Please welcome Contact as the latest addition to the Rhino Crash! 

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HQ: London, UK

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Founder: Reuben Selby

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The Problem: The fashion industry has long been underpinned by the efforts of creatives, including models, photographers, and stylists, while the economic benefits predominantly accrued to gatekeepers comprised of the largest brands and agencies. These creatives are beholden to a system that is controlled by, and for the benefit of, such gatekeepers, which do not typically serve a diverse array of potential talent. Agencies and talent managers extract outsized value with egregious commissions and often withhold or delay payments, while archaic workflows prevent timely service and result in missed opportunities. Meanwhile, over the last decade, there has been an explosion of 22,000+ direct-to-consumer brands (and growing) that remain substantially under or unserved in a gatekeeper-controlled world.

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The Solution: Contact enables organizations to book creative talent while eliminating the friction of interfacing with agents and managers, convoluted email traffic, and cumbersome invoicing practices. Creatives are able to manage and grow their careers with Contact’s suite of booking, scheduling, payments, and communication tools.

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The Team: To empower creatives and provide more of them with an increased range of opportunities that would otherwise be inaccessible, Reuben Selby, Founder and CEO, launched Contact. Having launched his own fashion label and creative studio, Reuben started Contact after experiencing first-hand the significant pain points of the creative industry and is now on a mission to be the key destination for creatives to manage their careers, get paid, and support creatives everywhere make a full-time living on Contact. Contact is based in London, England, with a remote team and a strong network of advisors with creative and marketplace expertise.

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Rhino’s Perspective: We continue to believe that the platforms best serving entrepreneurs will be those with a vertical focus. Creatives inherently have unique challenges and requirements to running their businesses with respect to product (their likeness), promotion (access to brands and jobs), distribution (logistics associated with securing and completing jobs), and payment. Brands, similarly, require simplified procurement of talent including access to the most appropriate and relevant professionals, seamless execution of jobs, and payments functionality that connects seamlessly to their existing accounting systems.

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We are excited to partner with the team at Contact as they work to empower creatives through a world-class product delivering better solutions to both brands and talent.

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Welcome to the Crash, Contact!