Mumbai: In a sharp critique of the prevailing creator management model, NOFILTR.Group has announced a return to what it calls its original promise — incubation over management.
At a time when the creator economy is increasingly structured around brand deals and quarterly revenue targets, the company argues that most so-called “management” firms fall into two clear buckets: consulting and assistance. The first connects creators with brands, negotiates deals, and takes a commission — but carries no long-term accountability. The second handles logistics and coordination — necessary operational support, but not strategic stewardship.
According to NOFILTR.Group, neither model is designed to build enduring careers. Both are structurally incentivised to maximise deal flow rather than long-term value creation.
A central tension, the company says, lies in incentives. Management firms earn more when creators say yes to more deals. But a creator’s most valuable asset — audience trust — is often strengthened by saying no. Turning down misaligned campaigns may protect credibility, but it runs counter to revenue models built on volume.
“We’ve turned down more money on behalf of our creators than most companies in this space have made. A management company doesn’t do that. An incubator does. We just spent nine years agreeing to people calling us the wrong thing,” says Hitarth Dadia, CEO, NOFILTR.Group.
Founded in 2017, NOFILTR.Group set out to build creator careers from the ground up — particularly for individuals with raw creative ability but limited access or resources. Rather than simply representing talent, the company focused on developing formats, constructing audiences, and identifying what made each creator distinctive — often prioritising long-term positioning over short-term monetisation.
Over time, however, industry nomenclature and market pressures saw the company described — and at times operating — as a management firm, with a wider roster and increased brand deal activity.
The firm now says that model created an internal contradiction: incubation instincts operating within management economics. Sustaining a business that frequently says no to revenue opportunities, it argues, is incompatible with a compensation structure that rewards only yes.
As part of its reset, NOFILTR.Group is streamlining operations to focus exclusively on career-building that compounds over time. Success will no longer be measured by quarterly campaign volume but by how much more valuable a creator becomes year after year.
The company maintains that this is not a pivot but a structural realignment with its founding thesis. While the industry may have labelled it management, NOFILTR says it was incubating long before the term became part of creator economy vocabulary.
Separately, Dadia is building a new venture aimed at addressing another structural gap in the creator economy: intellectual property ownership. Despite being one of the largest creative workforces globally — collectively reaching more people daily than traditional film, television, or publishing — most creators do not own the IP they generate. Previous creative industries eventually evolved ownership frameworks; the creator economy, he believes, has yet to do so.
