Our story earlier today detailing cooling demand and a slowdown in sales at celebrity-video shoutout app Cameo holds some warning signs for other creator economy startups and companies buoyed by the pandemic. 

Cameo’s operating expenses soared to nearly $79 million last year, from $30 million in 2020. That contributed to deeper losses: adjusted EBITDA, an earnings metric that typically strips out a lot of expenses—including stock compensation—widened to a nearly $49 million loss in 2021 from just under a $10 million loss the year prior, documents showed. The startup’s sales also fell far short of the company’s own forecasts.