Amber Venz Box founded RewardStyle, now known as LTK, in 2011 with the goal of making enough money to move out of her father’s house. The Dallas-based marketing company helped pioneer the modern creator economy by connecting influencers and bloggers with retail brands’ advertising dollars. Through a 2021 investment from SoftBank, the company was valued at $2 billion. Box’s journey began with an unpaid fashion blog, where she saw the potential of affiliate marketing technology to turn her blog into a profitable full-time job. With her husband Baxter Box’s help, they launched RewardStyle with only $260 in her bank account and additional funding from friends and family.
The couple rented a single-room residential apartment as their first office space and hired a software engineer to help run the site. They used liquidation sales to furnish their office, and Box received a Keurig as a birthday gift to keep their sole engineer happy. Today, LTK has grown to employ over 800 people, and hundreds of thousands of online creators have earned at least $2.7 billion in total payouts from retailers since 2011. The platform has helped 240 influencers, all women, become millionaires, showcasing the company’s mission to make creators as economically successful as possible. Box’s initial desire to move out of her father’s house has transformed into a platform that empowers creators to earn a living doing what they love.
RewardStyle’s success is attributed to Box’s vision of combining her personal shopping business model with affiliate marketing technology. By providing a platform for creators to drive traffic to retailers’ online shops and earn a cut of resulting sales, the company has revolutionized the influencer marketing industry. Box’s entrepreneurial spirit and determination to succeed, even in the face of financial challenges, have propelled LTK to become a leader in the creator economy. The company’s value of $2 billion is a testament to the impact it has made in connecting influencers with brands and providing economic opportunities for online creators.
Despite humble beginnings and financial constraints, Box and her team were able to build RewardStyle into a multi-billion-dollar company with a global reach. The company’s commitment to helping creators monetize their content has enabled hundreds of online influencers to achieve financial success. Box’s personal journey from starting a fashion blog to launching a successful marketing platform showcases the power of entrepreneurship and innovation in transforming industries. RewardStyle’s impact on the creator economy underscores the importance of providing opportunities for individuals to monetize their passion and creativity in a digital age.
Box’s mission to empower creators to achieve economic success has been at the forefront of LTK’s growth and success. The platform’s focus on providing tools and resources for influencers to monetize their content has resulted in significant payouts from retailers and has helped numerous creators become millionaires. Through strategic partnerships and continuous innovation, RewardStyle has solidified its position as a leader in the influencer marketing industry. The company’s dedication to supporting creators and enabling them to earn a living doing what they love reflects Box’s initial goal of moving out of her father’s house and creating a successful business model.
