How Important Is The Celebrity Effect?

The New York Times:

The trend of the celebrity entrepreneur and investor has been under way for some time; everyone from Ashton Kutcher to Lady Gaga and Leonardo DiCaprio have been dipping into their bank accounts to help finance start-ups. And cultivating the sheen of celebrity has become increasingly popular among start-ups that want to take off beyond the largely coastal crowds of techie early adopters.

For Stamped, the celebrity tie-ins mean that in its shiny new ratings application, available both through the iPhone and the Web, people can browse through their friends’ faces or scroll through Mr. Bieber’s guide to the things he likes, including his favorite sushi restaurant in Los Angeles and diners in his hometown, Stratford, Ontario. This might be enough of a draw for Mr. Bieber’s legions of fans to download the application and play around with it, a demographic that could be difficult to tap otherwise.

How important do you think it is for a startup to gain a celebrity following? Does it guarantee success?

Photo by Seck

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