After Guesting on “25 Months,” This TikToker Got a Million Dollar Investment

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This newsletter will showcase the amazing work our collaborators and peers are creating, as well as creator industry news, recommended reading, and much more.

For this week's edition, we're putting the spotlight on "25 Months," our new podcast hosted by Tejas Hullur (@tejashullur) and Jack Neel (@fyp), featuring guest Dylan Lemay (@djlemay2)

Dreams really can come true due to social media. Just ask Dylan Lemay.

A year ago, the 24-year-old made just above minimum wage managing a Cold Stone Creamery. Today, he’s managing a $1-million-plus investment deal to open his very own ice cream shop in New York City.

How did Dylan go from running someone else’s business to becoming his own million-dollar brand?

His story starts with TikTok, and it ends with Bullish Studio’s new podcast, 25 Months.

For Episode 2 of the podcast, Dylan (@djlemay2) is 25 Months’ first guest — and the show’s first major success story. Hosted by fellow TikTokers Tejas Hullur (@tejas) and Jack Neel (@fyp), 25 Months isn’t just a podcast for content creators, by content creators. It’s also a platform to connect creators’ visions with the people who can make those visions a reality.

25 Months gets its name from a statistic: Most social media creators drop out of the game after 25 months due to burnout and loss of follower momentum. The podcast’s goal is to provide creators new ways to stay fresh and engaging while navigating the complex maze of endorsements, branding, outreach, growth, and more.

Dylan’s Millions

Prior to becoming TikTok famous, Dylan worked at Cold Stone Creamery for nearly a decade.

He initially wanted to run his own Cold Stone shop as a franchise. A realistic goal, given his love for all things ice cream.

Then, in February 2020, Dylan began looking into TikTok. After hours upon hours of watching videos on the app, he started uploading his own, showing others how to prepare ice cream recipes. Within the first few weeks, he racked up 50,000 followers. Quite a feat, especially for a novice.

Comparing his videos to the show How It’s Made, Dylan said during the podcast, “I’m showing you behind the scenes of how everything works at Cold Stone.”

“It’s fun, it’s satisfying content,” he said, “but at the end of the day, I’m feeding you knowledge, and so people just kept coming back because I kept giving them information.”

A few weeks after hitting the 50K milestone, his follower count swelled to 300,000. The momentum kept building over the months as the world locked down during the pandemic. Businesses closed indefinitely. Everyone stayed home. While glued to their devices and computers, people became hungry for new, comforting content.

And Dylan — with his soothing, baritone voice overs, and a virtually endless stream of wholesome videos focused on creamy sweets — found himself delving into new topics, from discussing the history of an antique ice cream machine, to the flavorful nuances of shaved ice. Essentially, his TikTok evolved into a one-man culinary show, sort of like the Anthony Bourdain of frozen treats in bite-sized episodes.

Today, Dylan’s TikTok (@djlemay2) is followed by 10.5 million people. For perspective, talk show host Jimmy Fallon has 6.2 million TikTok followers. Miley Cyrus has 13.4 million.

“Why would you say people are following you?” Tejas asked during Dylan’s 25 Months appearance.

“My goal is never to blow up. I just enjoy making videos,” Dylan said. “That’s my goal. I’m trying to make this as fun as possible for me and you that you’re going to want to see this again.”

From Churning Cream to Making Cream

By the summer of 2021, Dylan was known online as “The Ice Cream Guy.” While covering an event in Miami, he met Tejas and Jack for the first time. 25 Months came up during conversation, as did Dylan’s dream of running his own Cold Stone.

Which got Tejas and Jack thinking. What if 25 Months could do more than simply make Dylan’s dream of becoming a mere franchisee come true? What if the podcast’s team could put Dylan in charge of his own ice cream business, where he’s the founder, CEO, and all-around top dog?

At the time, Dylan was already in talks with an investor. Tejas soon connected Dylan with Chris Camillo, who, on top of backing 25 Months, also looks to financially support up-and-coming content creators. Camillo is the CEO and founder of TickerTags, a social media data intelligence firm, and co-creator and co-host of Dumb Money, an investment podcast on YouTube.

After weeks of discussion, Camillo was convinced of Dylan’s business potential, and Dylan decided to go with this new investor.

“It is less about follower count and more about the authenticity of Dylan’s relationship with his fans,” Camillo told Bullish Studio. “To Dylan, ice cream is a form of escapism and a way to bring a bit of joy into your daily life.”

“His motivation in building a business of his own is to deepen the connection with those who have supported his content,” Camillo continued. “He will tell you that he is, and always will be, working for them.”

Social Media and the New(er) Economy

According to Camillo, the first round of investment into Dylan’s enterprise is an icy-cool seven-figure deal. That’s a lot of dough. Why are Camillo and Bullish Studio, the production engine behind 25 Months, so bullish on social content creators?

Let’s take a look at TikTok. The platform boasts over 689 million users globally and over 2 billion video downloads since its inception in 2016. Content creators on TikTok shoot, edit, and upload videos ranging from a few seconds to a few minutes long, which makes them easily consumable and sharable. TikTok isn’t even the biggest social media platform, but endorsement deals for a channel can easily hit six-figures.

“It’s a rocket ship of a category that not enough people are paying attention to,” said Brian Hanly, the founder and CEO of Bullish Studio. “75% of children 6- to 17-years old want to be YouTubers. The creator economy is a $100-billion category and growing in the double digits every year. YouTube has paid over $30 billion out to artists and creators. Facebook recently committed $1 billion in payouts to creators.”

“The money is flowing,” Hanly continued. “Platforms are finally realizing they need to pay creators. It's a gold rush. The content creator is the future media company.”

Which is where 25 Months comes in. Social media content creation is a relatively new industry, and since anyone can jump in, the field is saturated. Furthermore, there aren’t many resources for new or seasoned creators to learn about the industry from the inside.

25 Months will close those knowledge gaps by bringing content creators together to share ideas, stories, critiques, and advice. In addition, Tejas and Jack will support their guests to further their individual goals, as Dylan’s story is a testament to.

“It’s important to build relationships with other creators and not to think of everything as a competition, but rather a community,” Dylan told Bullish. “We all can succeed together, and we’ll all go further together.”

This is the exact outcome that 25 Months hopes to spark among the creator community.

“One year ago, I was a manager at an ice cream place making a few dollars over minimum wage,” he continued. “Just a year later, I’m making more than both my parents combined. This last year has completely changed my life, and there is something we all can learn from that journey.”

The journey continues sometime in Spring 2022, when Dylan plans to open his ice cream shop in New York. To learn more about Dylan, Tejas, and Jack’s content creation strategies and video production processes, and how Dylan’s own led to his fateful investment, check out Episode 2 of 25 Months on YouTube and Spotify, as well as below: