Today is the starting signal for the roll App that aims to create an easy way for creators to make extra money while presenting a potentially more authentic version of themselves to their fans. Some developers are already charging for access to their close friends’ stories on Instagram, a private Snapchat account, or a secret Discord server where they post content that’s still on-brand and safe for work, but maybe not like this polished and professional like what they post “on main”. Roll takes this creator tactic and streamlines it — instead of subscribing to a creator’s Patreon to gain access to their secret Instagram, this entire transaction can be facilitated on Roll, which is available for iOS and Android.
“Basically, our point is that we give fans access to the camera rolls of their favorite creators,” said Founder and CEO Erik Zamudio. “The way it works is that fans sign up to see content from creators that they can’t see anywhere else. I think it lets creators be the most authentic and real version of themselves.”
To be clear, Roll doesn’t share access to these creators’ literal camera roll — that would be a disaster waiting to happen. But the idea is that Roll gives creators an opportunity to make money while connecting with their fans in more casual ways. Even if posting to social media is your job, it’s not like uploading everything to your camera roll — you could snap a photo of that perfect (or not-so-perfect) omelet you made, a bad selfie, a screenshot of a meme you like or something weird you saw on a walk. These images might not make sense in your carefully planned Instagram grid, but they could work on a platform like Roll. Also, like a real camera roll, there is no liking or commenting on roll posts.
Creators keep 80% of their earnings on roll, where they can charge for monthly subscriptions ranging from $5 to $50. According to Zamudio, most developers have settled for the $5 mark so far, but people creating more specialized content might gravitate toward the higher end of the range — for example, a TikTok chef would charge more for exclusive recipe videos than if he would post a few after the scenes photos per month. Unlike a competitor like OnlyFans, Roll doesn’t allow adult content.
Tana Mongeau with her Roll account open on her phone
There are about twenty creators on roll at launch, but the team will be adding ten to fifteen more stars each week until they’re ready to open their creator portal to the public. Roll’s recent roster includes musician Dillon Francis, Stranger Things actor Noah Schnapp, social media personalities like Tana Mongeau, SOmmer Ray and Stassie Karanikolaou, and YouTuber David Dobrik.
Of course, this isn’t the first time Dobrik has been involved with a photo-based social startup. He co-founded David’s Disposable, the app that became Dispo. Zamudio and three other Roll employees also helped set up David’s Disposable, but Zamudio left the company in mid-2020, just before the app was rebranded to Dispo. He did not want to say why he and his colleagues left.
the much hyped The Dispo app was launched in March 2021, but only a week later Insiders reported on allegations of sexual assault against a member of Vlog Squad, Dobrik’s YouTube string ensemble. The alleged attack happened while filming a video for Dobrik’s channel about group sex. Seth Francois, a former Vlog Squad member who is black, posted a YouTube video He outlines the racism he experienced in David’s videos – he said he did too Experienced sexual assault on the set of Dobrik. Shortly after the insider article was published, Dobrik resigned from the Dispo board.
Amidst this much controversy, early investors in Dispo like Spark Capital, Seven Seven Six, and Unshackled got involved donate any winnings from their investment in the app to organizations working with sexual assault survivors. But although Dobrik lost A variety of brand deals, his YouTube subscriber count has only dropped from 18.8 million to 18.3 million, and he still posts three videos a week, each getting around 6 to 10 million views. And now Dobrik is trying his hand at consumer technology again. But during Dobrik co-founded Dispo, Zamudio says the controversial YouTuber is just a creator using the Roll app (and also appears in their promotional content).
“[David] wasn’t the first major YouTuber to choose Roll,” Zamudio told TechCrunch. “That’s definitely something I don’t want to misunderstand, it’s not like … ‘David left Dispo and now David is doing his own thing,’ because it’s definitely not like that. David is not one of the founding members.”
He later explained via email, “Ultimately, David is a creative and smart individual and we’re delighted to have him alongside our other amazing creators. We really treat all of our squads as equals and value all of their contributions. I’m sure connections will be made to Dispo as David has been involved in both, but as we discussed David is a creator (not founder or team member) of Roll.”
Dispo and Roll share similar DNA as they both encourage more authentic posting – on Dispo you can only see the photos you take the next morning, mimicking the nature of a disposable camera. But while Dispo is a social network, Roll is a monetization platform for creators.
“After David’s Disposable blew up like that, it pushed us a lot further into the world of the creator economy,” Zamudio told TechCrunch. “And as we got closer to a lot of creators and just started hearing about the kind of things they were going through, we kept hearing that this one kind of problem came up, and basically that’s what they wanted to enter.” Paywall area.”
To date, Roll has raised a $500,000 angel investor round led by Airwing Ventures’ Dan Beldy.
