ImaginaryFriend Takes 6% Equity in Einhorn Steak Brand, Skips Fees Entirely

ImaginaryFriend Studios, a New York creative agency, accepted a 6% equity stake in David 'Papi' Einhorn's direct-to-consumer steak brand in lieu of traditional hourly fees. No retainer. No project billing. The agency owns a piece of the business and gets paid when the brand scales or exits.

Einhorn's venture sells premium cuts through an online storefront, targeting the same high-intent customer base that drove Omaha Steaks to $500 million in annual revenue and made ButcherBox a $600 million private-equity acquisition in 2021. ImaginaryFriend is handling brand positioning, creative direction, and performance marketing buildout. The agency declined to disclose projected revenue milestones or valuation assumptions behind the 6% figure, but the deal structure implies an expected exit or liquidity event within 36 to 60 months—standard DTC brand planning horizons when private equity enters the category.

This matters because agency-as-investor deals are moving from edge cases to deal-flow options for single-family offices evaluating brand partnerships. When an agency takes equity instead of fees, it signals two things: the agency believes the brand's unit economics and customer acquisition costs support a multiple-expansion story, and the brand's current capital position either cannot or will not support traditional agency retainers in the $30,000 to $80,000 monthly range that creative shops typically command for integrated DTC work. For allocators, the relevant question is whether the agency's operational contribution—creative, media buying, conversion optimization—justifies dilution at early stages when equity is expensive and margins are thin.

The precedent worth watching is 2020's Gin Lane rebranding to Pattern, which formalized equity-for-services as its default model and now holds stakes in 14 consumer brands including Hims, Prose, and Equal Parts. Pattern's portfolio approach spreads risk across multiple bets, a structure that works when you can deploy capital and creative resources at scale. ImaginaryFriend's single-brand equity commitment is a different risk profile entirely. If Einhorn's steak brand hits $20 million in revenue with 15% EBITDA margins and exits at a 3x revenue multiple, that 6% stake could return $3.6 million. If the brand stalls below $10 million in sales, the equity is worth less than two years of retainer fees.

Family offices and development groups should track three near-term indicators. First, whether ImaginaryFriend announces additional equity-based partnerships in the next six months, which would suggest a deliberate portfolio pivot rather than a one-off experiment. Second, how Einhorn's brand performs in its first 12 months of scaled paid acquisition—DTC meat is a category with high repeat rates but expensive cold acquisition, and the unit economics will determine whether the 6% was priced correctly. Third, whether other mid-tier creative agencies begin offering hybrid fee-plus-equity models to early-stage consumer brands, which would indicate broader movement away from pure service billings in categories where brand-building and performance marketing are now inseparable.

The shift is already visible in how allocation committees evaluate brand partnerships. When an agency holds equity, it has direct exposure to the same revenue and margin pressures as the operator, which changes incentive alignment in ways that retainer relationships do not. That clarity has value, especially when the alternative is paying $500,000 annually to an agency that can walk away if performance disappoints. The next signal to watch is whether Einhorn's DTC venture opens a funding round in Q3 or Q4 2025—and whether ImaginaryFriend participates or dilutes.