RTS: Pokimane's Talent Firm, Co-Founded 2021, Stake Sold

RTS is a talent management and brand consulting firm co-founded in October 2021 by Twitch streamer Imane "Pokimane" Anys, Stuart Saw and Kim Phan, with backing from Endeavor and Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin. Anys served as chief creative officer. She said in an April 2026 video that she has since sold her RTS stake, and the price and buyer were not published.

Updated: November 9, 2026.

What is the short version of the RTS story?

The short version is that RTS began as a creator-founded management firm built to fix what its founders saw as broken practices in gaming and esports, and it has kept operating as Anys moved on. The firm represents a distinct pattern in the creator economy: a top creator launching her own management company rather than signing with an existing agency.

• RTS launched on October 27, 2021, according to its PR Newswire announcement, with Saw as CEO and Phan as COO.
• It co-owns and manages the Evolution Championship Series (Evo) with Sony, per the same announcement.
• It does not take a percentage cut of transactional deals, according to The Daily Dot's interview with its co-founders.
• Anys said in April 2026 that she sold her stake, as reported by The Express Tribune. No sale price or buyer has been published.

Who Founded RTS and Why?

Imane Anys, known as Pokimane, co-founded RTS after growing frustrated with her own management experience, according to Digiday's reporting on the firm's origins. Anys first conceived the idea in November 2020 while restructuring her own management team, and shared her concerns with Stuart Saw, then Endeavor's SVP of esports, according to the same report. Those conversations evolved into the plan for RTS, with Kim Phan, then a senior account director at Endeavor agency 160over90, joining as the third co-founder, per Digiday. Saw described the founding partnership to Investing News as an effort to reimagine the creator economy and esports around the sustainability of the industry, according to Investing News' coverage of the launch.

Anys served as chief creative officer, Saw as CEO, and Phan as COO, according to Variety's October 2021 report on the firm's launch. RTS is founder-funded, with additional backing from Endeavor and Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, per the same report. The firm's advisory board includes Lin, PUBG Corporation Americas head Brian Corrigan, and Endeavor EVP Karen Brodkin, according to Variety. Kim Phan previously served as a product director at Blizzard before joining RTS as COO, according to Dot Esports' report on the launch.

Does Pokimane Still Own Part of RTS?

No. Anys said in an April 1, 2026 video that she had sold her stake in RTS, as The Express Tribune reported. She said it did not feel right to be part of a management company that she was not receiving management from. The sale price, the buyer and the exact date were not published, so this page does not estimate them.

The same report says she had not earned money from her OfflineTV equity because that company had not been sold, and that she stepped away from her snack brand Myna. RTS itself has continued to operate. Its launch announcement lists Saw and Phan as CEO and COO, and nothing reviewed here suggests a change in the firm's leadership, but readers should check RTS's own channels for its current ownership and roster.

Who Is Pokimane, and What Built Her Platform?

Anys began streaming in 2013 after leaving a chemical engineering program at McMaster University, initially using a $250 PC, according to Wikipedia's sourced biography. She is a founding member of OfflineTV, a collaborative content house of streamers and creators, and was named to Forbes' 2021 30 Under 30 list in the Games category, which recognized her as the largest female streamer on Twitch at the time, per the same source. The RTS launch announcement said she had more than 30 million followers across her social networks.

Beyond RTS, Anys co-owns gaming apparel brand Cloak as creative director, according to Sportskeeda's profile of her business ventures. She donated $50,000 in 2020 to endow an esports scholarship at the University of California, Irvine, the program's first endowment since its founding four years earlier, according to ComicBook.com's report on the gift, which funds a $2,500 annual merit-based award starting in 2022.

What Makes RTS Different From a Traditional Talent Agency?

RTS positions itself as a talent management group rather than an agency, and co-founder Stuart Saw said this structure produces a less transactional relationship with creators because the firm does not hard-sell deals for short-term rewards, according to The Daily Dot's interview with Anys and Saw. RTS does not take a percentage cut of transactional deals, and Anys described the firm's agreements with creators as having "a mutually beneficial structure that makes us tied to each other long-term," according to the same interview.

Anys said the goal was to build "infrastructure in place with managers who care about gaming creators' long-term careers," per the Daily Dot interview, addressing what she described as bad actors in the industry who presented creators with unfavorable deal structures.

What Deals and Ventures Has RTS Made?

In March 2021, while still finalizing its structure, RTS acquired the Evolution Championship Series (Evo), the largest annual fighting-game tournament, in a joint venture with Sony Interactive Entertainment, according to Digiday's reporting. The October 2021 launch announcement says RTS owns and manages Evo with Sony. RTS works with brands including Epic Games, Riot Games, PlayStation, and Facebook to guide their entry into gaming and creator partnerships, according to The Daily Dot's report. At launch, RTS was already helping run the Fortnite World Cup and working with Epic Games and Facebook on viewership growth for its streaming platforms, according to Win.gg's coverage of the announcement.

The firm's founding executive team also includes VP of talent management Sue Lee, formerly Pokimane's own account manager at Twitch, and VP of sales and partnerships Jason Scorrano, formerly of PAX and Turner Sports, according to Variety's launch coverage.

How Has RTS Grown Since Launch?

RTS expanded its talent roster from single digits to double digits in the years following its 2021 launch, according to CEO Stuart Saw, cited in CB Insights' company profile. Evo, the fighting-game tournament RTS co-owns with Sony, drew record-breaking attendance in 2024, per the same source. RTS's 2023 edition of Evo saw presenting partner Chipotle recognized as a finalist for the Tempest Awards' Best Non-Endemic Brand Activation and the Esports Awards' Best Esports Commercial Partner of the Year, according to RTS's own LinkedIn company page, which described 2023 as the firm's biggest Evo yet heading into 2024.

RTS made one investment through its own capital, backing Lightforge Games' Series A funding round in February 2022, according to CB Insights' investment tracking. The firm's growth places it alongside a wider trend of creator-owned talent management agencies gaining traction in the industry, a category CB Insights notes also includes firms like Mana Talent, whose founders built exclusive contracts designed explicitly to avoid predatory terms for creator-clients.

How Does RTS Compare to Other Creator-Founded Companies?

RTS belongs to a small but growing category of talent-management firms founded by the creators they were built to serve, a pattern also seen at Oni Studios, which gaming YouTuber SypherPK co-founded with his wife Daniela Ali. Both firms grew out of their founders' direct experience with the gaps in existing creator support systems, rather than from outside operators entering the space. See EPR's 2026 Influencer Marketing Operators Directory for how these creator-founded firms sit alongside institutionally built talent agencies.

What Can Communicators Learn From the RTS Story?

The RTS story offers three practical lessons, drawn by EPR from the public record. Each applies to creators and brands weighing a creator-founded business.

1. A founder title is not a permanent role. Anys co-founded RTS in 2021 and said in 2026 that she had sold her stake, while the firm kept operating under its CEO and COO. Describe founders' current roles with dates.
2. Be open about exits. Anys explained the RTS sale and the end of Myna in her own video, which gave reporters a primary source instead of speculation.
3. Build the business to outlast the face. RTS's value to clients rests on managers, brand relationships and Evo, not on one creator's channel, which is the test of a creator-founded firm.