UpStage

1. Company Overview

UpStage is a LinkedIn-style direct marketplace connecting non-union actors, creators, and performers with producers, brands, and organisations — no agents, no gatekeepers. Talent posts rich profiles and gets discovered; buyers post casting briefs and hire directly. Every interaction — from first contact to signed deal — happens on-platform. The August 2026 product surface includes recurring AI match alerts, pitch triage and contact gating, outcome notifications, inbox controls, and 10-locale localization.

• Headquarters: Singapore (serving global markets across 10 languages)
• Founded: 2026  |  Stage: Seed  |  Platform: upstageplatform.com
• Founder & CEO: Rachel Loh — rachelloh@upstage.network  |  +65 9272 7466

2. Problem — Fragmented, Expensive & Opaque Talent Discovery

Non-union actors, creators, and performers are severely underserved by a talent industry built around agencies, guilds, and middlemen. For every booked role, thousands of independent performers spend hours navigating fragmented casting sites, paying steep commission fees, and waiting weeks for payment splits.

• Talent discovery is fragmented across dozens of platforms with no unified search or AI matching.
• Agency commissions of 15–25% eat into talent earnings and inflate buyer costs.
• The process is opaque — talent rarely know why they were passed over; buyers get no data on fit.
• Asia-Pacific is especially underserved: minimal union infrastructure, rapidly growing creator economy.

3. Solution — Direct Marketplace, AI Matching, Privacy-First

UpStage eliminates the middleman and gives both talent and buyers the tools to work together directly.

• Talent — Create a rich profile (bio, video, languages, location, skills), receive recurring match notifications in the inbox and by email, and get AI-matched with relevant projects.
• Buyers — Post casting briefs with granular privacy controls; triage pitches in All, Open, and Shortlisted views; and reveal contact details only for committable positive pitch states (triaged or shortlisted).
• AI Matching — Semantic embedding-based matching across 10 languages using OpenAI text-embedding-3-small. Active buyers and sellers receive recurring match notifications through both the inbox and email, with score + sub-scores (profile fit, language overlap, category).
• Privacy-First — 3 privacy toggles per brief: hide budget, hide contact info, invite-only. Auto-delete on deal close.
• Deal Lifecycle — LOI Sent → Acknowledged → Meetup Sent → LOA Sent → Signed → Complete. Automated milestone emails at every stage, plus talent notifications when buyers triage pitch outcomes.
• Inbox — Unread badges, All/Unread filtering, and a clear resettable empty state across system notifications and deal-thread messages.

4. Product — 3-Tier Subscriptions, 7-Day Trial, 10 Languages

• 7-day free trial — card collected at signup, not charged until trial ends. Stripe-powered with platform-managed expiry reminders.
• 10 languages — English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Hindi, Brazilian Portuguese. Inbox and Open Briefs are localized in all 10 supported locales.
• PROMOTER70 — 70% off for 6 months; stackable on top of trial.
• Testimonials — 1–5 stars, optional anonymous, triggered on deal completion.
• LOA dual-signature — Buyer auto-signs on send; talent signs or rejects. Legal-ready contracts generated on-platform.

5. Tech Stack

6. AI Agent Layer — Autonomous Platform Operations

UpStage runs a suite of Polsia AI agents that handle platform operations autonomously, reducing headcount needs and accelerating iteration.

Support Agent handles tier-1 user inquiries, reducing founder time on customer support.

7. Traction

• MVP live at upstageplatform.com — full platform operational with real users and real deals in progress.
• 14 features shipped including recurring two-channel AI match notifications for active buyers and sellers, buyer pitch triage, status-gated contact reveal, talent pitch-outcome notifications, inbox unread/filter/empty-state controls, the full deal lifecycle, privacy controls, testimonials, and localization across all 10 supported locales.
• 10 languages live — English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Hindi, Brazilian Portuguese, including localized Inbox and Open Briefs.
• 10–13% Meta CTR on platform ads — significantly above industry average of 1–3%, indicating strong market fit and creative resonance.
• AI matching live — cross-language semantic matching via OpenAI text-embedding-3-small; 4+ seller profiles + 3+ projects matched.
• 7-day free trial running on Stripe; subscription checkout fully functional with PROMOTER70 promo code.

7b. 14 Features Shipped to Production

Each feature below is live on upstageplatform.com — no plan-mode or roadmap slide.

8. Market — Non-Union Talent & Global Entertainment Industry

• Global creator economy valued at $250B+^¹ (Goldman Sachs 2023); Asia-Pacific the fastest-growing region at 26% CAGR.
• 10M+^² non-union actors and performers in Asia-Pacific, LatAm, and emerging European markets — underserved by legacy platforms built for union talent.
• The gig/platform economy is growing at 17% CAGR^³, with talent platforms capturing an increasing share of the $45B global casting market^⁴.
• AI-powered matching in the creative talent space is nascent — UpStage is positioned to lead with multilingual, cross-regional matching.
• Southeast Asia's entertainment industry is undergoing rapid digitalisation, driven by streaming platform demand (Netflix, Disney+, local OTT) for regional content.

9. Business Model — Subscription SaaS + Stackable Add-On

Primary revenue: Monthly subscription SaaS — three tiers (Core $19, Pro $50, LOA Add-on $100/mo). Stackable: buyers can add the LOA tier on top of any plan.

• Sellers (Talent): $19/mo Core subscription — portfolio, DM access, AI match notifications.
• Buyers (Producers/Brands): $19/mo Core + optional $50/mo Pro (AI-curated matching, priority access).
• LOA Add-on: $100/mo — AI-generated Letters of Agreement with dual-signature workflow.
• Future revenue streams: Premium placements, verified talent badges, white-label licensing for agencies, bulk enterprise contracts.

Unit economics: low CAC (Meta ad CTR 10–13%), high LTV (sticky SaaS, deal lifecycle lock-in), zero commission model means both sides keep more.

10. Infrastructure Partners

UpStage is built on a best-in-class partner stack enabling rapid iteration without a large engineering team:

11. The Ask

We are raising a seed round to accelerate growth and capture the emerging markets opportunity.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I'm happy to share more details, walk through the platform live, or schedule a follow-up call at your convenience.