Talent development: a creator incubator for proven talent
MVP (Mega Volume Production, 十方众声) runs a creator incubator for established creators, artists and experts with room to grow. It sets the direction with you and builds the content, operations, deal and risk routines that turn a growing account into a long-term career. A dedicated team stays with each client, and MVP’s income comes from a share of the client’s real commercial deals.
What does a creator incubator do?
A creator incubator takes an account that is already growing and turns it into a career that can last: it sets the direction with you, builds the content and operations routines, agrees the standards for brand deals, and deals with risks before they arrive. China’s creator industry calls this “IP incubation” (孵化, fūhuà), where “IP” means a person or brand with a public following; the closest Western terms are artist development and talent development. It is not a creator accelerator program, an influencer incubator course or a platform scheme.
The work is split like this:
- What MVP does: positioning, running operations, negotiating deals and responding to risks are done by MVP’s own team, and a dedicated team stays with each client over the long term.
- What is done with outside specialists: filming, legal work and other specialist tasks.
- What you do: give it time, accept a division of work, and decide which deals you will not take. The direction and the important deals are your call.
MVP’s talent development follows six principles:
- It signs only creators with at least 100,000 followers and a body of work; it does not recruit or train people who have no work to show yet. This line is about creators and influencers; founders and experts are covered in the next section.
- It writes a separate plan for each client; it does not sell courses, training products or packages, or monthly coaching.
- Applying is free; it does not charge onboarding, development or training fees.
- It works on content and real brand deals only; it does not involve investment products, task packages, member recruitment or downlines.
- It writes the work to be done, and how it will be measured, into your plan; it does not promise follower numbers, income or deal volume.
- Its development income comes only from a share of your real commercial deals: MVP earns when you earn.
Who is MVP’s creator incubator for?
Talent development suits creators and public figures with a body of work, a steady audience and room to grow, for example a creator who has already made a name in a niche. For creators and influencers the bar is the signing bar: at least 100,000 followers and a steady record of content and brand deals. That follower number applies to creators only. Artists, founders and professionals with standing in their field are judged on that standing, not on follower count alone, and founders and professionals can start from setting up the account; see founders and executives. If you are not sure you qualify, get in touch anyway.
Founders & executives
Personal branding built around limited time, from positioning to privacy protection
Creators & influencers
Brand deals, operations and pivots for established creators
Celebrities & artists
Social media and digital presence, alongside your existing agent or manager
Companies & brands
One plan for the official, founder and employee accounts
What does talent development include?
MVP’s talent development covers four kinds of work.
Get the direction right first
Starting from personal brand strategy, MVP confirms what you are remembered for, who you mainly speak to and which deals you will not take, so the direction is right before the account gets bigger.
A content routine
MVP sets a few long-running themes, the formats and the pace of posting, and fills the gaps in planning, filming and editing, so quality no longer depends on how you feel that day.
Platforms and audience
MVP chooses a main platform and supporting ones, sets up posting, engagement and regular reviews, and builds a steady core audience; once that is steady, the work moves to channel operations.
Rules for deals, set early
Before the first paid deals, MVP agrees with you what kind of deals to take, how to price them and how contracts are reviewed, with brand partnerships and reputation and risk involved early, so that careless early deals do not damage how your audience sees you.
What kind of potential is worth developing?
MVP looks for three things, and all three must be there. Before that comes the bar: for creators and influencers, at least 100,000 followers and a steady record of content and brand deals.
Content nobody else can make
Real expertise, experience or work that keeps producing content others cannot make, rather than copies of whatever is trending. The harder it is to copy, the more it is worth developing.
People already watching
On at least one platform or in one community, an audience and engagement that grew on their own, which shows the content is wanted and was not just recommended once by chance.
Willing to commit, with clear limits
You are willing to give it time and accept a division of work, and you have clear limits on brand deals. Development is not a short project, and this willingness is harder to add later than followers.
How does talent development work, and how long does it take?
Talent development runs in four stages. How long it takes depends on where you start and what you aim for, so there is no standard length, and at the end of each stage both sides decide together whether to go on. The steps from application to signing are on the approach page.
Assessment and contract
The contract is signed after the application, review, meeting and diagnosis. There are three kinds: a full management contract (MVP represents you across content, brand deals and the rest), a deals-only contract (MVP handles finding and negotiating brand deals only), and a development agreement (limited to this one development project). Which one applies is agreed with you before signing. The contract sets out the term, the revenue split, who owns the content and how to exit, and the accounts always stay in your own name. The terms are explained in the glossary under talent management agreement.
Positioning and build
MVP completes the positioning plan, builds the content and operations routines, and tests them on the main platform to see whether the direction is right and the audience responds, and which direction is worth more investment. The test reads the platform’s own dashboard: how many people watch to the end, engagement, searches and saves.
Scale
MVP puts more into the direction that has proven itself and adds platforms, and takes on the first paid deals selectively, within your list of deals you will and will not take, to build a track record.
Move to long-term management
When the audience and the way you earn are steady, development ends; both sides review what worked and what did not, and move to day-to-day channel operations, partnerships and protection.
How is talent development measured?
MVP looks at three things, and writes the work to be done and how it will be measured into your plan; it does not promise follower numbers, income or deal volume.
The right audience
Whether the people following you are the people you want to reach, and whether engagement centers on your main content rather than one-off traffic from a single viral post.
The quality of your deals
What categories and what level of brand you work with, the terms and fees you get, whether brands renew, and whether every deal stays within your list of deals you will and will not take.
Influence beyond one platform
Whether you have built influence on a second platform, offline or in your industry, and no longer depend on a single platform’s recommendations.
What platform and legal limits still apply when an established account earns money?
Four kinds of limit apply: the age of the person signed, credentials in specialist fields, the account’s compliance record and, for platforms abroad, where the creator is based and how they are taxed. They matter most to parents of under-18 creators, to people who post on medicine, finance, law or education, and to anyone planning to work on YouTube.
The age of the person signed
An agency in China may not represent anyone under 16; to represent a minor aged 16 or over, it must verify their identity and have a guardian’s written consent (Article 7 of the Measures for the Administration of Online Performance Brokerage Agencies).1
Credentials in specialist fields
To livestream on specialist subjects such as medicine and health, finance, law and education, a host must hold the relevant professional qualification and file it with the platform (Article 13 of the Code of Conduct for Online Hosts).2 To register an account in these fields you must supply the credentials, and the platform marks the account accordingly (Article 11 of the Provisions on the Administration of Internet User Account Information).3
The account’s compliance record
An account must have had no violations in the previous three months before it can apply to earn money; while it is muted for a violation, its earning permissions are suspended and it may not gain followers (items 8 to 10 of the Cyberspace Administration’s 2023 notice on self-media accounts).4
Where the creator is based, and tax
YouTube’s ad revenue program, the YouTube Partner Program, is not available in mainland China, and an individual creator who has not given YouTube their US tax information has US tax withheld from their earnings. The rules and the figures are in the insight on Chinese creators on YouTube.
Notes
- 《网络表演经纪机构管理办法》 (Measures for the Administration of Online Performance Brokerage Agencies)
- 《网络主播行为规范》 (Code of Conduct for Online Hosts)
- 《互联网用户账号信息管理规定》 (Provisions on the Administration of Internet User Account Information)
- 《关于加强“自媒体”管理的通知》 (Notice on Strengthening the Administration of “Self-Media” Accounts)
Frequently asked questions
How can you tell whether a creator incubator is professional and well run?
Check four things: the company appears in a public business registry, such as China’s National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System;5 it earns from a share of the creator’s real commercial deals, with no training or onboarding fees before signing, no task packages and no recruiting of others; the contract states the term, the revenue split, who owns the accounts and how to exit, with penalties in proportion to real losses; and nobody promises followers or income. The key test is where the money comes from: MVP’s development income comes only from a share of your real commercial deals, so it earns with you, not from you.
How does a creator incubator get paid, and how is the split agreed?
There is no development fee. MVP takes an agreed share only after your deals have actually earned money; it charges no signing, onboarding, training or packaging fees, and applying and the diagnosis are free. The share depends on your scale, what each side puts in and the contract term, and it is written into the contract; every item of income and cost is shown to you. How each type of client is charged is set out under how MVP charges.
How is a creator incubator different from a course or a social media agency?
The difference is who answers for the result. A creator incubator builds a career together with you, and its income depends on your commercial results; a social media agency charges by the month or by the post, and a course charges tuition, and neither answers for your long-term results. How an incubator differs from an MCN is in the comparison table.
Notes
- 国家企业信用信息公示系统 (National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System)
Related capabilities
Talent development starts from personal brand strategy; when it ends, the work moves to long-term channel operations, partnerships and protection.
Brand strategy
Defines your positioning, content direction and commercial limits
Channel operations
Runs your accounts, content and fan communities across platforms
Partnerships & opportunities
Finds brand deals that fit you, and negotiates fees and contracts
Reputation & risk
Monitors risk, responds to crises and repairs reputations
Proven work? Book a development assessment.
Tell MVP about your work, your platforms and your goals, and it will assess the direction and recommend the right form of contract.