What ilovecreatives does

ilovecreatives is a bootstrapped, founder-led e-learning and community platform founded in 2014 and headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The company targets 'slashies' — multi-skilled creative professionals seeking to build multiple income streams across disciplines such as copywriting, graphic design, motion design, photography, social media management, digital marketing, Shopify and Squarespace development, video creation, 3D Blender, and fashion design. The platform operates as a 'digital trade school' combining 14+ self-paced online courses, a creative directory and job board for freelancer-to-client matching, a community ads marketplace for jobs/events/internships, and a shop selling Squarespace templates, Figma templates, font books, freelance rate calculators, and branded physical merchandise (apparel, accessories, planners). Marketing is driven by owned channels: Instagram, a weekly newsletter with active subscriber engagement, a podcast ('It's Fun!'), curated Spotify playlists, and a content-marketing resource directory featuring career guides and 'Internet Gems' showcases.

The underlying technology is a Squarespace-hosted website with no proprietary platform architecture, no public API, no SDK, and no mobile app. Payment processing is handled by unnamed secure payment providers, and SMS outreach is routed through SimpleTexting. The company is privately held with no external funding, no parent company, and no disclosed institutional investors. ilovecreatives Studio operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary offering client design services, creating a parallel services revenue stream alongside the education and commerce verticals. Legal entity is ilovecreatives, Inc., incorporated in California.

The business model is direct-to-consumer and self-serve across five revenue streams: (1) online courses with open enrollment and mentorship components; (2) one-time digital product licenses (templates, tools, font books) priced from free to $899; (3) physical merchandise priced $2-$52; (4) community advertising via job/event postings; and (5) freemium freelance productivity tools. GTM is organic, community-first, with a 7-day refund window on courses. Customer concentration is fully distributed across individual creators and SMB freelancers, with no enterprise contracts.

Name

ilovecreatives

Legal name

ilovecreatives, Inc.

Website

https://ilovecreatives.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

ilovecreatives is a bootstrapped Los Angeles-based e-learning platform and creative community founded in 2014, offering 14+ self-paced courses, templates, job board, and merchandise for multi-skilled freelance creatives ('slashies').

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Creative Education

NAICS

All Other Schools and Instruction (61169), Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131), Graphic Design Services (541430)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741), Retail-Hobby, Toy & Game Shops (5945)

akta.pro primary industry

Creator Course Marketplaces (Multi-Instructor Catalogs) (MPACALAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Content Asset Libraries & Template Marketplaces (stock, characters, themes) (EDAFAHAI), Essay, Resume & Portfolio Coaching Platforms (EDAFAMAD)

Keywords

• Online creative courses
• Creative skills training
• Freelance community platform
• Digital design templates
• Creative professional education

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Online Courses: Self-paced online courses for creative skills including graphic design, copywriting, motion design, photography, social media management, digital marketing, Shopify development, Squarespace design, video creation, 3D Blender, and fashion design. Courses include enrollment-based access with mentorship components.
2. Digital Products: Squarespace templates, font books, gradient packs, stock photos, mockups, brand identity guidelines templates, and Figma templates sold as digital downloads. Prices range from free to $899.
3. Physical Merchandise: Branded clothing including boxy jerseys, t-shirts, glass cans, Nalgene bottles, candles, notebooks, and nail wraps sold through the shop.
4. Community Ads: Job listings, event postings, announcements, and internship ads posted by community members and external businesses.
5. Freelance Tools: Job directories and freelance productivity tools including hourly rate calculators and spreadsheets, some free and some paid.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

ilovecreatives operates a self-paced online education platform targeting multi-skilled creative professionals ("slashies"). It sells over a dozen structured creative courses (copywriting, graphic design, Squarespace, social media, digital marketing, motion design, photography, video, Shopify, 3D Blender, fashion, finance) alongside a creative directory, community job board, digital templates, and branded physical merchandise. The platform combines education, community, and commerce for freelance and aspiring creative professionals.

Product overview

ilovecreatives is a comprehensive creative education platform and marketplace serving 'slashies' (multi-hyphenate creatives). The platform operates across four main verticals: (1) Edutainment - a suite of 14 online courses covering creative disciplines including copywriting, graphic design, Squarespace design, social media marketing, digital marketing, motion design, photography, video creation, Shopify development, 3D Blender, fashion design, personal finance, and lifestyle business; (2) Community - featuring Community Ads marketplace for jobs/events and Creative Profiles for freelancer visibility; (3) Shop - offering digital goods (Squarespace templates, Figma templates, job directories, font books, freelance calculators) and physical goods (branded apparel, accessories, planners); and (4) Resources - a directory of career guides, Internet Gems, podcasts, and productivity tools. The platform positions itself at the intersection of education, community, and commerce for digital creatives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Creative Copywriter Course Comprehensive online course teaching students to structure copywriting portfolios, land clients, and fulfill briefs. Targeted at aspiring copywriters.
• Graphic Design Course Online course covering graphic design fundamentals aimed at helping students build portfolios that attract project inquiries and brand work.
• Squarespace Design Course Online course teaching web design and CSS in Squarespace, freelancing workflows (hourly rates, client contracts), and includes 1-on-1 design mentorship from founder Puno.
• Social Design Course Online course teaching how social content is designed in real-world environments, building clear workflows, creating portfolio-ready social work, and designing content under real constraints.
• Social Media Manager Course Online course designed for career changers entering social media management, including hands-on projects intended to lead to freelance opportunities.
• Digital Marketing Course Online digital marketing course covering topics from beginner Google Analytics usage through advanced digital marketing techniques.
• Motion Design Course Online course teaching students to transform static visuals into dynamic, engaging animations using industry-trusted techniques and tools.
• Photography Course Online photography course covering professional photography career building, artistic perspective, cold pitching clients, and winning work, taught by instructor Kanya.
• Video Creator Course Online course developing video creation skills and creative process confidence, enabling students to interview for roles they previously felt unqualified for.
• Shopify Course Online course teaching custom Shopify website development from beginner level through advanced, designed for those learning coding fundamentals.
• 3D Blender Course Online course introducing 3D modeling using Blender, breaking down complex concepts into digestible lessons for beginners.
• Fashion Intern Course with KkCo Online course taught by Kara Jubin of fashion brand KkCo, teaching the three skills needed to secure a job at any fashion company.
• Finance Friends Forever Online personal finance course designed specifically for creative professionals, covering debt elimination, retirement planning, and investing.
• Squarespace Templates Pre-designed Squarespace website templates including Photography Portfolio, Restaurant, Pedro E-Commerce, Designer Portfolio, York, and other specialty templates, priced from $99 to $899.
• Brand Identity Guidelines Figma Template Figma template for creating brand identity guidelines, priced at $175 as a one-time purchase.
• Do The Math Freelance Hourly Rate Calculator Freelance tool for calculating hourly rates, sold at $150 as a one-time purchase.
• Font Books Digital font resources including the Expressive Font Book ($39) and Elegant Serif Font Book for design inspiration and education.
• Bear Witness Boxy Jersey Branded ilovecreatives apparel boxy jersey sold in Spring and Brown colorways, priced at $52.
• ilovecreatives Studio Boxy Jersey Branded clothing item from ilovecreatives Studio sold through the shop.
• Hydration Committee Nalgene Branded Nalgene water bottle with a purple silicone straw, priced at $30.
• ilovecreatives Evergreen Planner Physical productivity planner sold through the ilovecreatives shop at $36.
• Community Ads Paid marketplace posting service connecting creatives with community members and external businesses through job listings, events, announcements, and internship ads.

Named customers8 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• MasterClass: Premium video-based education platform featuring celebrity instructors across creative and lifestyle categories. Comparable in selling high-production-value creative instruction to a paying consumer audience, but with annual subscription pricing and a much larger content library.
• Udemy: Mass-market online course marketplace covering business, tech, design, marketing, and creative categories. Comparable marketplace structure and self-paced delivery, but vastly larger scale, broader (non-creative) categories, and lower price points that pressure the niche creative pricing model.
• LinkedIn Learning: Subscription-based professional development library with strong creative, marketing, and business course coverage. Comparable in teaching professional creative skills (digital marketing, graphic design, video), but bundled into LinkedIn's broader professional ecosystem.

Emerging players

• Gumroad: Creator commerce platform used by individual creators and educators to sell digital products, courses, and templates directly. Comparable on the digital-goods and self-paced course delivery mechanics, with a stronger indie-creator/individual seller positioning.

Direct peers

• Skillshare: Subscription-based online learning marketplace with thousands of creative courses (design, illustration, video, marketing). Directly comparable as a creator-led course platform serving the same multi-skilled creative audience, but at much larger scale and with a subscription model rather than per-course purchases.
• Domestika: Global creator-led course marketplace specializing in creative disciplines (illustration, design, photography, craft). Closely comparable in product model, audience (creative professionals and aspiring creatives), and premium per-course pricing, but with broader international reach and a much larger instructor base.
• CreativeLive: Online education platform focused on creative entrepreneurs and makers (photo, video, design, business). Comparable in targeting self-directed creative professionals, though more skewed toward live/workshop formats versus ilovecreatives' self-paced model.
• The Futur: Education and community platform for creative entrepreneurs teaching design, branding, video, and business skills. Directly comparable audience (creative freelancers and 'slashies'), course-led model, YouTube-driven top of funnel, and bundled digital products.
• Creative Market: Marketplace for digital creative assets (templates, fonts, graphics, photos) sold by independent creators. Directly comparable on the digital-goods vertical that ilovecreatives operates via Squarespace/Figma templates, font books, and stock photo packs.

Others

• Squarespace (Circle/Courses): The underlying platform powering ilovecreatives.com, which also offers its own native Courses and Member Areas product. Comparable as the platform ecosystem ilovecreatives operates within and could potentially be displaced by, if Squarespace pushes deeper into creator-led education.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/ilovecreatives
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ilovecreatives

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ilovecreatives