Engineering a Repeatable Growth Engine on the Supply-Side

Metalabel believed people (not ads) would drive their growth, but needed proof it was working.

Metalabel is building a new kind of creative platform designed for collaboration between artists.

From day one, they believed in people-powered growth. This belief was rooted in the company’s DNA. Founded by the former CEO of Kickstarter and led by the former Head of Product at Patreon, Metalabel brought deep experience building platforms where creative communities thrive.

So instead of chasing growth through ads or algorithms, they made a bold bet on curators: real humans with taste, trust, and creative reach, tasked with finding and onboarding great artists.

These curators weren’t just picking artists, they were shaping the platform’s supply. They brought in creators, set quality standards, and represented the community Metalabel wanted to build.

But belief in the curator program alone wasn’t enough.

They needed clarity. 

• Who was actually driving growth? 
• What kinds of artists were curators surfacing? 
• And was it working?

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Fragmented systems and fuzzy attribution made it hard to see what was actually driving impact.

The curator program had early traction, but little visibility.

• Curator outreach was logged in Notion.
  
  
• Platform behavior was tracked in the Backend Database and PostHog.
  
  
• Revenue events lived in Stripe.

But none of it talked to each other. That meant leadership was flying blind regarding decisions about who to support, how to scale, and where to invest.

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Metalabel partnered with Data Culture to build out an attribution structure, visibility, and feedback loops

Working with Data Culture, Metalabel built lightweight data plumbing to tie everything together. The goal was to build just enough data infrastructure to answer the big questions, without overbuilding or slowing things down.

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How Data Culture Made It Work‍

We focused on what would create the most leverage with the least friction: connecting existing tools into a system that could drive smarter decisions, align incentives, and enable iteration.

• Audited and mapped curator actions, artist onboarding, and revenue touchpoints across Notion, the Product Database, PostHog, and Stripe.
  
  
• Designed a lightweight attribution model to connect curators with downstream artist performance.
  
  
• Built a custom pipeline to stitch these systems and power near real-time dashboards.
  
  
• Enabled feedback loops through visible reporting so curators could now see the impact of their work.
  
  
• Established a measurement framework to track results and guide future investments.

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From Gut Instinct to Growth Flywheel

Once attribution was in place, Metalabel’s decisions got sharper, and so did curator engagement. With impact data in hand, Metalabel shifted from flat fees to rev-share, doubled down on high-performing curators, and powered a strong feedback loop among contributors.

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With clearer attribution in place, Metalabel:

• Refined their curator strategy, doubling down on those driving real value.
  
  
• Shifted compensation, moving from flat fees to a rev-share model tied to impact.
  
  
• Grew with intent, not just momentum.

Curators responded too. With visibility into their results, they were more motivated and invested in the success of the artists they brought on board. 

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Starting small with clear intent created a data foundation they could scale.

This wasn’t just about building dashboards. It was about building a mindset. By investing in lightweight infrastructure early, Metalabel created a strategic asset that could grow with them.

Metalabel started small, but smart. By focusing on just what mattered, they avoided overbuilding while gaining the visibility they needed to scale.

• Data became a tool for validating early bets.
  
  
• Attribution helped turn curation into a repeatable, ROI-backed strategy.
  
  
• Curation moved from side project to strategic growth lever.
  

“This partnership helped us build a true data culture, one that lets us be bold with our ideas and pivot when something isn’t working.”
- Thaniya Keereepart, Partner & Head of Product, Metalabel

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What Other Teams Can Learn

Metalabel’s experience offers a valuable playbook for teams experimenting with new growth levers, especially those built on community, creativity, or human-driven systems.

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• Early traction is great. But visibility turns it into strategy.
  You can’t scale what you can’t see. Attribution helped Metalabel move from gut instinct to intentional growth.
  
  
• Attribution doesn’t need to be complex to be useful.
  A lightweight model that connects inputs (like curator outreach) to outcomes (like artist revenue) can unlock Significant clarity without overinvesting.
  
  
• The right signals give you confidence.
  With better data, Metalabel doubled down on what was working, rewarding high-impact curators and evolving their growth model.
  
  
• Data aligns the team around what matters.
  When everyone, from leadership to curators, can see what’s working, they become more aligned, more motivated, and more strategic.
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You don’t need a massive data stack. You need a clear hypothesis, a lightweight way to measure it, and the discipline to act on what you learn.

Start focused. Measure what matters. Then use the data to scale the right things, faster.

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See the full story

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