Stormy AI

What do they actually do

Stormy AI is a web app that automates the manual parts of influencer marketing. Users write a short brief, the app searches creators across platforms like YouTube and TikTok, verifies profiles, enriches contact info, and sends personalized outreach sequences via connected inboxes. Replies and activity are logged in a simple CRM so teams can track conversations and deals without spreadsheets (stormy.ai, YC company page).

The product today focuses on discovery, outreach, negotiation, and deal tracking. An “AI negotiator” helps extract pricing, propose counter‑offers within budgets, and record terms; assets and basic campaign metrics are stored in‑product. Payments, deeper attribution, allowlisting/UGC ad promotion, and always‑on outreach are on the near roadmap, but are not yet fully built out (stormy.ai, YC company page).

Early users include founders and agencies; the team has highlighted YC founders and agency users and has public launch traction on Product Hunt (YC company page, Product Hunt).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Startup growth or marketing teams without dedicated influencer ops: They lose time finding creators, chasing contact info, sending follow‑ups, and stitching results across spreadsheets instead of running tests and scaling what works.
• Small influencer/performance agencies running many micro/nano campaigns: They need to scale discovery, outreach, and follow‑ups across dozens of clients and creators without hiring more coordinators.
• Brand or community managers working directly with creators: Negotiation, usage rights, and keeping track of agreed terms and deliverables are error‑prone without a lightweight system.
• Paid/social performance marketers: They want to turn creator content into paid ads and measure ROAS but lack simple allowlisting, UGC promotion, and attribution in one place.
• Individual creators or creator‑led teams: They need help finding brand opportunities, managing negotiations, and handling briefs and payments efficiently without back‑and‑forth email chains.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Hand‑sell to YC founders and early‑adopter agencies via intros, live demos, and white‑glove onboarding; offer pilot discounts or free setup for tight feedback and public case quotes (YC company page, stormy.ai).
• First 50: Turn pilots into references and run a referral program while doing targeted outbound to startup growth teams and small agencies, supported by short webinars and step‑by‑step playbooks showing concrete time savings (stormy.ai, YC company page).
• First 100: Open a low‑friction self‑serve trial with campaign templates, add targeted ads/content for performance marketers and agency owners, and ship payments/allowlisting features to capture teams needing end‑to‑end execution and measurement (YC company page, stormy.ai).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Conservative near‑term TAM is the influencer‑marketing platform market, estimated around $20–25B in 2024 (Fortune Business Insights, Grand View Research). If Stormy also addresses creator‑driven ad promotion, add an adjacent pool reported at ~$37B in 2025 (Business Insider); note potential overlap between these categories.

Bottom-up calculation:

As a practical lens, assume 150k–250k global buyer teams (brands, agencies, DTC) that actively use tools for creator campaigns, each spending ~$3k–$7k/year on software and data, implying ~$0.45–$1.75B in serviceable software spend; if Stormy later routes $10–20B of creator ads/payouts with a 2–5% fee, that could add ~$0.2–$1.0B in platform‑fee TAM. These figures sit within the broader $20–65B top‑down spend pools and avoid double‑counting by separating software from routed budget.

Assumptions:

• 150k–250k active buyer teams globally for influencer tooling
• Average annual software spend per buyer: $3k–$7k
• Future payments/ads fees: 2–5% on $10–20B routed spend

Who are some of their notable competitors

• GRIN: End‑to‑end creator management platform offering discovery, outreach/CRM, creator payments, and reporting—overlaps with Stormy’s discovery→outreach core and payments roadmap.
• Upfluence: Creator database with outreach automation, e‑commerce integrations, and affiliate/payment tracking aimed at brands and agencies.
• CreatorIQ: Enterprise influencer platform known for robust discovery, measurement/attribution, and compliance—commonly used by large brands and agencies.
• Aspire (AspireIQ): Focuses on social commerce workflows: inbound/outbound discovery, UGC collection, affiliate tracking, and turning creator content into paid ads for e‑commerce teams.
• Tagger (Sprout Social): Data‑forward influencer discovery and analytics with project/relationship management; now part of Sprout Social’s broader social suite.