Why Are Influencer Deals Still Stuck in DMs and Ghosting in 2025?

As founders, we automate ads, analytics, and customer support… yet influencer marketing still feels like sending carrier pigeons.

You reach out to a creator. They might reply… or vanish for weeks. Negotiations happen in messy email threads, rates are all over the place, and deals fall apart because there’s no structure or urgency.

It blows my mind that in 2025, we’re still dealing with influencer partnerships like it’s 2015.

• Has anyone here figured out a more streamlined way to work with creators, especially on YouTube?

• Are brands willing to embrace more transparent pricing or structured marketplaces?

• Or is the chaos just baked into influencer marketing for the foreseeable future?

Curious how other founders are handling this. Have you built your own systems, or found platforms that make creator deals smoother and faster?