Jaclyn Johnson

A few years out of college, Johnson worked for IAC. After a year the company gave her a choice between a pay cut and a move from New York to Los Angeles to work for its sister company Citysearch. About four months after arriving on the West Coast, in 2009, she was laid off. She then emailed everyone she knew looking for freelance work and ran the lifestyle blog Some Notes On Napkins.⁠[1][2]

In 2010 Johnson and a business partner co-founded the marketing and events firm No Subject, sharing an office in downtown Los Angeles that cost $400 a month.⁠[1][2]

In 2011 Johnson held the first Create & Cultivate conference, with about 50 attendees. The conferences lost money for the next three years.⁠[1]

In 2016 No Subject was sold to Small Girls PR for an undisclosed amount. That year Johnson put $50,000 from the sale into Create & Cultivate.⁠[1]

In June 2018 Johnson, as founder and CEO of Create & Cultivate, was preparing to publish her book WorkParty. In September 2018 Create & Cultivate had 10 full-time employees and no outside investment, and was set to bring in just under $10 million in revenue that year.⁠[2][1]

In 2021 Johnson sold a majority stake in Create & Cultivate to a private equity firm for $22 million.⁠[3]

After the sale Johnson experienced burnout. Between the end of 2023 and 2024 she and Create & Cultivate CEO Marina Middleton bought back majority ownership of the company.⁠[3][4]

In 2024 Johnson launched the investing platform Cherub, after testing the idea with a small newsletter featuring 40 startups. Operated by Cherub Technologies Inc., Cherub describes itself as “the social network for deals” for founders, angels and creators, and states that it is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and takes no cut of fundraises.⁠[4][5]

In July 2025 Create & Cultivate held a sold-out festival in downtown Los Angeles expected to draw about 2,000 people. It had four stages: a main stage for entrepreneurship, business and finance, the “Creator Compound” for content creation, the “Center Court” for women in sports, and a test kitchen for food and beverage. The program included a Doechii performance and keynotes by Ciara, Ayesha Curry and Brittany Snow, and an AI-powered platform called Connect paired attendees for 15-minute introductions, with 10,000 meetings scheduled before the weekend.⁠[3]

In April 2026 Cherub launched Private Rooms, which lets founders and insiders build curated investing communities. Johnson opened the first room, inviting her community to invest alongside her in four companies: Always Alpha, Benny, The Carry and Isle of Monday.⁠[4]

On April 3, 2026, the YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel Hard Knocks Business released the short video “She SOLD her company for 22 MILLION then bought it back.” Its description introduces her as the founder of Create & Cultivate and Cherub and says the interview covered early challenges, scaling through community and profitable events, and the driving factor behind her success. When the host noted that she had bought the company back for basically nothing, Johnson explained, “I love this company so much and I couldn’t imagine a world without it.”⁠[6]

In the video she said Create & Cultivate is known for running profitable events and was bootstrapped from the start until the sale; within five years it was doing $14 million in revenue and $4 million in EBITDA, and although COVID then hit the events business, the company was still sold. Asked the most money she had made in a single year, she said, “I would say 15 million.” She also recalled a wall catching fire at an event in San Francisco, and named the driving factor of her success: “I am relentless.”⁠[6]

The core mandate of an event is to provide access: to valuable information, resources and a community (video at 01:11).⁠[6]

When hosting an event for a business, be diligent about the budget, and lean on partners, especially for a first event (video at 01:54).⁠[6]

Everyone is trying to get their name out there, so make full use of the partnership economy (video at 01:57).⁠[6]

In a 2024 interview with ForbesForbesForbes is an American business media brand that began with Forbes magazine, founded by B.C. Forbes in 1917. It is known for rankings such as the Forbes 400, the World’s Billionaires list and 30 Under 30, and operates Forbes.com, ForbesLive events and licensed editions in 81 countries. Since 2014 a majority stake has been held by the Hong Kong investment group Integrated Whale Media; a 2021 plan to list on the New York Stock Exchange through a special purpose acquisition company was terminated in 2022. It is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey.Open the full entry, Johnson gave figures showing Create & Cultivate’s revenue falling from $14 million in 2019 to $4.7 million in 2022 and $5 million in 2023. She said that before the pandemic she believed the company was on a $50 million to $75 million trajectory.⁠[3][4]

After the buyback, Johnson and Middleton raised venture funding for the first time: Create & Cultivate raised $2.6 million from venture firms and female angel investors.⁠[4]

Johnson has been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 and as an Adweek Disruptor. She advises startups and makes angel investments in women-owned businesses.⁠[7]

She also set up Receipts VC, a fund and advisory platform built around “proof, not promises.”⁠[4]

Create & Cultivate: Official website: https://www.createcultivate.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[8]

Cherub: Official website: https://www.investwithcherub.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[5]