AJ Eckstein 🧩

i rented an igloo in London with 10 LinkedIn Creators to talk about B2B SaaS over blueberry pancakes. 🫐🥞

leave it to the American to bring British people together LOL 🇬🇧

At Creator Match 🧩, we’ve never seen creators as “inventory.” They’re our partners and our friends.

And while our “clients” are Brands (being a Brand-side b2b Creator marketing agency), our partners are Creators... and we pay them millions of dollars to do what they do best → tell stories.

The only way we’re able to pull off these unrealistic asks and unrealistic campaign timelines from Brands is through those strong creator relationships.

So when a billion dollar Brand calls us needing to flip a $400,000 campaign and get content live in 6 days, we can make it happen.

That’s what investing in community allows you to do. It’s the difference between being an agency that just transacts vs. one that creates real value.

In just the last few weeks, our small but mighty team has hosted two Brand dinners in San Francisco, one in Austin, and one London.

My favorite part (outside of the bottomless mimosas at 9 AM on a Thursday 😂) was realizing how everyone met... from LinkedIn to random conferences & events.

My fave part was going around the table asking how we can all support each other because that's life blood of the creator community.

Creators: Charlie Hills, Meagan Loyst, Margo Laz, Matt Swain, Lauren Ingram, Victoria Blinova, Jenk Oz, FRSA, Mischa Collins

It’s moments like these that remind me why I started Creator Match 🧩 in the first place. And what makes the 15 hour days worth it.

Where to next week? Amsterdam to speak at a marketing conference and host more events 🎤!

💬 Where should we host the next one? Comment below to get added to the next one...

PS - can someone plz bring some sun to London LOL

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🔔 Follow me AJ Eckstein 🧩 for more content on entrepreneurship, B2B Creator Marketing, and Brand strategies

this cake represents the hardest year of my life 🎂 ...

I quit a $130,000 management consulting job to bet on myself and take $0 in salary early on to build Creator Match 🧩 from my bedroom.

Couch surfed. Lived like a broke college student. Ate sh*t to make things work. Took risks and prayed it would all work out.

Here's what happened when I refused to give up, and fought through the pain. And note, these wins started as solo wins, and over time, became team wins:

Business wins:
• Partnered with 30+ brands, including our first 7-figure deal
• Survived year 1 of running my own business (barely)
• Hosted brand trips at Formula 1 Austin and Vegas
• Hit our first $1M payout MONTH to B2B creators
• Built our team from 6 to 20+ incredible humans
• Grew Creator Match from 6 to 7 figures
• Finally started paying myself a salary

Personal highlights:
• Spoke at 6 global conferences, including Brazil and Amsterdam
• My 3 LinkedIn Learning courses crossed 200,000 learners
• Hit 50,000 followers on LinkedIn

The travel ✈️ that reminded me why I'm building this:
• 52 flights across 12+ countries.
• Flying in a helicopter over Brazil (w/ Elfried), standing next to a glacier in Patagonia, and ate my first Michelin star meal (w/ Emily) in Argentina

But it hasn’t all been highlights.

I've never been more stressed and anxious yet excited at the same time. Working insane hours on no sleep to build something from nothing isn't glamorous. The anxiety is real. The doubt is constant. The pressure never ends. The stress only grows.

Outside of this being a HUGE team effort, Tara Knight 🧩 has especially been there for me and the biz during the toughest of days.

2025 broke me down and built me back up. Every sleepless night, every time I questioned if I was crazy for leaving that steady corporate job - it was all worth it. And we're just getting started...

🍿 Check out the fun video in the comments (that includes cake, knives, and some wins lol)

💬 Comment 1 goal you have for 2026

And lmk if I should do my top losses for the year, lol

PS - I’m incredibly grateful for the people who believed in the vision early (Brands, Creators, and our team), showed up on the hard days, and helped carry this when it felt heavy. Creator Match wouldn’t exist without you :)

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🔔 Follow me AJ Eckstein 🧩 for more content on entrepreneurship, B2B Creator Marketing, and Brand strategies

I wore a tux to a 1,000-person wedding and left realizing one thing:

you don’t need to do the “right” thing... just "your" thing.

It was one of those nights where you see everyone from your past:
- High school friends
- College classmates
- People you haven’t spoken to in years

And it’s wild to see how different everyone’s paths look now.
Some are doctors, founders, teachers, didn’t go to college, married, chefs, lawyers, or have kids.

There’s no single timeline anymore.
Everyone’s just figuring it out in their own way.

Throughout the night, a few people came up to me and said:
“AJ, you’re doing the thing with Creator Match 🧩.”

Truth is… I don’t know if I am DOING the thing.
But I’m definitely TRYING to do the thing lol.

And that’s what matters most.

Because when you look around a room like that,
you realize there’s no single path that leads to happiness.

Some people peak early.
Some people peak late.
Most of us are still figuring it out.

So stop worrying about doing life “the RIGHT way.”
Just make sure you’re doing it YOUR way.

That’s the thing worth doing.

PS - if you need more motivation to post on LinkedIn... several ppl at the wedding came up to me saying they recognized me LOL. What a wold world we live in man.

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🔔 Follow me AJ Eckstein 🧩 for more content on entrepreneurship, B2B Creator Marketing, and Brand strategies

yikes, a rumor about Creator Match has been spreading.
this time, the conspiracy theorists might be right.

We’ve accepted our fate since this LinkedIn reputation is getting out of hand. If it feels like we’re always hiring, it’s because we are lol... the momentum doesn’t stop.

When our clients (ie brands) do well, the agencies that support them do well too. And this translates into paying out millions of dollars $$$ to creators.

While other companies are laying people off, creator budgets for tech brands are exploding. For example, as the tech brands we work with raise capital, expand into new markets, and ramp creator budgets, we have to scale right alongside them to meet demand.

Creator Match 🧩 is the leading tech-enabled agency building and scaling world-class creator programs for B2B, SaaS, and AI Brands.

Year 1 was focused specifically on LinkedIn creator marketing.

Now in Year 2, our brand partners have asked us for more; so we've expanded creator marketing capabilities: short form (all channels), long form (YT), newsletter, creator gifting, brand trips, paid media/ads, EGC, UGC, and international expansion.

If you think the AI space race is moving quickly, try repping 20+ brands helping all of them scale at once LOL. We genuinely can’t hire fast enough to keep up. 🤪

One of our newest hires led 5 recent creator campaigns that included physical gifting, a partnership with a global motorsport team, a 6-figure omni-channel partnership, and more.

So yes, we’re hiring again: Account Manager, 100% remote.

You’ll grow faster than you ever have, alongside a 20+ person A-team that moves fast, hops fences, breaks things, and builds in the trenches together.

We’re looking for someone who doesn’t just tolerate chaos, but THRIVES in it. Someone who gets energized when things get WILD.

💬 If this fires you up, or you know someone that may be a good fit, comment/tag them below! Or repost this opportunity to share with your network.

PS - I am incredibly grateful to be in a position to provide opportunity during this tough job market. It goes without saying that this is a community effort across the brands, creators, and our team for making this possible 💙

Con todo!

(JD in the comments below)

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🔔 Follow me AJ Eckstein 🧩 for more content on entrepreneurship, B2B Creator Marketing, and Brand strategies

Photo creds below: Alex Llull