company Gitai raised a $30 million Series B extension this week, bringing the total value of the round to roughly $47 million.

The funding will be used to further develop Gitai’s suite of space robots as well as build out its manufacturing footprint in Torrance. Previously Gitai announced it raised a $17.1 million Series B in March 2021; this additional raise is still part of that round.

Read moreShow less
https://twitter.com/samsonamore
samsonamore@dot.la
RELATEDEDITOR'S PICKS
LA TECH JOBS
interchangeLA
Trending