What I found was that there are far more routes into the sport than you might expect. An F1 team needs engineers and mechanics, but it also needs people working in marketing, software, data, logistics, communications, partnerships and media. So if you’ve ever wanted to work in F1 but assumed you needed to design a front wing or drive the car, there are loads of other ways you could find yourself working in the sport.

What Does It Take To Work In Formula 1?

There isn’t one single qualification or career path that gets you through the paddock gates, which is great if your CV doesn’t currently include “aerodynamics” anywhere on it. Some roles genuinely do need highly specialised technical education – so you’re probably not going to become a race engineer without an engineering degree and a love for data, but there are plenty of other roles that rely on business, communications, IT, logistics.

F1 teams employ people both at the track on race weekends and behind the scenes throughout the rest of the year. So if you’re interested in the sport but don’t know your DRS from your ERS, that isn’t exactly the barrier you might assume it to be.

Where Could You Work In Formula 1?

The F1 industry is basically a bunch of smaller departments working together, but it’s important to know what those areas look like before getting into a specific job.

There’s the technical and engineering teams designing and developing the car, and the race and trackside operations staff who keep everything running on a Sunday afternoon. Alongside are the business and commercial teams handling sponsorship deals and revenue, plus the media, marketing and communications staff shaping how the team is seen by everyone watching at home (shoutout to Lando Norris’s PR team working over time after this weekend in Madrid).

Then there’s everything keeping the whole operation moving: the logistics and support functions that get people, cars and equipment from one side of the world to the other in a matter of days.

1. Aerodynamicist

An aerodynamicist spends their working life obsessing over how air moves around, over and under the car, because in F1 even small changes to airflow can have a serious effect on performance. Williams says its aerodynamicists work on areas including wings, floors and diffusers, using wind-tunnel testing, CFD and track data to find improvements to the car.

Their work is all about downforce, drag and the balance of the car; which probably makes aerodynamics one of the most technically demanding areas of F1. It’s a role that usually needs someone with a strong understanding of fluid dynamics, computer modelling and how small aerodynamic changes can affect the car.

2. Race Engineer

The race engineer is the voice you hear crackling over team radio, working directly with the driver throughout a race weekend to interpret data and decide how the car should be set up or adjusted. Formula 1 explains that race engineers focus specifically on their assigned car and driver, using information such as telemetry, GPS data, radio communications and weather conditions to help make decisions during a session.

It’s a job that blends engineering knowledge with the sort of calm communication skills you’d want from someone talking drivers through a strategy change at super high speeds. Get it right and you’re a hero; get it wrong and you’re the reason a driver is swearing on live television.

3. Strategy Engineer

Strategy engineers spend the race weekend buried in data on tyre choices, pit stop windows and every possible scenario that might unfold once lights out happens, then use modelling and analysis to help the team decide what to actually do when those scenarios play out in real time.

Formula 1’s own explanation of the pit wall gives Ferrari as an example, where the Head Of Strategy coordinates a strategy department in Maranello; where teams work on individual analysis for drivers and study the opposition. This can give you an idea of how much work happens away from the circuit before a strategy call ever even reaches the pit wall.

4. Software Engineer

F1 cars and the teams behind them run on software just as much as they run on fuel, so software engineers are increasingly central to how a team operates. Williams lists Software Engineering, Enterprise Systems and Data & AI within its Technology & Innovation division.

Depending on where you land up, you could end up working on vehicle systems, simulation tools, data processing pipelines or the internal technology that keeps the entire operation functioning.

It’s a genuinely solid route into the sport for anyone with a computer science or software background who assumed motorsport wasn’t really their world.

5. Data Analyst

Every race weekend generates crazy amounts of data; someone needs to turn that mountain of numbers into information the team can actually act on. Williams says a single lap can generate data covering everything from tyre pressure and brake temperature to aerodynamic load and driver inputs. That data can then be used to understand car performance, spot potential problems and help engineers make decisions during the race

Data analysts and data scientists might focus on performance, reliability, strategy or any number of other areas, depending on the team’s structure and priorities. It’s a role that highlights just how closely modern F1 is tied to data technology, to the point where a good analyst can have an impact without ever touching the car.

6. Mechanics

Mechanics and car build technicians are responsible for assembling and preparing the car, both at the factory and at the track. Their work can involve everything from fitting components and checking assemblies to making sure the car is ready to run safely between sessions.

F1 teams also need people working on manufacturing, assembly, quality checks, testing and validation before the car even reaches the track. Mechanics working trackside also need to be able to work quickly between sessions when changes and repairs are needed. For someone who prefers practical work to spending all day behind a computer, this can be a more natural route into motorsport.

7. Logistics

F1 has an entire logistics operation happening behind the scenes, and it isn’t handled entirely by the teams themselves. DHL has been Formula 1’s Official Logistics Partner since 2004, working with F1 and the teams to transport everything from cars and engines to tyres, spare parts and broadcast equipment around the world.

That creates career opportunities outside the teams themselves, with specialist logistics companies employing people to plan shipments, coordinate freight and deal with the practicalities of getting thousands of items between races. With the 2026 calendar having 23 races, getting everything where it needs to be (and on time) – really takes a serious amount of planning.

8. Marketing

Marketing and partnerships teams handle sponsorships, campaigns, fan engagement and the really important job of keeping brand relationships happy. Formula 1 describes its commercial department as covering sponsorship, marketing, media rights and hospitality, while Williams includes marketing within its business services team.

This usually means working directly with some of the world’s largest companies and finding ways to turn a sponsorship into something fans actually see and interact with.

9. PR And Communications

PR and communications staff manage media relations, team announcements, interviews and the general flow of information between a team and the outside world. It’s a role that involves working closely with drivers, journalists and the public across social platforms, all while trying to keep everyone roughly on the same page.

Between traditional press work and digital communications, there’s a lot more to this job than issuing a statement whenever a driver says something they probably shouldn’t have on camera.

10. Media

Someone has to produce and deliver F1 content to millions of viewers around the world, and that’s where broadcast and media roles come in. These can cover production, camera work, editing, digital content and the broadcast technology that gets pictures from a circuit onto a screen in your living room.

It’s quite a solid route for anyone drawn to F1 through its storytelling and spectacle rather than its engineering, and there’s a lot of that storytelling to go around these days.

Finding Your Place In F1

Working in F1 doesn’t have to mean designing the car or sitting behind a steering wheel. Teams need people across engineering, technology, business, media, logistics and plenty other areas.

So if you’ve ever looked at an F1 job and thought your degree or experience wouldn’t get you anywhere near the paddock – you should maybe look a little closer at what’s actually out there.

The post Want To Work In F1? 10 Jobs That Could Get You There appeared first on 91̽��.

That little habit of going back shows a lot about how apps are changing – Spotify, Strava and Duolingo were all built around a specific purpose, but they’ve added ways for users to follow friends, share activity, compete, comment and see what other people are doing. The music still plays, the run still gets tracked and the language lesson still gets done, but there are now many more reasons to open the app that have little to do with the main feature itself.

The Core Product Isn’t Always Enough

A useful app doesn’t instantly become part of someone’s daily routine because once you’ve done whatever brought you there, there may be little reason to stick around. You track the run, close the app and get on with your day; unless Strava has managed to convince you that someone else’s 5km deserves your immediate attention.

Adding social features gives users something else to look at and interact with between those moments of actual use. Strava has feeds, comments, Kudos, clubs and challenges, while Duolingo has friends, leaderboards and shared streaks. Spotify has also expanded its social features, with Messages now allowing people to see what friends and family are listening to and invite them into shared Jam sessions, according to Spotify.

The original purpose of the app hasn’t disappeared, but it’s no longer the only thing bringing people back – a friend’s comment, a league position or a new playlist all create another reason to open an app.

Users Start Adding Value

As people begin interacting with one another inside an app, some of what makes the experience engaging starts coming from the users themselves rather than the app. Spotify has been building more of this interaction into its listening experience, and in January 2026 the company said almost 40 million users had sent nearly 340 million messages since Messages launched. Spotify also reported that daily active users of its Jam feature had more than doubled year over year.

Strava is kind of similar, with someone’s run becoming something that friends can react to, comment on or give Kudos to instead of remaining a collection of numbers on a screen. The company describes Kudos as a way for athletes to congratulate one another on activities, achievements and challenges.

Duolingo’s concept is almost the same when it comes to the daily effort of learning a language. Its Friend Streak feature lets users to share a streak with up to five friends, and Duolingo says learners with at least one shared streak are 22% more likely to complete their daily lesson.

These examples all show why the social element can be useful instead of just giving people somewhere to chat. The companies aren’t responsible for creating every interaction or every reason to return because users can provide some of that activity themselves.

Social Connections Give People Something To Come Back To

Once an app has a network of people around it, leaving it can definitely become a little harder. If you’re using a service just because it performs a useful function, moving to another app isn’t exactly difficult. Your running data, playlists or language lessons may be valuable, but the app itself is still replaceable.

Having friends, followers, shared streaks and ongoing conversations creates something that isn’t as easy to leave behind. You’re also leaving behind the people you’ve connected with on the app, which gives you another reason to stick with it rather than just moving to something else.

That doesn’t mean companies are deliberately trying to lock users in, but social connections give people another reason to stay; with Duolingo’s own data supporting this idea.

The App Becomes More Than What You Downloaded It For

Spotify, Strava and Duolingo aren’t trying to become Instagram, and they don’t need endless feeds of unrelated content to keep people interested. Their social features work because they are connected to something users were already there to do.

For the companies behind them, that creates another way to keep people involved with the product without changing its main purpose. A run can become something friends react to, a playlist can become something people discover together and a language lesson can become a shared commitment.

The app still does the job you downloaded it for, but the people using it alongside you can now become part of what keeps you coming back.

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The visa requirements can look very different in each situation because immigration authorities care about what you’ll actually be doing, who you’ll be working for and how long you plan to stay there.

Unfortunately, “I’ll figure it out at the border” isn’t much of an immigration strategy, so it’ll definitely help to know which visa applies to you before booking that flight.

Why Your Work Situation Matters

Immigration systems separate different kinds of work because not every overseas work arrangement has the same legal requirements. Someone employed by a company in their destination country might need permission to work there, while someone visiting for a meeting may fall under the visitor rules instead.

Different Types Of Visa’s For Working Abroad

Some countries also have specific categories for remote workers, temporary jobs, internal company transfers or people just searching for a job. These categories make it possible for governments to set different rules for each type of arrangement.

General Work Visa

If you have accepted a job with an employer in another country and plan to move there to work, you will generally need a visa or work authorisation that allows you to take up that employment; however, the exact requirements depend on both the country and the type of job you’re taking.

The UK’s Skilled Worker visa shows how specific the process can be. GOV.UK says applicants need a confirmed job offer from an approved UK employer, a certificate of sponsorship, an eligible occupation and a minimum salary, while most applicants also need to meet an English language requirement. A job offer might get you through a company’s recruitment process, but immigration authorities still have their own rules you need to meet.

Business Visa

Business travel is different because you can travel overseas for work without actually taking up employment in the country you’re visiting. Client meetings, conferences, negotiations and professional training can all fall under business visitor rules, although these will also still depend on the destination.

For example, UK visitor rules allow visitors to attend meetings and conferences, negotiate contracts and take part in certain work-related activities, while visiting as a Standard Visitor

Remote Work Visa

Remote work visas are for the people who want to live temporarily in another country while continuing to work remotely. Depending on the job, this can include employees working for overseas companies, freelancers and self-employed workers, with countries usually having requirements around income, health insurance and the length of the stay.

Portugal, for example, has a residence visa route for people working remotely for employers or clients outside the country. Portugal’s Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) requires applicants to provide a declaration from the overseas employer or client confirming the employment or service relationship – which again, obviously depends on the arrangement.

Your employer might be happy for you to be working from a beach, but that doesn’t automatically mean the country you’re sitting on that beach in is happy about it too.

Temporary Work Visa

Not every overseas job involves permanently relocating, and some countries have specific routes for people who are going abroad to work for a limited period. These can cover certain seasonal jobs, temporary contracts and project-based assignments, although the exact categories depend on the country.

Someone travelling overseas for a specific project might have a different immigration process from someone accepting a permanent position with a local employer, even if both are being paid to work while they are there.

Intra-Company Transfer Visa

If you already work for an international company and are being sent to another country by that same employer, you may fall under an intra-company transfer route rather than applying to take a completely new job.

The US L-1 classification is used for certain employees being transferred to a US office. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), this can apply to executives, managers and employees with specialised knowledge who are being moved from a foreign office to the US. Specific rules also apply when a foreign company is sending an executive or manager to establish a new US office. You already have the job; the paperwork is basically allowing that job to cross a border with you.

Jobseeker Visa

Some countries allow eligible people to enter specifically to look for employment, rather than requiring them to have a job offer before arriving. Germany’s Opportunity Card is a job-search route that replaces the country’s previous jobseeker visa. It allows eligible non-EU and non-EFTA citizens to enter Germany to look for qualified employment while meeting specific requirements around qualifications, points and financial support.

Finding a job doesn’t exactly mean you can immediately start working; however, Germany’s Make It In Germany website says that the Opportunity Card allows limited part-time employment while someone searches, but once they secure a suitable job, they can apply for the appropriate residence permit for that job.

Before Applying: Get The Right Visa From The Start.

Before applying, be clear about what you will actually be doing once you arrive, who you will be working for, how long you will stay and whether you will be paid while you are there. You should also check whether your employer needs to sponsor you or whether you need another form of work authorisation.

The best place to check is the official immigration authority for your destination, especially since visa categories and requirements can change. Getting the right visa might not be the most exciting part of planning to work abroad, but it’s one less thing to worry about once you’ve landed – then you can focus on the more enjoyable (and important) things, like where you’re going to live, what you’re going to pack and where the nearest coffee shop is.

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Businesses have now started responding to those needs, while governments have also seen the opportunity. Forbes reported in March 2026 that more than 50 countries now offer some form of digital nomad visa, allowing remote workers to live abroad while earning income from employers or clients elsewhere. For governments; these workers can now bring in foreign income and local spending without even having to compete for local jobs.

As this way of working has become more established, it has created something beyond the lifestyle itself: a market of businesses built around people who don’t have a fixed relationship with one country.

Accommodation Built Around Nomads

For someone planning to work from another country for a month or two, neither a hotel nor a conventional rental is necessarily ideal. A hotel can become expensive over a longer stay, while a traditional rental usually involves contracts and commitments that make little sense if the tenant plans to move on in a few months.

This has created quite a few opportunities for businesses offering furnished accommodation, co-living and work-friendly spaces aimed at remote workers. Outsite is an example of these types of accomodation; the company was founded in 2015 specifically to serve location-flexible professionals and now offers furnished spaces with work areas, reliable Wi-Fi and community features. Its stays can range from a few nights to several months, with longer-stay discounts available.

The accommodation itself isn’t really different from what already exists – what has changed is the customer it has been designed around. Someone who wants to work from Barcelona for a month has very different requirements from someone booking a hotel for a weekend or signing a one-year rental agreement.

Navigating Visa And Taxes

Living and working across borders also brings more problems, especially when it comes to figuring out whether you’re actually allowed to work somewhere and where your income should be taxed.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international organisation that works with governments on economic and policy issues, has been looking at these issues as cross-border remote work becomes a more common thing. Its research says that digital nomad visa schemes began appearing in OECD countries in 2020 and have continued to spread.

The OECD has also updated its international tax guidance to address cross-border remote work, including situations where working from another country could create tax consequences for an employer.

All of this creates demand for businesses that can make the process easier. Immigration advisers, tax specialists, relocation companies and global employment providers can now offer services to people who suddenly have to understand rules that a traditional employee working from one country might never encounter.

Banking And Connectivity

The same problem appears in everyday finances; someone might earn money from a company in one country, live in another and spend several months travelling through a third.

Financial services have tried to fix this by making international money management easier. Revolut offers accounts that allow customers to hold and exchange multiple currencies, while its international spending features are designed for people who regularly use their money abroad.

Staying connected also creates a very similar problem, so eSIM services allow travellers to buy mobile data for individual countries or regions without having to find and replace a physical SIM card every time they cross a border.

Selling The Lifestyle

Beyond accommodation and practical services, businesses have also found ways to sell the lifestyle itself. Coworking spaces, networking communities, retreats and organised events can attract people who want to build a social life around location independence instead of just working from a different country for a few weeks

Coworking spaces are a great way to give digital nomads somewhere to work while also providing networking events and communities built around people with similar lifestyles. Retreat companies and digital nomad communities can offer similar experiences, bringing together people who want to work, travel and meet others in the same position.

A Market Built Around A New Type Of Customer

Digital nomads didn’t invent accommodation, banking or mobile data but they have brought a lot of existing needs together into one recognisable customer group, which gives businesses a clearer audience for services that are designed around cross-border living.

As more people work while moving between countries, businesses have found ways to adapt existing products and create new services around that flexibility. The result is a market built around people whose work and daily lives no longer fit into just one country.

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A leaked photo appears online; someone posts a rumoured specification and then a launch date gets announced, suddenly people are counting down to a product they can’t even buy yet. There’s usually always someone online who apparently has a friend of a friend at the company and somehow knows everything except when to stop posting.

The Hype Starts before The Product Arrives

Tech launches barely ever begin with a product suddenly appearing on a shop shelf. Companies usually build up to them through teaser campaigns, social media posts, launch announcements and carefully timed reveals. Apple has turned its product events into regular fixtures in the technology calendar and a company like Nothing has built a lot of its identity around teasing upcoming products and giving people small pieces of information before the full reveal.

Then there are the leaks, which can keep a product in the news long before the company officially announces it. Not every leak is deliberate and plenty of them are rumours that never amount to much.

A leaked image or specification can give people something to discuss and speculate about before there is even an official product announcement. According to Nothing, more than 200,000 people signed up to a waitlist for its first phone before it went on sale, showing how much interest can build before a product is actually available.

Why Anticipation Keeps People Talking

Once people know a product is coming, every new detail gives them another reason to talk about it. A leaked image can lead to speculation about the design; a rumoured specification can spark arguments over whether the new model is actually better and a confirmed launch date gives people something to count down to.

This creates a useful cycle for the company because technology websites can cover the latest developments, while creators make videos and comparisons, social media users share their opinions and potential customers keep seeing the same product appear in different places.

Weeks or even months before a product reaches stores, consumers may already have seen its design, heard about its features and watched other people discuss it online. By the time the product is available to buy, the product can already feel familiar even though they have never used it.

This means that there is plenty time for companies to be able to build anticipation and awareness before the product officially launches. According to research from Nielson, advertising exposure can influence brand recall, giving companies another reason to keep products in front of consumers before they buy.

Waiting Becomes Part Of The Campaign

The build-up can continue even after a product has been officially revealed. Pre-orders, waitlists and limited availability can make buying a new gadget feel less like an ordinary purchase and more like an event. Reviews usually appear before general release as well, which gives people another reason to watch videos and read comparisons while they are still waiting.

By launch day, you can know the camera specifications, processor and battery capacity of a new phone before you’ve decided what you’re having for dinner. But that constant stream of information serves a purpose; each new detail gives people another opportunity to think about the product and decide whether they want it.

The Launch Is Only Part Of The Campaign

None of this means that a promoted product will definitely succeed – a device can generate enormous excitement and still disappoint once people actually get their hands on it.

What the build-up does provide is more time to create awareness and keep a product in the conversation. Instead of having one launch day to capture attention, companies can create a series of moments that lead towards it.

The marketing doesn’t necessarily begin when the product is available to buy. In many cases, it starts weeks or months earlier. The wait is not just the period before the product arrives; It has become part of the product launch itself.

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That wheel does way more than just steering the car – it’s the driver’s main control point for a huge range of systems, with switches, dials and displays allowing them to adjust how the car behaves without taking their attention away from the track. Driving an F1 car involves a lot more multitasking than it might look from the grandstands.

More Than Just Driving

Modern F1 drivers have a huge amount of control over how their cars behave once the lights go out. Some of that comes through buttons, switches and rotary controls built into the wheel itself. Other information comes into the cockpit through the dashboard and team radio. The drivers are able to make changes as the race goes on rather than having to rely on the settings chosen before leaving the garage.

Some adjustments are about getting more performance from the car, while others help the driver deal with changing conditions. They’re also having to keep track of information coming from the car and the team while staying focused on the circuit.

1. The Steering Wheel

An F1 steering wheel is closer to a control panel than the steering wheel you’d find in a normal road car. Rather than being a simple wheel for turning left and right, it’s a compact control panel covered in buttons, switches, rotary dials and paddles.

The paddles behind the wheel handle gear changes, while other controls allow drivers to adjust settings such as brake balance, the differential and aspects of the power unit. The display built into the wheel also gives the driver information they need while racing, including speed, gear and various car and system data. Formula 1 has described the modern steering wheel as a collection of controls for everything from brake bias and the differential to power-unit settings.

It’s less a steering wheel and more a control panel that the driver happens to steer with as well. Considering they have to operate all of those controls while racing, it’s probably one of the most complicated steering wheels you’ll ever see.

2. Brake Balance

Brake balance, also known as brake bias, refers to how braking force is distributed between the front and rear of the car. According to Formula 1’s F1 Glossary, drivers can adjust this balance while driving.

As the car’s fuel load and tyre condition change, the driver may need to alter the balance to keep the car behaving as expected under braking. Too much braking force at the front can make the front tyres lock up, while too much at the rear can make the car less stable under heavy braking.

3. Differential Settings

The differential controls how the two rear wheels behave relative to each other, especially when the car is turning and putting power down. Drivers can adjust the differential from the cockpit using controls on the steering wheel. It’s one of many car settings that can be changed without bringing the car into the pits.

Changing the setting can alter how the car responds through a corner and as the driver gets back on the throttle. A driver looking for more rotation may want a different setting from one trying to keep the rear of the car stable on a corner exit.

It probably sounds like a small adjustment, but being able to change how the car behaves without coming into the pits gives the driver another way to respond when conditions change.

4. Energy Management

The 2026 regulations have made energy management an even bigger part of driving an F1 car. The new power units place a much greater emphasis on electrical power, with the electric motor contributing a significantly larger share of the car’s overall output than before. The FIA has also made adjustments to the 2026 energy-management rules during the season, including changes to how much energy can be recovered and how much electrical power can be deployed.

Drivers now have to manage when electrical energy is recovered and when it is deployed. Using too much at the wrong point in a lap can leave less available later, while saving too much can cost performance when it could have been useful.

5. Team Radio

The cockpit might be physically separated from the rest of the team, but the driver still has to be in constant contact with the pit wall. Team radio connects them with the engineers on the pit wall, who can give the drivers information about strategy, tyres, traffic and changing race conditions.

Drivers also use the radio to report what they’re experiencing in the car. They might flag a problem, describe how the tyres are behaving or give the team information that isn’t visible from the pit wall.

This means an F1 driver has to listen, process the information and respond when necessary without losing concentration on the circuit ahead. As Zhou Guanyu explained to F1, the race engineer acts as the driver’s “voice” while they’re on track, bringing together information about the car, its power unit and race strategy.

6. Tyre Management

Tyres are one of the main things an F1 driver has to manage during a race. Temperature, wear and grip can all change how the car feels, so drivers have to really pay attention to what the tyres are doing and adjust how they drive accordingly.

Teams have access to detailed tyre data and can pass useful information to the driver over the radio. The driver can then change their approach on track, whether that’s managing their pace to protect the tyres or pushing harder when more grip is available. It’s not just a case of putting fresh tyres on and forgetting about them until the next pit stop.

There’s A Lot Going On Behind The Wheel

I don’t think we realise how much of the job happens between the corners – the driver is constantly responding to what the car is doing, making adjustments and taking in information from the team. None of it looks quite as dramatic from the outside because the driver still just looks like they’re sitting there driving.

Then you remember they’re doing all of this while trying to put together a perfect lap. There’s no pause to check what a setting does or think through the next decision. They have to know the car well enough for those reactions to become second nature, which makes the whole thing even more impressive when you consider how quickly everything is happening.

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Now it’s starting to look a little different as more creators are taking things a step further and becoming founders themselves. These aren’t quick merch drops or one-off collaborations – they’re businesses with teams, customers and plenty of work happening behind the Instagram posts.

From Creator To Company Owner

Having an established audience definitely gives businesses a better head start. Instead of launching businesses straight into the internet and hoping someone notices, creators are able to put their companies in front of people who already know who they are. And once you look past the usual beauty brands and merch drops, there are some really cool businesses being built by people who started out by posting online.

1. Emma Chamberlain

Emma Chamberlain built her huge YouTube following through unfiltered vlogs where coffee became a recurring part of her content. Turning that obsession into a business was probably one of the more predictable moves she could have made.

According to Chamberlain Coffee’s website, that personal interest eventually became a standalone beverage company selling coffee, matcha and ready-to-drink drinks. It has since grown into a proper retail operation with distribution beyond Emma’s own social channels.

2. Alix Earle

Alix Earle became one of TikTok’s biggest names thanks to her seriously unfiltered “get ready with me” videos and her knack for making viewers feel like they’re catching up with a friend. Now she’s putting that audience behind her own business; Alix co-founded Reale Actives with dermatologist Dr Kiran Mian, moving into skincare rather than just promoting someone else’s products.

This business just makes so much sense given how much of Earle’s career has been built around recommending products to her followers. With Reale Actives, she’s now gone from telling people what she uses to helping create the product herself.

3. Niko Omilana

Niko Omilana built his following through high-energy YouTube videos, pranks and loads of general chaos. His move into business has taken him into a very different category with Shades. Launched in 2025, the sweets brand sells sunglasses-shaped gummies in three flavours – The Originals, Tropical Blast and Straight Up Strawberry.

Niko has also stated that he wants Shades to become one of the biggest sweets company in the world – and having tried the sweets myself, I can confidently back his vision.

4. Cassey Ho

Cassey Ho started building her online audience more than a decade ago through Blogilates and free Pilates workouts. Over time, that fitness community gave her a pretty good idea of what people actually wanted from their workout gear.

POPFLEX describes itself as a fitness and lifestyle brand, creating activewear, gym bags and fitness accessories designed to solve the kinds of problems Cassey had come across herself. What started with online workouts eventually became a retail business of its own.

5. Magui Corceiro

Magui Corceiro was already a well known Portuguese model, actress and influencer before becoming a co-owner and partner of Portuguese swimwear brand Missus. She has taken an active role in the business and is involved in developing the brand.

According to the company’s site Missus focuses on locally manufactured swimwear made with recycled materials. Magui has gone from being the person modelling clothes to having a say in the brand creating them.

6. Caspar Lee

Caspar Lee spent years building one of the biggest YouTube careers of his generation before moving into a completely different area of business. He co-founded Proper Living, a company that is focused on accommodation for students and young professionals in South Africa.

The company started with student accommodation and has since expanded its portfolio into boutique hotels and more, with Caspar saying it was approaching 1000 rooms. I’d say that’s quite a big change from making YouTube videos in your bedroom, but it shows just how far a creator’s career can go once they start looking beyond content and brand deals.

7. Kat and Deja Clark

Australian TikTok creator Kat Clark has built a huge online following alongside her two daughters Latisha and Déjà, who have also developed their own audience across social media.

Kat went on to launch Kaladé, a personal care brand, while Déjà founded Sunny Dé, which is a lifestyle and swimwear business. Their companies are separate, but both have been able to build on audiences they already had online.

8. Jess Hunt

Jess Hunt was already established as a fashion and beauty creator when she co-founded REFY along with entrepreneur Jenna Meek. The brand initially launched with a brow product before expanding into a much wider makeup range.

That first product gave them a starting point, but REFY has now grown into a full beauty brand stocked by major retailers including Sephora and Selfridges, which has given it a life way past her personal Instagram account.

9. Tamara Francesconi

Tamara Francesconi built her online presence around fashion, lifestyle and travel before taking her experience into the business world with OSAI. The company describes its business as a travel consulting service that creates tailored trips and experiences for its clients.

There’s no lipstick, activewear or coffee involved here – instead, Tamara has turned her knowledge and connections in the travel world into a really useful business.

10. Aimee Smale

Aimee Smale built her online presence alongside her work in fashion before launching Odd Muse. The brand focuses on structured, timeless pieces designed to sit outside the usual fast-fashion cycle.

Social media has played a really important role in its growth, giving Aimee a direct way to put the brand in front of an audience; her story also proves that you don’t need millions of followers before you can start building a business with ambitions of its own.

11. Josh Suggs

Josh Suggs took something he was already doing as a creator and turned it into a business. His street-interview videos became the foundation for StreetTalk, a media and advertising company that creates social campaigns for brands.

The company has taken a format that started as creator content and turned it into something brands can actually use in their own marketing. Instead of making sponsored videos for other companies, Suggs built a company that makes those campaigns itself.

12. Kayley Reed

Kayley Reed moved from creating fashion content to founding Hermana Agency, a talent management business for content creators. Rather than building a company around products, she built one around the people making the content. Hermana says the agency helps creators in areas that include brand partnerships, strategy and the business side of their careers.

Her smaller audience compared with some of the other names on this list shows that you don’t really need celebrity-level reach to build a company around an opportunity.

More Than Just An Audience

These founders are working across some pretty different industries – there’s coffee, property, travel, advertising, talent management, fashion, beauty and fitness. Some built companies around interests their audiences already knew them for, while others took skills and connections from their online careers into completely different areas.

Having an audience can open the door to all sorts of opportunities beyond social media. A camera, a phone and a loyal following can take creators into completely different industries. For these creators, that has meant becoming business owners as well as content creators – and building something that exists past their next sponsored post.

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The deal that was confirmed by Qualcomm this week will focus on AI inference and cover multiple generations of chips. So if Amazon is already investing in its own chips, why is it also working with another chipmaker?

Amazon Wants More Control Over AI Hardware

Amazon’s decision to develop its own chips gives it more say over how the hardware used by AWS is designed. Instead of relying entirely on general-purpose chips, Amazon can build silicon around the workloads its cloud customers are actually running which can help the company manage costs, improve performance and make its data centres more energy efficient.

On the AI side, Amazon’s chips designed for AI workloads are called Trainium, while Graviton is designed for general cloud computing. Trainium is built for AI model training and inference, while Amazon also has Inferencia chips that are aimed specifically at inference. Amazon says its custom silicon is designed to deliver better price performance and energy efficiency for the workloads running on AWS. That gives Amazon more flexibility over how its infrastructure is built and which hardware it uses for different types of work.

Why Is Amazon Working With Qualcomm?

The Qualcomm deal is focused on AI inference which is when a trained AI model is used to produce an answer or prediction. That’s different from the training stage, where the model is built and taught using huge amounts of data.

Reuters says Amazon could buy up to $60 billion worth of Qualcomm’s AI data-centre chips and related products. The two companies are also working on optical connectivity for AI data centres, which is designed to help move huge amounts of data around the infrastructure.

Inference is also becoming a bigger part of the AI infrastructure as more AI tools move from training into everyday use. Every chatbot response, generated image or AI-powered search result needs computing power behind it. As more of these services are used every day, the infrastructure needed to handle those requests becomes a really big part of running AI at scale.

Amazon Doesn’t Need To Build Everything Itself

Building its own chips gives Amazon something it wouldn’t get from buying whatever is available. It can decide what those chips need to do and how they fit into the rest of AWS, which can make a difference when you’re running huge data centres and dealing with the cost of powering them.

There’s also a financial side to this, as designing and producing custom silicon needs significant investment – so there’s no point in Amazon trying to replace every other hardware piece on its own.

But designing a chip is a really big job, and there isn’t much reason for Amazon to recreate every piece of technology it needs. Qualcomm already has experience developing hardware for demanding computing workloads, so Amazon can use its own chips in areas where they give AWS an advantage and bring in outside technology where that makes more sense.

Amazon Wants Control, But Not Total Control

Amazon having its own hardware was never really about making every piece of hardware inside AWS itself – it was about having more say over how that infrastructure works, from the performance of its AI systems to the cost and energy needed to run them.

The partnership with Qualcomm means that there’s now another option instead of replacing what Amazon has already built. Its own chips give it one option, while Qualcomm can now bring another type of hardware into the mix.

Therefore, Amazon can develop its own technology while still working with companies like Qualcomm where their hardware makes sense. How those different chips are used across AWS will depend on the workloads they are built to handle.

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SHEIN and Temu have taken features that are usually associated with games, including rewards, timers, challenges and surprise offers, and built them into what still looks like an ordinary shopping app.

Online Shopping Has Become A Game

Open Temu and you’re not far from something that feels more like a game than a normal shopping app. There are rewards, countdown offers, interactive promotions and games such as Fishland and spin-the-wheel features. Temu even has dedicated pages for some of these games.

SHEIN has also incorporated gamified features and rewards into its shopping experience. This isn’t just a theory about why these apps are so engaging either – a 2025 study from Science Direct has found that people showed higher purchase intention when promotions were presented as games rather than traditional discounts.

A normal online shop gives you a product and asks whether you want to buy it; SHEIN and Temu can make the experience feel more like there is always another reward, discount or challenge waiting if you keep looking. Before you know it, you’re not just checking the products anymore. You’re spinning a wheel, chasing a discount or wondering what you’ll get if you keep going.

Your Shopping Feed Isn’t Random

Underneath the games and promotions, recommendation systems are constantly deciding what products appear in front of you based on how you interact with the app.

Click on something, linger over it or add it to your basket and the feed can respond by showing you similar products or something related; keep scrolling and you’re giving the system more information about what catches your attention.

This is probably why the experience can feel more like your own Pinterest mood board than a normal online store. The feed isn’t a row of products that stays the same every time you visit. Instead, it keeps changing around what you’ve shown an interest in, giving you another reason to see what has appeared since the last time you opened the app.

The Technology Doesn’t Stop At The App

SHEIN’s model is built around small initial production runs, which means a new style can be tested before the company decides to produce more of it. According to SHEIN’S 2024 sustainability report, new styles usually start with around 100 to 200 items. SHEIN then uses customer response to decide which products should be restocked. Its digital supply-chain system is designed to connect those demand signals with suppliers and production.

That means the app isn’t just helping SHEIN sell products. The activity happening inside the app can help inform what gets produced next.

It Not Just About The Products Anymore

SHEIN and Temu haven’t just added games to shopping – they’ve made the whole experience feel less like walking into a shop and more like opening an app when you’re bored.

There’s always something new to see, something discounted or some tiny incentive to keep going. You don’t necessarily open the app because you need something anymore; sometimes you open it because you just want to see what’s there.

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Algorithms aren’t new; they’ve been used to sort and process information long before Instagram or TikTok existed. What’s changed is the scale and the way social platforms now use them to determine which posts we see, who sees them and when.

How Do Social Media Platforms Use Algorithms?

An algorithm is basically a set of instructions used to make a decision. Think of it like a recipe telling you what to do with an egg and some flour. On a social media platform, the decision is a little more complicated because with so much being posted, the system has to work out what should be shown to you and in what order.

Rather than just displaying every post as it’s published, platforms have to sort through a huge amount of content and rank it based on different signals. Feeds, recommendations and search can also rely on different systems, even within the same app, so what appears in one part of the platform won’t necessarily be selected in the same way somewhere else.

How Does It Decide What You See?

Platforms can build up a picture of what you’re interested in through a long list of signals, which includes what you watch, how long you watch it for, what you like, share and comment on, who you follow and what you search for.

Before platforms started recommending posts based on individual behaviour, feeds could use an algorithm to arrange posts in chronological order. The system still had to follow a set of rules to decide what appeared first, even if that rule was just “show the newest post first”.

YouTube says its recommendation system uses signals including watch history, search history, subscriptions, likes and dislikes to help predict what someone might want to watch next. It also says different parts of the platform rely on different signals – the videos you see on the homepage aren’t ranked in exactly the same way as the recommendations you get while watching a video.

None of these signals necessarily tell the platform much on its own, but when they’re combined, they can help predict what you’re likely to engage with next. It’s basically a prediction rather than judgement, with the system using your previous behaviour to make an educated guess about what might interest you now.

That’s also why your feed can look completely different from your friend’s, even if you follow exactly the same accounts. The platform is using your individual behaviour to work out what you’re more likely to find relevant, rather than simply showing everyone the same posts in the same order.

How Does Something Go Viral?

When a post gets a strong response from the people who initially see it, the platform has a reason to show it to a bigger audience. If that next group responds in a similar way, the process can continue – more views and interactions give the system more information about who else might be interested.

That’s how an account with a few hundred followers can suddenly end up in the feeds of millions of people. There isn’t exactly a formula that can suddenly make this happen; going viral depends on how people respond to a post and how the platform reacts to that response.

Why Doesn’t The Algorithm Always Get It Right?

It’s predicting rather than reading minds. Watch one video about sourdough starters and now all of a sudden your entire feed seems to be convinced that you’ve forgotten about every other interest you’ve ever had.

It can also explain that familiar feeling that “the algorithm has changed”, when usually, it actually hasn’t changed. The platform could just be responding to something you watched, searched for or interacted with recently, thus deciding that you’re interested in seeing more of it.

Why Your Feed Feels So Personal

There isn’t one single algorithm deciding what everyone sees. Each platform has its own systems, and those systems are constantly weighing up what you’re watching, liking, searching for and scrolling past.

That’s why your feed can feel so personal and why something you’ve never heard of can suddenly be everywhere. The algorithm isn’t just sitting there deciding whether a post is good or bad; it’s trying to work out whether you’ll care about it. Sometimes it gets that right, but sometimes, after one too many sourdough videos, it definitely doesn’t.

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