MOONSHOTS · October 2026
A Y Combinator for optimistic IP.
We fund creators to prove optimistic worlds cheaply with real audiences, back the ones people pay for, and share in every format they reach, while the creator keeps the IP.
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The Future Vision XPRIZE
01 · Submit
2,500
filmmakers made 3-minute trailers of optimistic futures.
02 · Vote
663,656
public votes from 104 countries.
03 · Watch
~23M
combined views across the competition.
04 · Make
$2.5M
grant, plus $100K cash, for the winner to make the film.
The inbound we can’t act on yet
Financiers want to fund more than one film. People want these worlds as games, series and products. Creators want to build worlds together.
One film gets made. Optimist Media backs the rest of the funnel.
Why now
$400M+
Worldwide box office
Started as a YouTube web series. ~$10M budget. A24’s biggest film ever.
$51M
Worldwide box office
Markiplier self-financed (~$4–5M) and self-distributed. Planned for 60 theaters; opened on 4,161.
~$36M
Finale, worldwide
Glitch’s YouTube series, licensed to Netflix. The finale was self-released in theaters.
Who kept the value
Creator kept the IP
Owns 100% of The Amazing Digital Circus.
$11.3M Kickstarter, then an Amazon series. Owned by its cast.
A solo game developer kept the IP. Two films: ~$530M combined.
Hollow Knight: Silksong sold 7M+ copies. A small independent studio.
Studio owns the film
A24 and its producers own the film. The creator’s terms aren’t public.
Copyright assigned to a company that raised $25M. No film yet; creator reportedly unhappy.
Creators keeping their IP is a competitive advantage: a creator-first fund gets the best deal flow.
What history says works
48 shorts → Dexter’s Lab, Powerpuff Girls, Johnny Bravo and more. One hit series paid for the program.
Reader surveys cull weak series within weeks.
Free YouTube pilots. ~80% of show funding comes from merch.
Comics first, then The Walking Dead and Invincible on screen.
Micro-budgets. Talent paid scale plus a share of profits.
A free stream, then Kickstarter, then Amazon.
The cautionary tale
Imagine Impact (Grazer/Howard, 2018) was the explicit “YC for Hollywood”: scripts, no equity, no audience test. It pivoted to software and wound down in 2025. We take equity and test with audiences first.
The model
01 →
Select
Start with the FVXP pool of 2,500 filmmakers, then open to outside applicants.
02 →
Test cheap
Small checks to prove a world across video, games and product.
03 →
Prove paid demand
Pre-orders, Kickstarter or wishlists. Capital follows paying fans.
04 →
Scale the format
Back the winners into a series, game, film or product line.
The moat
An in-house, social-first content team on YouTube, Shorts and TikTok. Angel Studios went public on an owned audience: 2.61M paying Guild members.
Signal gates
Gate 1
Audience
Views, retention and community.
[DECIDE] Gate 1 targetsGate 2
Paid demand
A 21-day plush pre-order (Makeship-style: nothing made unless funded), a Kickstarter, or Steam wishlists.
[DECIDE] Gate 2 targetsWhat buyers saw first
~41M
Hazbin Hotel pilot views when A24 signed (2020).
~470M
Amazing Digital Circus series views at the Netflix deal.
60 → 4,161
Iron Lung theaters, pushed by fan demand.
Thresholds are inferred from these cases; no buyer publishes a rule.
Three test formats
Video
Pilots
Free
YouTube, Shorts and TikTok pilots. Glitch’s pilots ran free on YouTube before Netflix licensed the show.
Games
Prototypes
21.6M
Peak concurrent players for Grow a Garden, a Roblox game built in a few days.
8M
Copies of Clair Obscur, made by a ~30-person core team.
Product
Pre-orders
40%
Sanrio’s operating margin on characters it owns outright.
~80%
Share of Glitch’s show funding that comes from merch.
How the money comes back
Merch, licensing, subscriptions
Media is the marketing; product is the business.
Iron Lung, the TADC finale
Project-level money OK: recoup + premium, then profit share.
Glitch, Critical Role
The default path. It builds company value.
Avg advance ~$318K; devs keep IP in 93%
License to a publisher. Never sell the IP.
Low single-digit % of budget
Licence or co-pro only. Rights revert; we keep games, merch, sequels.
Moonbug sold to Candle for ~$3B (2021)
A roll-up sells at a portfolio multiple.
Media is marketing
In 2024, MrBeast’s Feastables chocolate made $20M+ profit while his media business lost ~$80M.
Terms
EQUITY
The IP goes in before our first check.
REVENUE
Early liquidity back to the fund.
CREDIT
Non-removable.
CONSENT
License, never assign.
NEVER
The creator keeps ownership and creative control.
PROVENANCE
How each project was made, so studios and insurers can clear it.
Precedents
~10% of the creator’s holding company. Checks of $1–3M.
50/50 until recoup, then 85% to the developer. Ends after 7 years. Developer keeps the IP.
100% of revenue until recoup, then 25% until it doubles its money or 2 years pass.
Fund math · scenarios, not commitments
Hit rate
5–12%
What we plan for. What a Cartoon! turned 6 of 48 shorts (~12%) into series.
Structure
30–50 tests
~$25–100K each. ~50% held back for follow-on: pilots, game advances, launch costs.
3x
Returning 3x on a $20M fund means $60M back. At a 10% stake, that’s ~$600M of holding-company value, before fees and before later rounds shrink our stake.
Market
$480B
Creator economy by 2027 (Goldman Sachs, 2023 projection)
$100B+
YouTube paid creators, artists and media companies, four years to Sept 2025
$201.6B
Games, 2025 (Newzoo)
$389.8B
Licensed merchandise retail sales, 2025
$33.6B
Global box office, 2025
Lifetime franchise revenue (est.)
Pokémon ~$147B
Hello Kitty ~$89B
Most of it is merchandise.
Project zero
Optimensch
[DECIDE] Final nameThe format
A human-led character, with AI-made worlds around him and the creators visible on screen.
The premise
Technology should lift people up, not extract from them.
The tone
Warm and funny, not preachy.
Why us
Future Vision XPRIZE
The funnel
Moonshots platform
The audience
Relationships
Capital & production
Team
[DECIDE] Team names and titlesRisks
Imagine Impact pivoted to software and wound down in 2025.
→ We take equity and test with audiences first.
Pop Mart ~50% off its peak; Prime’s UK revenue fell 70% in a year.
→ A portfolio of characters.
Spotter cut ~40% of staff when short-form eroded the YouTube revenue it bought.
→ Test across formats.
US copyright requires a human author; the Supreme Court declined to revisit that in 2026.
→ Documented human authorship on every project.
~3¢ back per $1 in one analysis. Only revenue-participation and P&A raises paid out.
→ Crowd money only as revenue participation, or at fund level.
Jellysmack’s $500M program was wound down and sold off in 2024.
→ Back new IP, not existing channel income.
The ask
Raise
[DECIDE] $__First close
[DECIDE] DateWhat LPs get
[DECIDE] e.g. co-invest rights, advisory seat, first lookWe fund creators to prove optimistic worlds cheaply with real audiences, back the ones people pay for, and share in every format they reach, while the creator keeps the IP.
Optimist Media · Moonshots · Confidential draft, not an offer to sell securities.