Creator onboarding
How to onboard a newly-accepted UGC creator: the first call, the setup, the first ad, how pay works, the weekly cadence, and the 30/60/90 ramp.
The runbook for onboarding a creator who just cleared the accept bar in ugc-ad-production. It is written so either side can run it: a partner manager onboarding a creator, or a creator finding their feet. The goal of week one is a signed creator with a project, a recipe, and a first video in motion. ugc-ad-production is the full roster routine; this page is the first 90 days for one person.
Step 1: The first call
The partner manager runs a short call within a few days of acceptance. Cover four things and nothing else:
- Why they were picked. Name the gap they fill: a product lane, a persona, or a region. It tells them what their lane is from day one.
- How the program earns. The 7% performance fee on ad spend, the smart retainer floor, and the two Collective tracks that stack on top (see pay, below).
- The quota. A monthly video count, set in the order. Predictable volume is the job.
- The next action. Pick a first recipe and get a first video filmed this week.
Confirm the paperwork is moving in parallel: the UGC path is agreed per order under the Creator Terms, and a W-9 or W-8 must be on file before the first payout.
Step 2: What Intempt sets them up with
The kit a creator gets on day one:
| Item | What it is | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| The free plan | The full product, no time limit, to run recipes and record against | Self-serve |
| A seeded demo project | A project with data already in it, so a recipe has something to run on | Product |
| Recipe library access | The library of about 300 recipes across Data, Design, Marketing, Sales, Analytics | Partner manager |
| A technical contact | A named person (product, or the founder) who answers fast | Product |
| The brief and quota | The recipe lane, the facts to get right, and the monthly video count | Partner manager |
What the kit is not, yet: there is no finished branded clip or B-roll library to drop into an ad. The creator films the real workflow themselves. That is the point of the program, not a gap to apologize for.
Step 3: Pick a first recipe and turn it into an ad
- Pick a recipe in the assigned lane. Start where the creator is strongest. If they came in on the Sales lane, a Sales recipe is the first ad. A recipe they understand films faster and lands truer.
- Run it for real. Run the recipe on the seeded demo project (or the creator's own) and get a real result. The ad shows the actual workflow, so the workflow has to actually run.
- Shape the hook from the brief. The brief names the persona and the problem. Open on the problem, show the recipe solving it, end on the result the audience can go get themselves.
- Film in their own voice. Give the frame and the facts, never a script. The nomenclature is Intempt and Blu Agent, never GrowthOS or Intempt AI, and nothing in the post contains an em-dash.
- Disclose the paid relationship. The creator must show an FTC disclosure on the content:
#ador#sponsored, or an equivalent spoken disclosure. If the post also carries the creator's?viareferral link, add the referral disclosure too (see creator-operations, Step 4).
Step 4: How pay works
Three earning paths can run at once, and taking the UGC fee never reduces the other two. The onboarding focus is the first one; the other two are self-serve in the creator's Intempt profile.
| Path | Paid for | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| UGC ads fee | A share of the ad spend behind the videos (Meta attribution) | 7%, net 30 |
| Share track | Self-serve signups the video's ?via link drives | 30% for 12 months |
| Build track | Credits a published recipe burns in other orgs | 20% of the credits |
The performance fee. Intempt runs paid ads behind the creator's videos. The creator earns 7% of that ad spend (set per order against CAC). It accrues while Intempt spends, it is uncapped, and it stops when the ads stop. A video that never gets spend earns nothing from this path.
The smart retainer floor. The order can set a monthly minimum tied to the quota. It is a floor, not a fee. Hit the quota, and if the 7% fee came in below the floor, Intempt tops it up to the floor. If the fee met or beat the floor, there is no top-up and the creator keeps the full fee. The floor is time-limited by the order and exists to de-risk the first month or two, while spend is still ramping.
Worked example (7% fee, a $1,000 monthly floor, a 25-video quota):
| Month | Ad spend behind the videos | 7% fee | Top-up to floor | Creator earns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | $6,000 | $420 | $580 | $1,000 |
| Month 2 | $12,000 | $840 | $160 | $1,000 |
| Month 3 | $30,000 | $2,100 | $0 (fee beat the floor) | $2,100 |
By month three the fee has outgrown the floor, so the floor falls away and the creator is paid straight performance. The floor did its job: it carried them through the ramp.
Payment runs through Intempt payments, net 30 on a monthly cycle. The full money-flow mechanics are in creator-operations, Step 6.
Step 5: The tools
A creator needs almost nothing to start:
- A phone that shoots clean video. Most UGC is shot on one.
- An editor: CapCut or Premiere.
- The free plan and the seeded demo project to record the real workflow against.
No studio, no crew. The real workflow on screen is what performs, not production polish.
Step 6: The weekly call and the coach
Once the first video is in, the creator joins the weekly roster call with the performance marketer. On it, they see the ad account, the leaderboard, what is winning, and what gets spend next. A creator coach stays in the DMs between calls to keep them producing and to catch a rut early. Full cadence is in ugc-ad-production, Step 3.
The one habit to build from the start: a new hook is not a new concept. A new recipe, a new persona, or a new problem is. Volume comes from distinct recipe-ads, not from re-cutting the leaderboard winner.
Step 7: The 30/60/90 ramp
A simple bar for the first three months. It is about producing and fitting, not about being an instant winner.
| By day | The bar |
|---|---|
| 30 | First video filmed and live, FTC disclosure correct, in the weekly call, and comfortable turning a recipe into an ad |
| 60 | Hitting the monthly quota, cleared or beaten the retainer floor, and filming distinct concepts rather than copying the winner |
| 90 | Still submitting (retention is the metric), a core-roster creator, and eligible for the SF retreat if performance earns it |
The 90-day mark is the real signal. Retention, a creator still submitting at 90 days, is how this program is measured. Top performers at that point are the ones who fly to the SF office for the retreat.
What gets someone cut
- Fit. The audience or the content is not the ICP after all, and coaching does not move it. Decline the next order without drama.
- Not submitting. A creator who stops filming is the one thing the program cannot carry. Quota missed, no fix after a coach steps in, means the order is not renewed.
The order runs per term and either side can pass. A creator who underperforms on fit is declined cleanly, not strung along.
Related: ugc-ad-production · creator-operations · paid-and-ugc-ads · creator-in-residence · who-we-build-for.
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