Good morning. John Cena officially retired from the WWE this weekend after becoming a 17-time Wrestlemania champion. Hundreds of “Attitude Adjustments” and “you can’t see mes” later, thank you for your 26 years of service, John. 🫡

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

Yes, you read that correctly, and it’s exactly what you think it is. This Friday, two competitors from UCLA and USC will face off in a biometric smackdown, with the main event being an actual sperm race between the competitors' samples. And creators—who can maximize the event’s element of surprise—are key to its success.

First: Why is this happening? 17-year-old Eric Zhu founded Sperm Racing to destigmatize the male fertility conversation for younger men. “We’re trying to change the paradigm from this being a very taboo concept to a less taboo concept, and that could open up to a lot of new interesting projects,” Zhu told us. He’s raised over $1 million from investors, and Friday’s competition will be Sperm Racing’s first major event.

Here’s how Sperm Racing partnered with creators to go viral.

Although the race has been covered by TMZ, Vice, and KTLA, the team used its $2,000 marketing budget to reach creators’ audiences. “Getting in Forbes is nice, but it doesn’t really mean anything if it doesn’t go viral,” Zhu said. 

Instead, they have relied on meme accounts, creators, and artists—like filmmaker Wesley Wang, who made the event trailer—to push the message to a Gen Z audience. 

And it worked. Within 24 hours of Sperm Racing announcing the event, it nearly sold out. “We only launched 1,000 tickets initially, so we were surprised at how many people were buying tickets to see a sperm race,” Zhu said. The race will also be livestreamed on Sperm Racing’s website.

Zoom out: “If you abstract on every single sport out there [...] it’s actually not that interesting,” Zhu said. “What makes the sport interesting is all the different angles, the storyline that goes along with it.” Zhu is taking stylistic inspiration from UFC and leveraging memes and creator-first content to attract viral attention to a first-of-its-kind niche. His ultimate goal, though, is to push a men’s health message along with those likes and shares.

P.S. There’s no way we’re missing this. Stay tuned for the Publish team’s POV from the race next week.

Entrepreneurship creator Steven Bartlett launched The Diary of a CEO podcast in 2017. By 2024, the franchise had tallied more than 1 billion streams and generated $20 million in annual revenue. And today? Bartlett shared that he’s turned down a nine-figure podcast deal in favor of the independent creator path.

Bartlett’s POV: 

So he’s betting on himself—and his team. Bartlett said Flight Story, the media company behind The Diary Of A CEO, now employs nearly 100 people full-time and has “every capability in-house,” including strategy, data, production, partnerships, newsletters, and more.

“We looked at what [larger media companies pursuing a deal] did in terms of testing, experimentation, innovation, and I felt like I was looking at the past,” Bartlett told Forbes. “When I see what happens here, I'm looking at the future.”

Gaming creator Jaren “SMii7Y” Smith, known for his Mario Party and Grand Theft Auto gameplay, recently invested and became part-owner in energy drink brand Gamer Supps. He’ll work with the brand to launch new projects, like its first canned beverage product.

Context: Gamer Supps partners with VTubers, podcasters, and creators like Shylily and Meat Canyon on custom flavors, product drops, and merch. The powdered energy drink currently ranks third on CreatorIQ’s top brands by earned media value, following Red Bull and Coca-Cola. 

And? Smith’s previous collabs with Gamer Supps have driven eight figures in revenue, according to the brand. 

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