The Weekly Bev - 15th Edition

👷‍♂️ My New Company: Hydrant

I am absolutely pumped to tell you guys about my company Hydrant! I’ve been working on it with three other legends for over a year now, and the time has finally come to bring you in on the journey! FAQ time!

What is Hydrant?

Hydrant is an instant payment platform designed to solve an issue that tons of freelancers / creators face: payment terms. Hydrant is for creators who want access to their paychecks today and do not want to wait the typical terms which can be months, sometimes over a year, in duration.

Where did the idea for Hydrant come from?

The idea for Hydrant was born out of a personal frustration I’ve had for awhile with the traditional payment terms that I’m often subject to as a full-time creator and filmmaker. Too often, I have to wait months after completing a job to receive my payment, and delays like that are a huge pain point for me for two main reasons:

1. Stress and financial instability: the feeling of not knowing when a client is going to pay me for my work, or even worse, knowing that it won’t happen for (at least) three months, is a huge burden to carry. Balancing infrequent, irregular cash inflows with very regular cash outflows like rent or grocery bills is a high wire act that can end poorly. This is only exacerbated by the fact that I’m often outlaying capital for things like travel for an opportunity, so for a long period of time a job can actually have a negative impact on my cash position.

2. Poor business decisions: when I don’t have access to my entire universe of funds, I am unable to make the long term investments that I think best position me for success. For example, sometimes a job that I want to pursue will require an upfront investment in camera gear, but if I don’t my capital available to me my hands are tied!

I’ve co-founded Hydrant, a platform for creators to upload their executed contracts for completed work and receive same day payment, to solve these problems for myself and creators everywhere 🙂 

How does Hydrant work?

Hydrant fulfills creators’ invoices the same day and assumes the risk that a creator's client will not pay in exchange for a percentage fee off the amount of the contract. This works because we’ve partnered with a large, established player in the financial services space that has been offering invoice factoring services for decades.

When was Hydrant founded?

In February 2023! I was connected with my eventual co-founder, and we jumped on the phone and discussed the burdens of navigating the creator economy. That phone call was the first time I ever heard the term “invoice factoring.” The potential to take a massive weight off the shoulders of thousands of creators was clear from the start, so we got to work. Over the subsequent year+, we’ve secured the requisite creditor to partner with, we’ve built out the backend of our platform, and we’re about to wrap a bow on the frontend dashboard that creators will interact with when they use Hydrant. The last thing to do? Complete beta testing.

Have you used Hydrant?

Yes! I’ve successfully run a handful of my own contracts through the site, and I’m very happy to report it works as magically as we hoped it would. With a lot of preliminary tests out of the way, we’re ready for much more volume…

Where do you see Hydrant in 5 years?

We’re extremely focused on nailing our instant payment product, so I’m not going to get into too much detail here. What I can say is our long-term vision is to become the ultimate financial partner for creators. Our north star is helping creators grow their business.

When will Hydrant be available to the public?

Hydrant is now officially in beta testing, and we’re inviting a handful of creators to join us during this beta testing phase.

If you think you’d be a good fit for this small group, reply to this email and tell me why!

❓️ Mystery Links

One , Two

🧠 Don’t Forget!

• The winner of a one year supply of Leisure and two invites to the Day 1000 party will be announced next week!

  • The Bev Lord Leaderboard is extremely close…like 2 subscribers close…The current standings are below. Who’s going to show up in the final stretch?!?

• Day 999 Run:

  • Reply to this email to join me on my long run on Day 999. We’re meeting at the Beverly Hills sign on Santa Monica Boulevard (511 N Doheny Drive) at 8:45am.