Christopher Erwin
Founder
I grew up 1 hr outside NYC in a Wall Street community. My career plan was always finance.
So in 2005 my career started as a banker. Turns out, I focused on M&A for content distributors. Cable, telcos, and then increasingly OTT for video and music.
I burned out, faced conflict with leadership, and needed a career change.
So in 2010 I went to business school at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. I was an avid social media user, and worked for Pritzker Group. They made early bets in digital video via the Google Original Channels Program.
That connect led me to joining Big Frame as COO in 2012. A year later I hired my old banker boss to sell us to AwesomenessTV.
There I learned what it took to go from scrappy content startup to a billion-dollar digital studio and agency.
But here’s what got me to launch RockWater…
I heard 2 things often while at Awesomeness: (1) you’re collaborative to work with, and don’t bring sharp elbows like the rest of Hollywood (2) you focus on generating profit, and sustainable biz models.
Amazingly, that was rare in the early digital days!
So with those words of encouragement, I founded RockWater Industries. Goal = build a modern advisory shop to help operators and investors build better. Focus on media, agencies, and creator economy.
…and over 75 client projects later, I’m still doing that today!