Mike Lee and Darren Yan launch ISO with 90 creator clients

By Daniel Okafor

What has ISO launched?

ISO launched with about 90 creator clients and now has about 24 employees in Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta, according to Variety. The Los Angeles-based management firm represents livestreamers, gamers, artists, VTubers (livestreamers who use animated avatars) and lifestyle creators.

According to Variety, Mike Lee and Darren Yan built ISO, short for In Search Of, quietly for about a year with financial backing from Influence Media Partners.

Lee serves as co-founder and CEO after leading gaming and livestreaming for UTA’s creators division. Yan serves as co-founder and head of music after serving as chief talent officer at esports lifestyle firm FaZe Clan. Matt Alsberg, an alum of Sony’s PlayStation, Twitch and UTA, joined as ISO’s head of talent.

Variety reported that ISO’s roster includes more than 90 livestreamers, gamers, artists, VTubers and lifestyle creators working in beauty, food and other high-engagement fields. The roughly 90-client launch roster included:

• PlaqueBoyMax, Jasontheween, Ironmouse, Lacy and Vanillamace.
• Kyedae, jessechrisss, Angelo Marasigan, RDCWorld and others.

Variety also reported that ISO and its clients already work with Electronic Arts, Discord, Underdog and Icenova. The ice-cream brand is known for out-there shapes and flavors, including fried chicken.

Why has representation changed?

The founders argue that talent representation must work differently for digital-native talent than it did for the past century in traditional film, TV and music. Lee described the goal as building something dedicated to the digital creator. His longer account was blunt:

“If we really believe the next household name is going to come from the internet, then why aren’t all of our services optimized toward that internet star? We kept thinking, what if we were to actually blow everything up and we didn’t have an office and we weren’t spending millions of dollars on rent and theaters and showcases?”

“Because our clients aren’t asking us for that,” Lee says. “There are no gatekeepers when it comes to digital media. It’s not four networks. It’s not seven channels. The gatekeepers are just the algorithms that feed your timelines. That’s what’s so incredible about working in this space.”

Yan argued that the founders’ proximity to youth culture across Asia and China gives ISO an advantage in anticipating Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumption habits, a capability he called crucial to effective representation.

“For this generation, how they think and how they behave are not things are conditioned like a TV film actor or a sports athlete or even a music artist where they had to follow this specific pathway to success,” Yan tells Variety.

Yan said clients want partners willing to ride with them and move with their “crazy ideas.” Some can proceed without a label or studio because they have money and ingenuity, he said, and expect to build and win even without ISO’s support.

What experience and money sit behind ISO?

Lee and Yan previously worked together at esports talent and marketing agencies Press X and Everyday Influencers, which UTA acquired in 2018. Both founders then joined UTA. Their experience spans gaming, sponsorship, branding, artist development and media distribution partnerships across Asia, including China.

Yan left UTA several years later and consulted for Live Nation, where he recognized an opportunity to take popular livestreamers on global tours, including in China. The founders’ long relationships with local distribution partners should help clients enter the world’s most populous country.

Variety described New York-based Influence Media Partners as a company that develops and acquires premium music and entertainment intellectual property, or IP. Influence also forms strategic partnerships with funds and accounts managed by private-equity giant BlackRock.

Variety treated that connection as a signal of institutional appetite for digital-native talent as the creator economy becomes a mainstream marketing and branding vehicle for major brands.

Lylette Pizarro, founder and co-managing partner of Influence Media Partners, said Influence invests in partners bringing innovative approaches to culture and entertainment. She said ISO was reimagining representation for an economy that has transformed audience-building, culture and revenue, and that its playbook matched Influence’s values. The firm would support ISO’s growth.

How does ISO operate?

Yan defined three main pillars: talent led by Lee’s team, a brand business, and a music practice offering artist-management consulting. He expects digital-native talent and advertising to close the gap for marketers and demonstrate more value.

He also said ISO has worked in the Twitch space for 15 years and spent its founders’ careers fighting for experimental media budgets.

The founders call their employee policy “radically transparent.” ISO awards bonuses for success throughout the year rather than once annually, when staff receive little information about the split. Bonus money comes from the firm’s share of profits, not the primary representative’s pool, and a formula recognizes staff contributions to collaboration and brainstorming.

Lee framed the policy as a means of retaining both roster talent and employees. He noted that a new management company breaks away from an established agency roughly every six months, often to own a profitable book of business. ISO wants employees to trust a group, gain stability and earn multiples of what they could make elsewhere.

The founders’ next test is practical. If creator spending continues moving into mainstream marketing, ISO must show whether its talent, brand and music operations can convert creator attention into durable commercial work, particularly across Asia and China.