Miles Slayton, 23, founder of the dating app Cerca. Jonah Rosenberg for BI Selfie sticks for Series A The rise of the young founder-influencer By 2026-04-27T08:11:01.287Z Myles Slayton wanted to be a startup founder, not an influencer. Then the 23-year-old CEO of the dating app Cerca started posting multiple videos a day on TikTok and Instagram, walking around New York City and sharing advice for young singles. "I saw this beautiful girl outside the 1 train in this leather jacket," Slayton says in one typical video. "So I went up to her," and asked for her email. In the post, which has more than 6 million views, he never mentions Cerca. He only occasionally references his startup in the hundreds of videos he's posted since last July. And yet he now has more than 40,000 followers, gets recognized as the "Cerca guy" on the street, and says his videos have drawn his company scores of new users. "I don't like it. I see it as homework," Slayton tells me of putting himself in front of the camera.…