A former professional basketball player from Detroit is taking his talents from the court to the tech world with one goal in mind: helping creators get paid.

Donnavan Kirk is the CEO and president of Creator Connect, a new platform designed to help artists and creatives manage, grow and monetize their work, whether it's physical products or digital content.

"It's a marketplace for artists and creators all over the globe," Kirk said.

Before launching the platform, Kirk spent nearly two decades pursuing basketball. He played professionally in Lithuania, Cyprus, Greece and Japan, and even launched a youth basketball camp. After retiring from the game, he felt a new calling.

"I felt this tug, like, go ahead, get into tech, see where it takes you," he said. "I didn't know how to code a lick."

Despite not knowing how to code, Kirk taught himself the ropes and began building Creator Connect, a platform he describes as part Etsy, part Fiverr and part Uber. The platform allows users to browse creators or content they like, submit custom project requests, propose a budget and deadline, and begin the process of closing a deal, all in one place.

"What we're basically doing is taking away all that gray area, and saying, 'Hey, look, here's a creator. You may not be able to reach them through a DM, but now you can send them an idea with a budget attached,'" he said.

At its core, Kirk says the platform is about empowerment.

"I want creators to have freedom, that's my biggest thing. And I want them to get paid rates that make sense," he said.

Although Creator Connect is global in scope, Kirk says the energy behind it is purely Detroit.

"Now it's game time, and we're here, and we're doing this thing," Kirk said.

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• Small Business
• Detroit