The Information’s second Creator Economy Summit is happening this Wednesday. For the past two months, I’ve been preparing for our interviews with creators, startup leaders and executives at major tech companies including Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. (You can still register here.) 

This prep work has come at a pivotal time for the industry. When we held our first summit in late October, venture capital investments in the sector were on fire: by year-end, investors had pumped $5 billion into creator economy startups, according according to data from The Information’s Creator Economy Database. But the pace has started to slow down. During the first quarter, U.S. creator economy startups raised about $1 billion, which slid 30% from the fourth quarter.