Why We’re Building This
The First Deal: $2,000 and No Idea What I Was Doing
March 2020, a sponsor reached out. I had no clue how sponsorships worked, so I hired an agency.
They came back with an offer: $2,000 for a 60-second integration. I said yes immediately. I was thrilled. A brand wanted to pay ME to talk about their product!
Looking back now, after 300+ deals, I know the truth: I should have charged $12,000 minimum.
I left $10,000 on the table because I had no idea what I was worth. No data. No transparency. Just a gut feeling that $2,000 sounded like a lot of money.
That was my introduction to YouTube sponsorships. And honestly? It only got worse from there.
Scott Mansell
YouTube creator | 300+ deals negotiated the hard way
From Racing Driver to YouTube Creator (By Accident)
I didn’t set out to become a YouTuber. I was a racing driver and driving coach.
In 2015, I started Driver61 to teach other drivers how to be faster on track. Tutorial videos: how to brake correctly, how to take the perfect racing line, how to warm your tires. Technical stuff for people who cared about lap times.
For five years, the channel grew slowly. By early 2020, we had a small but dedicated audience of racing enthusiasts.
Then COVID hit. No one could race. But everyone wanted to watch Formula 1.
I pivoted the content to analyzing F1 drivers—Senna, Schumacher, Verstappen—breaking down their technique the way I’d coached real drivers.
In 8 months, we went from 100,000 views/month to 10 million views/month.
By 2022, I’d launched OVERDRIVE, a second channel focused on automotive engineering and racing technology. It hit 500,000 subscribers.
Combined, the channels now have 1.9 million subscribers and generate tens of millions of views per year.
But here’s what no one tells you about hitting those numbers: Getting big doesn’t mean you know how to make money.
The Education I Paid For (In Mistakes)
The Agency Problem
For the first two years, I used agencies. They seemed professional. They had connections. They promised to “handle everything.”
Here’s what I learned:
1. You’re rarely their priority. They always have someone bigger than you. Someone who’s been with them longer. Your deals get done when they get around to it.
2. They can take money from both sides. I found out later that agencies were charging me 20%, then turning around and charging the sponsor another 20%. Neither side knew. They just pocketed a huge chunk of the total deal value and called it “facilitation.”
3. You have no idea what you’re actually worth. When an agency comes back with an offer, you don’t know if they negotiated hard or took the first number the brand offered. You’re flying blind.
The Contract I Didn’t Understand
The worst mistake I made? I signed away my likeness “in perpetuity” without realizing it.
Buried in a contract was a clause that gave the brand the right to use my image, voice, and the video content forever. Not just for the campaign. Not just for a year. Forever.
I didn’t understand what “in perpetuity” meant. I just wanted to get the deal done.
That brand is still using my face in ads today. I haven’t seen a dollar from it in years.
The 7-Month Payment Delay
We delivered a sponsored video. It went live. The brand loved it. Everything was great.
Then we invoiced them.
Seven months later, we still hadn’t been paid.
Emails went unanswered. The agency blamed the brand. The brand blamed their finance department. We had no leverage. What were we going to do, take down the video? They already had the value.
Eventually, we got paid. But for seven months, we’d essentially created free advertising for a brand that was making millions.
The Deals I Underpriced
Because I had no market data, no transparency, no way to know what other creators were charging, I consistently underpriced.
$2,000 deals that should have been $15,000.
$5,000 deals that should have been $25,000.
$10,000 deals that should have been $50,000.
Over 300+ deals, I’ve probably left $500,000+ on the table just by not knowing my market value.
And I’m not special. This happens to almost every creator.
The Moment Everything Changed
In 2022, I’d had enough of agencies. We brought sponsorships in-house.
One of my staff members took over negotiations. Within 3 months, she tripled our monthly sponsorship revenue.
Not by creating more content. Not by growing the channel faster. Just by negotiating better deals and cutting out the middleman.
That’s when I realized: The sponsorship system is fundamentally broken.
Brands want to sponsor creators. Creators want to get paid fairly. But there’s no transparent marketplace. No competitive pricing. No standard contracts. No guaranteed payments.
It’s just chaos, confusion, and middlemen taking massive cuts.
Why Competitive Bidding Is the Obvious Solution
Here’s what finally clicked for me:
Every other form of digital advertising works on an auction model.
- Google Ads? Auction.
- Facebook Ads? Auction.
- Instagram Ads? Auction.
- YouTube pre-roll ads? Auction.
Why? Because auctions find true market value. When multiple advertisers compete for the same inventory, prices stabilize at what it’s actually worth. No guessing. No agencies. No confusion.
But YouTube sponsorships? Still negotiated one-on-one, in private, with zero transparency.
It’s insane.
The solution isn’t more agencies. It isn’t better negotiation tactics. It’s building the marketplace that should have existed all along.
A platform where:
- Creators set their minimum rate (their floor)
- Brands compete by bidding (driving prices UP, not down)
- Payments are protected (escrow before filming, paid 14 days after the video goes live)
- Contracts are standardized (no sneaky “in perpetuity” clauses)
This is Goodxus.
Why I’m Uniquely Positioned to Build This
I’m not some outsider trying to “disrupt” the creator economy. I am part of the creator economy.
✅ I’ve run two successful YouTube channels (1.9M combined subscribers)
✅ I’ve negotiated 300+ sponsorship deals personally
✅ I’ve been undercharged, screwed by agencies, and waited 7 months for payment
✅ I’ve tripled revenue by bringing deals in-house
✅ I know what brands want (I’ve taken their calls)
✅ I know what creators need (I’ve lived every pain point)
Most importantly: I’m still a creator. Driver61 isn’t a side projects. It’s my business. I’m building Goodxus because I need it to exist.
When I say “I’ve been there,” I mean it. I’ve sent the awkward pricing emails. I’ve second-guessed my rates. I’ve celebrated the big deals and kicked myself over the lowball offers I accepted.
I’m building the platform I wish I’d had in 2020 when I took that first $1,000 deal.