At a time when creators are evolving into full-stack entrepreneurs, the tools that support them have fallen behind. The creator economy—often thought of as digital-first—is colliding with the rise of real-world communities, where followers want experiences, not just content.
Enter Suvir Wadhwa, the 23-year-old founder of Flite. As a college student at NYU, Wadhwa, along with his co-founder Rahul Surana, found himself managing backend logistics for a half-dozen creators: ticketing, promotions, taxes, and vendor payouts. But the ceiling was clear. "I realized I was essentially acting as the backend for these creators. It wasn't scalable," he said. That bottleneck inspired him to build what he calls the operating system for real-world creator commerce.
From Fragmented Workflows to One Platform
Flite wasn't born from a pitch deck. It was born from necessity. Wadhwa had become the behind-the-scenes engine for creators who knew how to perform but had no infrastructure to monetize their audience offline. The demand was growing, but the operations weren't keeping up.
From that insight came the code. Built initially by Wadhwa and Surana, Flite now powers events across 38 cities. It has processed over $7 million in GMV and supports more than 200,000 users. What started as duct-taped workflows and WhatsApp messages turned into a robust system for offline commerce.
Flite's internal ethos is clear: obsess over user experience, stay fast on execution, and don't build in isolation. "Our product roadmap isn't hypothetical," says co-founder and COO Rahul Surana. "Everything we've built came directly from creator pain points."
Suvir credits the strength of his team for much of the company's progress. "I genuinely love our team," he said. "Gabriel Mayants, for example, is a beast at his job. He brings energy and precision every day."
Flite isn't just a ticketing platform. It's a full-stack solution that abstracts complexity. Payouts, taxes, CRM, pricing, campaign targeting, and communications all happen under one roof. "Creators didn't sign up to become accountants or marketers," Wadhwa explained. "They have the influence, but not the tools. So we made the system do the work."
That's led to high retention: 98% of top creators stay active month over month. "They don't need to jump between tools. Once they're in, it just works," Surana added.
Culture Meets Commerce
Flite begins with IRL events—not digital monetization. The team sees real-world experiences as the foundation of community building. These aren't just ticketed parties or pop-ups—they are designed, intentional experiences led by creators who represent their audiences.
By removing the friction from operations, Flite enables creators to focus on curating community. Fans walk into events hosted by people they relate to. "You can feel the difference when a creator is behind the experience," Wadhwa said.
Flite's monthly GMV jumped from $90,000 in February 2024 to $800,000 in February 2025. It has expanded to 33 U.S. cities and launched internationally in London, Dubai, and India. The platform has been used by names like Sean Kingston, Bryson Tiller, Ed Westwick, G-Eazy, Jay Sean, Twinsick, and Lil Tjay.
In New Haven, CT, a creator collective called Sway—run by Chris, Alex, and TJ—has become one of Flite's most active users. "They're the type of creators we love to support," Wadhwa noted. "Authentic, community-first, and building for something bigger than themselves."
Vedant Mahajan, an international creator and shareholder in Flite, said, "Flite understands what it means to scale community. It's not just tech—it's alignment."
Intelligence at the Core
Flite isn't an aggregator of apps. It's building a new stack—a native, verticalized OS for IRL creators. Unlike horizontal tools that require stitching together third-party software, Flite runs operations end to end. "Creators are running brands now," Wadhwa said. "They need systems that work like business infrastructure but don't feel like work."
The company is embedding intelligence into every layer. From ticketing to taxes, the entire platform is shifting to AI-driven execution. Its next act: intelligent agents personalized to each creator. These AI systems handle vendor management, payouts, ad automation, customer segmentation, and more. Instead of learning tools, creators just give instructions.
"It's a system that runs with you," Wadhwa said. "Raise prices, text top fans, run retargeting—we've compressed that into a sentence."
The agents learn over time, optimizing for what works. "It's not just automation," Surana added. "It's augmentation."
For creators, this is the closest thing to having a COO in their pocket.
Betting on the Future
Flite's approach has drawn backing from top-tier investors. Among them: Jason Calacanis, known for early bets on Uber, Robinhood, and Calm.
On his podcast This Week in Startups, Calacanis noted, "It's kinda like Airbnb... it helps people build this platform." He described Flite's rise as part of a broader shift in how digital-first creators monetize. The way he put it: "It's a fascinating way to monetize the celebrity people get on TikTok."
As Flite refines its AI layer, it plans to introduce modular agents that tailor to each creator's rhythm. Some will focus on financials, automating taxes and payouts. Others will manage campaigns, audience insights, or brand partnerships.
"Every creator is different," Wadhwa said. "Our job is to help them run like a business without feeling like one."
And the market is massive. The experience economy is projected to hit $1.5 trillion by 2025. The creator economy alone will top $480 billion. Flite sits right in between, where community meets commerce.
If the last decade built the creator audience online, this decade may belong to those who can bring them together offline. Flite is betting big on that future, and building the infrastructure to power it.
