Entrepreneur Mike Clum Builds $6M Media Company While In His 20s

Written in partnership with Ascend

Photo Credit: Mike Klum

Today, 27-year-old Mike Clum runs a $6 million media company called Clum Group. This parent company has under it Clum Creative, a video production company, and Baldassarre, a popular YouTube channel focused on luxury watches. Achieving a combined annual revenue of $6 million was something that started out with him making videos using a $600 camera.

Dropping out of college while attending Miami University would end up being one of the best decisions Mike would ever make. Armed only with a camera, he began to cold call companies located in his native home of Cleveland and asked them if he could produce videos for them. After proving to them what he was capable of, Mike began his upward trajectory, eventually establishing Clum Creative.

Clum Creative

Founded in 2011, Clum Creative is a B2B creative services company that services marketers, entrepreneurs, and in-house creatives as a partner for producing video and animation content. The company currently has over 700 clients spanning the United States and employs over 25 full-time employees.

Mike was shooting videos and then hiring marketers, not filmmakers, to help him lead the company to success. This different approach enabled him to produce video content seen through a marketer’s lens since they know what grabs someone’s attention. Clum Creative was able to gain an edge over its competitors due to its modern go-market strategy. As a result, it enjoys an impressive 5-year growth rate that exceeds an astonishing 1,000%.

Teddy Baldassarre

The other company under the Clum Group umbrella Mike founded, this time with his partner Teddy Baldassarre, was the Teddy Baldassarre brand. Most people know it as a popular YouTube channel showcasing luxury watches. With around 300K subscribers, Teddy Baldassarre has become a tremendous hit with its high-end audience.

Not just a YouTube channel, Teddy Baldassarre is also a global luxury e-commerce retailer and trusted brand for luxury timepiece enthusiasts. Leveraging the power of social media has helped the brand see phenomenal growth. Today, its social media presence receives engagement from over 2 million watch enthusiasts on a monthly basis. Combining industry-leading distribution technology and networking has helped this brand become one of the fastest-growing online authorized dealers of luxury watches around the world.

Teddy Baldassarre is hosted by a man whose name matches the brand, which was a strategic marketing decision made by the founders after determining what the market is the most receptive to. Calling it Luxury Watches Daily, for example, wasn’t shown to have as much appeal as going with branding that placed a figure at the front of it that the audience could connect with.

With these two brands, Mike Clum has created the beginnings of a modern media empire. Given just how young he still is, there is sure to be a lot more to come from him and Clum Group.

You can learn more about Clum Creative by going to the official website. You can learn more about Clum Group by going here. Head over to the Teddy Baldassarre YouTube channel to see luxury content.