Who this is
Janet Pawelczyk is the daughter of Polish immigrants who came to Hamburg in the 1990s and started out cleaning hotels. She worked at Beiersdorf and at Google, where she was influencer marketing manager for the Pixel, went independent with influencer events in December 2019 and, after Covid wiped those out, built the creator management agency MOONGENCY in Hamburg. The agency represents 16 creators with a team of ten. After roughly two and a half years she sold MOONGENCY to the agency group MYTY, with signing in December 2024. She also holds stakes in Dejan Garz's hair care brand, in the bathroom fragrance brand include she started with creator Kiki, and in two reformer Pilates studios in Hamburg and Berlin. On top of that she hosts the podcast Business Spice.
Episodes
Numbers from the episode
FAQ
What is MOONGENCY?
MOONGENCY is Janet Pawelczyk's creator management agency in Hamburg. It provides full-service support to 16 creators, handles brand deals, contracts and calendars, and is paid purely on commission. The commission used to be 20 percent; new creators now pay 25 percent. The team has ten people. To the episode →
Who did Janet Pawelczyk sell MOONGENCY to?
To the MYTY Group, a private equity backed group of specialist agencies. Janet met MYTY's head David Rost at Soho House in Berlin in August 2024, and the deal was signed in December 2024. According to the episode, she walks away with a mid seven-figure sum in total, staggered over a two-year earn-out and with part reinvested into MYTY. To the episode →
How profitable was MOONGENCY?
Janet cites EBIT of around 140,000 euros for 2023 and more than 800,000 euros for 2024. The sale was based on the 2024 figures. At that point the company was two and a half years old. To the episode →
How does Janet tell whether a creator has potential?
She first looks at the engagement on posts rather than the follower count: likes, comments and shares relative to reach, with anything above 4 percent counting as very good. Then she checks whether real conversations happen under the posts, whether the creator has a mission, how often they post and whether the vibe fits the team. To the episode →
Which other companies does Janet Pawelczyk hold stakes in?
In Dejan Garz's hair care brand, which is listed at dm and has New Flag on board as an investor, in the bathroom fragrance brand include she co-founded with creator Kiki, and in The Frame reformer Pilates studios in Hamburg and Berlin. In her creator brands, the creator deliberately holds a larger stake than she does. To the episode →
Quotes
„Und ich bin der festen Überzeugung, dass die Dinge, die einem Energie geben, auch die Dinge sind, in denen man gut ist.““And I'm firmly convinced that the things that give you energy are also the things you're good at.”
„Ich gucke nicht auf die Follower, ich gehe auf die Beiträge““I don't look at the followers, I go to the posts.”
„Es war absolut nicht geplant. Es war kompletter Zufall.““It was absolutely not planned. It was pure coincidence.”
„Werbung performt tendenziell immer schlechter als organischer, unwerblicher Content.““Ads tend to perform worse than organic, non-promotional content.”
„Deswegen, das kann ich jedem mitgeben, einmal wirklich diesen Worst Case durchzuspielen.““So that's something I can pass on to everyone: really play through that worst case once.”