Michigan Creator Launching New York Ice Cream Store Backed By Chris Camillo And More

Media influencer and creator Dylan Lemay, who has amassed over 10 million followers around his experiences with deserts, on Tuesday secured $1.5 million in seed funds to launch an immersive and experiential ice cream store in New York.

Benzinga chatted with Lemay and lead investor Chris Camillo regarding the development.

Background: Lemay has been in the ice cream business for 10 years. In May of last year, the creator found and began experimenting with the TikTok platform.

After researching methods to gain virality, Lemay was on the fast track to accelerated growth.

“I was kind of strategic with it from the beginning,” he explained in spending nearly 14-hours on the platform, at times, to figure out methods for growth. “All I could think was ‘Why did this go viral and what made people care so much that it has millions of likes.’”

Lemay Meets Chris: With nearly 15 years of experience investing in early-stage companies, Camillo says the biggest hurdle for startups is acquiring new customers at a reasonable cost.

“A lot of companies fail when it comes to the amount of marketing they have to spend to acquire new customers,” he said in a conversation on building relationships and trust with audiences over a specific topic or product. “My interests are to develop a template, to be able to help other creators see through their visions in developing venture scalable businesses out of their content.”

With Camillo’s help, the creator will better leverage his community to create a business.

“I think content creators have a much better sense of product-market fit than traditional entrepreneurs,” Camillo said. “Dylan is living in this world every day, creating content and he gets to see what people react to.”

Proof Of Concept: It’s likely the first time a creative is playing the lead in business development.

“Traditionally, it’s always been us business-minded entrepreneurs that have an idea, and then we hire creatives to come in behind this idea and give us their opinion to help us develop the brand and experience,” Camillo explained.

Camillo believes the trend will change.

“Dylan is the best person to figure out what the product experience should look like in the store … and how to interact with the customers,” he said.

Going Forward: After raising funds from Camillo, alongside other notable creators like Joanne Molinaro, Milad Mirg, and Anthony Baroud, Lemay will be able to follow through with his vision.

Over the next six months, Lemay is most concerned with creating content around his endeavor and generating interest among followers. Thereafter, he’s planning to focus on creating in- and out-of-store experiences.

“The goal is to connect with people outside of the store,” Lemay said in what challenges face him. “They [should] be able to experience in their own home, outside of my videos,” also.

“Our goal is to create a brand and experience that, over time, will take over more and more of that weight off of the building,” Camillo added.

The store, based on follower feedback, is set to open in the spring of next year.

For more information on Dylan Lemay, visit dylanlemay.co.