Scopio

What if every photo on your phone could be your next paycheck?

In this episode of Culture Uncovered, Jena Dunay sits down with Christina Hawatmeh, Founder of Scopio, to explore how this fast-growing platform is helping creatives around the world sell their photos, illustrations, and digital art while building a company culture that thrives on ownership, expertise, and high-impact collaboration.

Christina shares how she turned a simple idea of helping people monetize their photos into a platform with 45,000 creators from over 190 countries, serving clients like Adobe, Microsoft, and Disney. She also dives into what it takes to scale a small, scrappy team, the importance of defining “swim lanes” for ownership, and why celebrating wins along the journey is crucial to remote culture.

What you’ll learn:

• How Scopio empowers creators to earn real income from their art
• The challenges and wins of scaling a global creative platform
• What it takes to thrive on a small, high-performing team
• Leadership lessons for founders navigating growth and culture

Scopio Highlights:

• Founded: 2016
• Headquarters: Remote-first
• Team Size: 20 employees
• Industry: Creative Tech / Marketplace
• Culture: Ownership-driven, high-performing, collaborative, celebration-focused

Unique Perks & Opportunities:

• Work directly with global creative talent
• Shape processes and impact for a high-growth company
• Opportunity to specialize and hone your craft in your lane
• Direct access to the founder for mentorship, growth, and learning

To learn more about Scopio:

Find top tier artists 

LinkedIn Page

Christina's LinkedIn Profile (They’re hiring!)

Transcript

Jena Dunay: Hello friends and welcome back to another episode of Culture Uncovered where we go behind the scenes of the coolest companies to work for. And I have the pleasure today to be speaking with Christina, the founder of Scopio. And we're going to learn a little bit about what they do, but not only what they do, what it's like to work for a growing organization like theirs. So Christina, thank you so much for joining us.​

Christina Hawatmeh: Thanks for having me.​

Jena Dunay: Awesome, well why don't you just get us started and tell us a little bit about what Scopio is and what Scopio does.​

Christina Hawatmeh: So on average, we have about 15,000 pictures sitting on our phones. 

Jena Dunay: Yeah, I probably have more than that.

Christina Hawatmeh: A portion of those, you should check, check, let me know. I have, I think 70,000 on my phone. And a portion of those are valuable. I mean, not to even mention people that have their cameras that go with them.​

Christina Hawatmeh: I thought, why are we putting all of our values sitting on social media? How can I move that into a place where people can start distributing it and make money off of it and feel like owners? So we've become like the most creative generation in history, but we don't participate in a material way in terms of the sharing of content. So I created Scopio where in less than three minutes, anyone around the world can upload and sell their photos, their digital art, anything of their creations and then businesses like Adobe and Microsoft and Google look for that and buy it from people in today 190 countries of people that choose Scopio to start selling and they can even get gigs after that from Disney and huge companies looking for that perfect illustrator in Colombia or Nigeria that they want to work for. So we provide talent all around the world and more than that I built a company that uses money in a way that distributes it as if it's like not like a charity component, but as we grow, the wealth of all of these creatives grow around the world and it has created tremendous values in people's communities. They've sent their kids to school. They've gotten married with this money. They take care of their parents with this money. And so it's really exciting to scale as now we have millions and millions of images from people.​

Jena Dunay: Wow. Okay. So when did you start this company and what was really the impetus for like, this is an idea. And then how did you take idea to actually doing something about it.​

Christina Hawatmeh: So the company's more than seven years old. Started, I met an engineer when I was at Columbia in grad school and I said, like, how can I get all these pictures off Instagram? So we created a hashtag engine that would like DM like Jenna, like, “Hey Jenna, we love your photo. You should come sell it!” And so we were able to do that to, it was 60 million images at the time and send all these messages and get people to start to think about it. So they started to upload that way and now it grows organically, but it first off just started off with just messaging people and telling them that they had something of value.​

Jena Dunay: Yeah, okay, so you did that. And then from there, how were you like, what point were you like, wow, this is like a viable business model for me to really go all in on.​

Christina Hawatmeh: Oh my gosh, that was the hardest part because like I had dinner yesterday with my friend and he's like, Christina, you're a real entrepreneur because you did it in a way that was just like a fun project. And then you had to map your way through the world where sometimes people like start a business, but they don't really care about the company or like there's just something off. Like it doesn't make them last or like it goes really high boom and bust because of that kind of like, I don't want to call it a fake entrepreneurial journey, but like not an organic one. So I thought that was really funny because I really do feel like that. Like I was just thrown into it and that I had to like go in the big world of entrepreneurship and figure it out. So I knew that I wanted to collect all these pictures. I knew I wanted to get them into the hands of people to buy them. But I didn't know how the business model would be like how to sell these individually or in groups. I knew that these people like I would interview them or they would I would talk to them and I knew that they had so much value.​

Christina Hawatmeh: So now I look at now we look at each person on our platform 45,000 people and we say like who? Yeah, I mean.​

Jena Dunay: Wow, 45,000 people, that is a lot of people. And it's all around the world you mentioned too.​

Christina Hawatmeh: Yeah, and then just like last month, we grew like 7,000. So I'm like thinking each person's value alone for me is so much bigger than what I think of when in terms of like selling their pictures. So it's like, have Jenna on my platform, how do I help Jenna? Like, how can I make her money? So that's everything we think about on a daily basis in the organization, how we can bring more money for people and get their stories and images out there.​

Jena Dunay: Yeah. Why don't you explain a little bit, because you touched on this obviously in beginning when you're explaining the organization and kind of the business model, but can you go in that a little bit deeper of like, how does your organization money and then how does that money get funneled through to those, to those individuals?​

Christina Hawatmeh: So we built the marketplace first. When I started, think when I had about 30,000 images, I was like, okay, this is going to work. So we had luckily gotten a customer that a major customer that you would know that was like, we want like more user generated type of pictures. Can you clear all the rights for them? So they gave us a dollar amount and we basically used that money and like gave 50 percent of it back to people. We're like, Jen, if you upload your photo, we're going to give you X amount of money. And so we're able to take that initial enterprise customer and then distribute the money to build the marketplace. Then, and then I kind of kept doing that. So I would, so I would have a customer, say, I need whatever they might need, like images of sunsets, let's say. And then I was like, this is my opportunity to get as many sunset pictures as I can. And I just, and, that worked. And so while I was, while we were doing that with these big corporations, and this is something I always tell entrepreneurs, and there's a lot of founders that will like ask for advice and partnerships and enterprise companies are the most interesting business model for me, because it relies on your personality, it relies on you showing up to events and meeting people and building a reputation. And, and that's something that's in your control. Things like CAC and LTV and spending money on ads. For me, that was a really scary thing. Even when I raised money, I was like, somebody's giving me money. Like I'm going to go spend it all on Instagram. Like, and, and so for me, I felt that was really scary. So I felt that it was more in my control when I would get like a company like Adobe or Meta or Microsoft or Disney and I was like, what do you guys need? This is what I have. And then they would tell me like, Hey, we need to hire somebody for this or we need a thousand pictures for our app. Like meditation app that people want to rely on. So, so that's, that was the progression. And then naturally we ended up getting like 38,000 businesses that just registered just to download pictures. So those are like 20 dollar plus subscriptions on the website and it's kind of a self-serve model. We haven't really like pushed the gas on it, but we have Buckingham Palace there downloading pictures. We have people at IBM. We have dentists, preachers, like all sorts of random things going on there. 

Jena Dunay: Amazing. And now I'm like, I'm personally going to be checking it out and being like, we need to use it for our stuff now too. So I got a chance to check it out, poke around a little bit. I love what you guys are doing. And I also love the, I feel like the creator economy just in general is like blowing up in different ways, but this way in specifically helping people that are creative, get their work out there too. I just find a lot of, I like that and I like that industry. And I feel like sometimes it's really hard for that industry to get the money back to them that they deserve for the art that they create.​

Christina Hawatmeh: Yeah, I just I felt really disenfranchised with like the ideas of like influencers and people that were just kind of doing fluffy stuff. I mean, we're talking about real skills here that people have that like design me a deck, create me an illustration, design a book cover for me, illustrate a kid's book. And so it's like real. So it's real gigs. It's real. It's a real exchange of value. And it's for me as a business owner, I think of how do I multiply that value based off of their skills, who they are, what they can do, and then all the people that need to work with them.​

Jena Dunay: Totally. So talented.​ Yeah, what was one of the hardest moments thus far in your business? You feel whatever you feel comfortable sharing and how did you kind of overcome that? And the reason I'm asking this is because one, I'm just curious personally, but I think also for people that are listening that are like, hey, I'm really interested in what this organization is doing. I want to see if eventually they have opportunities that I might be a good fit for and I might be able to provide value as an employee. Understanding how you operate in as a leader through change, through hard times is always a great way for people to understand. Hey, what am I getting myself into, right?​

Christina Hawatmeh: Yeah. So I tell my team, teamwork makes the dream work. That is over and over again, every time we're successful, every time we land somewhere, I'm like, teamwork makes the dream work. If you cannot align your team, the dream will not work. And what I thought from the beginning is like, this was my dream. It was my life's work. It was like something I was willing to go all in on. But then now, like when you're running an organization, you realize like, can you make it your team's dream too? Like what can you do so that they feel that this is their dream because your dream will only take so far. The impact that we make with people, the creativity that we get to live every day, all of these are things I really want my team to feel connected to the people on our platform, et cetera. So what I've noticed when people come into startups, which you probably see so much, is that their skill set just multiplies in value. The worth of who you are when you come into a startup.​ Especially in an intersection and two intersections. So we have an intersection of creativity. We have an intersection of technology. You have to be really good at tech. Like all of our work is on product and tech and then, and then you, but you have to have a good eye. You have to be able to work with creatives who are very sensitive people. And then, and on the other side, you have to work at the highest level with, with the biggest business leaders in the world. 

So, these are a combination of skillsets of professionalism, creativity, technology, and then you can stack those skills and you become way more valuable in the marketplace. Every person that has left my organization has gotten like a three times the salary at their next job. So it's, but you have to really work like it's something that you really have to work at it. And if one person is not high performing against the rest of the team, it's so hard. It's so hard, especially within a remote team. You cannot have everyone has to be at the same teamwork makes the dream work level and that's hard from a leadership perspective.​

Jena Dunay: Yeah, 100 percent. So going back to kind of the question around like in the six plus years of your business, what has been like one of the most challenging seasons that you've had and how have you overcome that like as a leader?​

Christina Hawatmeh: We’ve had a lot of challenging experiences, because as I mentioned we started supply side. We raised money, we built supply side, and then I was trying to find the demand like who are the buyers, how do I save.

Jena Dunay: That must've been so stressful.​

Christina Hawatmeh: Yes.​ It is stressful because you have bills to pay. As a founder, I don’t know, I just felt like, although I have investors but if this doesn’t work it’s all on me. So I felt like my back was against the wall.

Like a few different times would like, like, I'll give you a dumb example, but we had to hire a team in Eastern Europe to manually tag and title those the first 30,000 pictures that came in. And so we were like had physical people that would like be like, this is a sunset image or like two people holding hands. And then I was like looking at the bills and I was like, this is like half of my like money, like what, and, and there was no other way otherwise you wouldn't be able to search on the website. Like this was before all of these amazing tech, like I'm the biggest proponent of AI because like I would have, I almost went bankrupt just to title pictures today in one second. I can use an API and title and we're reorganizing our whole system now. So I was like, I literally have to like sleep on my friend's floors because of this. And thank God we were able to bounce back, but I didn't find a way that I would be able to get Jena to title her picture.​ I couldn't, they wouldn't do it. The users would not do it. And then I had to hire this team and yeah, creatives. Like there's a lot of times where I felt like the user base or the creatives weren't helping us and we had to like, and or they didn't want to do something. And then I was like, this is what's needed from, for it to like work as a search engine. So there, yeah, there's a lot of, there's a lot of things when it comes to scalability that is challenging again everything that saves me in those moments is I go back and I say what's in my control? Business getting a customer that's in my control, but the product is not always in your control as you scale it's tough and it requires a lot of money. Yeah, and a lot of like dedicated types of people that know how to do that thing.

Jena Dunay: Yeah, it's tough. That's good.​ I think that's really helpful for people just to hear again, like if you're an entrepreneur and you're listening to this and you're like, that's the real talk. We see all this like glamorous pieces of it, which the part of it can be really invigorating and exciting, especially if you are have that entrepreneurial brain and entrepreneurial drive. But it also could be really freaking hard. And I think it's important to acknowledge both of those things. Tell me how many people are working in your organization right now.​

Christina Hawatmeh: We have 20 people.​

Jena Dunay: I love it. So tell me, I mean, when you're a small, hardworking, scrappy team of 20, what does culture look like? Like, how do you think about culture as you're trying to build, as you're trying to scale, as you're trying to do the things in your control as you're talking about? What does that look like?​

Christina Hawatmeh: What's the culture? The culture looks like everybody does everything but what I what I've what we've changed in the culture, which I really like is that we have swim lanes now, so everyone is like. So everyone is really responsible for their own thing and they have and I'm like, I don't care what happens when you leave like Scopio at Scopio you are the star player. You are Messi. You are like LeBron. I want to see you be able to like be the best at whatever your thing is. Like if you're the creative director, you'd be the best creative director and everybody has to follow you and what you say. If you're like an engineer, you're working on a specific thing and not just like general engineering with everyone else. And so even amongst the engineers, like we split them into their core skills and then they have their own lane. So that really changed ownership and how they feel proud of themselves. And we do culture at Scopio, something very important. And I suggest other entrepreneurs figure out how do this is like we have a lot of praise. Like when somebody does something good, everybody congratulates them. I try to do we try to do like winners of the week. Like when somebody does something we're like we're going to get you a drink or like we like to kind of show off like everyone likes to show off and I think that has been made it really fun and added like a fun element to it and it allows people that come in realize like it's really hard work but like it's like kind of like when you get the three pointer and you get patted on the back and a lot of and I think like in tech sometimes it's really hard and like and so we were more of like show the results in the end but what I realized is it never ends so just as it's going like you feel happy and like have a good time together as we're going and that's a remote culture also difficulty like I wish everybody worked with me in an office it's like something I always dreamed of.​

Jena Dunay: Yeah. OK, so you guys are remote culture. And I like what you said just now about how you've got to do the celebration in the process. Like, you can't wait for the big thing, because the big thing will just be the small thing that you're looking for the next big thing. Like, I was listening to a comedian act. 

Christina Hawatmeh: You burn out, they burn out on the journey.​

Jena Dunay: Right. Totally. Like, you have to enjoy the journey, which is so hard because we're trying to reach the destination. But to your point, the goalpost always changes and the industry always changes. So you're always going to be running.​ So you have to enjoy the moments while you're in it. So I love that you've kind of incorporated that into the culture of the organization. I also think, tell me like who does really well at your organization and who does not do well. Though I have some ideas based off of kind of how you're describing yourself and the team and what you guys are working on. But yeah, talk to me about the personality of people who do really well here.​

Christina Hawatmeh: People that come up with ideas and speak confidently in their ideas. So like, if we have a problem, I love when I think I get, how about this? How about that? Why don't we do this? Why don't we do that? Before I used to be like, I feel like the solution person. And, and I think that's what was like not allowing us to grow. So I know it might've been my fault. It might've been my fault. Like sometimes we do very top down leadership, like as founders, cause we're very have a vision.​

But then again, when it's other people's ownership, that that's great. Like now I'm very interested in people that know how to monetize. Like monetization sales, people that have identified who people are and like how we what we can do. I think that is good. But I basically like now have the idea like I did my mapping or whatever. It's like the vision. What is it? Manifesting Generators. So I have like.​

Jena Dunay: Yes, the human design?​

Christina Hawatmeh: I have like, yeah, human design. So I just like throw the idea and now my team is like, this is how we implement. Don't worry about it. Like we got it from here. And that is what I like. And so I like you being really good at one thing. That's my new, like, I think everyone is really should pay attention to 2026 that this is a big change that's happening is you have to be good at one thing. Like before it used to be a higher generalists. I'm like, I don't know. We don't hire generalists anymore. You're going to do user acquisition, be the best at user acquisition. You don't do a little bit of email, a little bit of this, like no. So that's what I think. I'm really, really interested in that now.​

Jena Dunay: Yeah. Being a specialist. Yeah, especially with, I think also with your size of your company now, where in the beginning you kind of do have to have everyone be a generalist because you need so much help in so many areas. But when you get to a certain like inflection point, even like at the 20 people mark, you do need people to kind of be in, as you mentioned, like the different swim lanes in order for the like force multiplier to happen. So it also, I'm sure, gives people the opportunity to really hone their craft in a new way, which is super great. And you mentioned people will leave your organization and go somewhere else. And they've gotten such a great education while they were almost their MBA, or MBA times two working for your organization. So it sounds like it's also a great place for professional development.

Christina Hawatmeh: Yeah, absolutely. It's especially if you're into the creative arts. Like if you really like the idea of this gig economy, it's good to go work in a gig economy type of business.​

Jena Dunay: Yeah, tell me what the future looks like for your organization as it relates to what you guys are working on and just even what hiring might even look like in the next year or so.​

Christina Hawatmeh: Think again, monetization is really important for us. We have a very strong engineering team at Scopio. Our creative team is also growing. We like, I'll give you an idea. Like we'll be doing a project and we can scale up to like a hundred creatives that are coming into that workflow. Like, let's say somebody like we were designing decks, we have a hundred people doing that. So our team is managing a hundred creatives at a time or building that, we're interviewing them. So you have to be really like good at talking to people and different types of cultures and like have a very easy way to communicate. So I think from the creative side, you don't even have to be that creative, but you have to be really interested in talking to these people and helping manage them. And then on the business side, like I'll give you an idea. Like I have a new deal I got this week and I need somebody from the ground up to build this like affiliate partnership. So we sell, we're helping sell one of the design services and then we're managing the design services afterwards. So I need that person to be able to talk to big businesses, know how to like sell, but then also again be able to know how to manage creatives. I think from the communication perspective, that's the hardest thing to find is somebody that can just talk and feel confident and knows how to manage the situation and communicate back and learn quickly.​

Jena Dunay: Yeah, the feedback loop. The high quick feedback loop is what you're looking for there. Yeah. Okay, so it sounds like in the creative field, that's one area. The creative side of the business, that's one area that you guys are going to be growing in. Obviously, on the business development monetization side is also an area that you're going to be growing. Do you guys post these on LinkedIn? Where can people find out more about the jobs that you might have available? And what's the best way to get your attention?​

Christina Hawatmeh: Yes, you can message me on LinkedIn. That's the best way. But a lot of people message me, but they don't tell me what they're good at. So I, yeah, like.​

Jena Dunay: So, go ahead, keep going. Go on that train, because I feel like a lot of people will do that. They'll like, oh, a message, it's not working. I'm like, what did you say?​

Christina Hawatmeh: Yeah, you have to be like, again, I love people showing off. Like I love that. Nothing makes me happier than you being like, I'm so good at this, or I love this so much. Like, make me feel alive, you know, so. So I, you can message there. But I also do a lot of like, like, there's like a lot of layoffs at Vimeo, for example, recently, and Amazon. So I'll be like, if I know anyone, and I see like, they just left or something, I'm like, oh my God, that person is great for like something. Then I go and I reach out to them and I'm like, hey, are you available? So I also am part of different networks. I'm in different clubs and so I have WhatsApp groups, I message, I ask. But I think the best thing is I've really invested in my LinkedIn. We have a very strong community there. So I prefer to receive messages there.​

Jena Dunay: Yeah, I think that's great. What advice would you have for a founder who is also building their business from the ground up? Maybe they're a little bit behind where you guys are in terms of maybe how many employees they have or even just the reach that they've been able to have in terms of revenue numbers, all of that. What advice would you give for an entrepreneur at that stage?​

Christina Hawatmeh: This is like a funny one, but it's like on my bad days. It's hard to give an advice today. I'm feeling like excited. Think you can't, you cannot blame anyone for your success or your loss. Nobody owes you anything. You didn't come into this world to like have somebody owe you like a lot of times, like even like, like as a, as a woman, I'm like, this is so unfair. Like I look at my friends, look what they're getting. Like I get so frustrated and then I’m like Christina, nobody owes you anything, you're going to go work hard, you're going to figure out a way you're going to put blinders on and you're going to make, again, like we talked about the swim lanes, you have to focus on what you can control. I know I can control certain things. So I'm going to work at them and I'm and that's and I'm going to find people. So the in the hero's journey, which is like entrepreneurship, you're the hero and you're going through this like journey and you don't know where you're going. The thing that I had. So I always like, I always knew that I was the main character in the story. But then what I didn't realize what I know now is that the main thing in the hero's journey is who you want to align yourself with. Like if you if you think about like.​

Jena Dunay: Toto? Yeah, yeah, and the Wizard of Oz.​

Christina Hawatmeh: What's that character, like we're not in Kansas anymore and she goes and finds, yeah, the Wizard of Oz. So she goes and she finds all these people. So it's like when you link arms with somebody that knows what you don't know and it's amazing what can happen. I think who always, if you're stuck, who do I know that who can help me?​

And then the second one is like, you really got to pick yourself up. Like I have, invested in this company and this founder has such a good business and she has been fundraising for so many years. Every time we get an investor update, it's like, Hey, I'm raising extension, extension, extension. And I'm looking at her sales and I'm like, this person is just literally waiting to run ads on social media. I'm like, why you have such a good product. Go and knock on like Sarah Blakely, go and knock on people's doors and, get them to you, get them use it and form partnerships. I can't stress the partnerships are out enough for people that are stuck in who they know.​

Jena Dunay: Yeah, I think that's really good advice because I think in today's day and age, it's so easy to be like, well, cool, email's not working or like the ads aren't working. They're so expensive or like everything that's digitized is feels like very it's outside of your control. Quite literally, it's outside of your control. But you can control who you reach out to personally and how you start to build those partnerships. So I love what you're saying there. I think it's really good advice that a lot of people actually aren't talking about.​

Christina Hawatmeh: Yeah. And something simple, then some guy told me this when I first started my company. He's like, how many events do you go to a year? Like in your industry? And I was like, events. Like he was this guy willing to invest in the company. And I was like, oh, I like, like, was like 25. I was like, I don't need to go to events. Like I'm 25 and building a tech company. And like, now I realize like, no, actually, like, if you want to, if you're feeling stuck, go into your industry event and just start talking to people and understanding what's going on and that helps a lot. Another founder, she has a huge company and she was like, every time I feel stuck, I just find the nearest thing event or I'll fly to New York or I'll do something and then it's like I get to start again. It started all over again.​

Jena Dunay: I love that idea. It's like getting back in person. It's like getting out of your own head and getting out of your own way and talking to real people and being in the community with real people, new ideas emerge. It's kind of like my best work, I always joke, is when I'm washing the dishes or folding my kids laundry because I'm not like thinking focused on the thing that's frustrating me and I'm like, that's a great idea. Why don't I just fold laundry more often, you know? So.​

Christina Hawatmeh: Yeah, they call it that's like called watching ducks like, like, go watch more ducks, like, just sit there and watch the ducks and then the ideas will come in. 

Jena Dunay: Yeah, you'll get some revelation of some sorts. Well, Christina, I have loved getting to chat with you as a fellow founder and entrepreneur, but also just to hear what you're building. And I'm excited for our audience to learn more about what your organization is doing and then also to be on the lookout for any roles that you might be hiring for. Because I believe in what you're doing. I think you're going to be really successful. And anybody that ends up working for you would be very lucky to be a part of your organization. So thank you again.​

Jena Dunay: Thank you for joining us on another episode of Culture Uncovered.​

Christina Hawatmeh: Message me at LinkedIn, Christina, last name Hawatmeh (Hawatmeh), H-A-W-A-T-M-E-H. I'd love to hear from you, especially if you've built something like this before and want to scale another company.​

Jena Dunay: Love that. Definitely, definitely reach out to her if you have if you're that type of profile person. So Christina, thank you again for joining us

Christina Hawatmeh: Or a young hustler.​

Jena Dunay: A young hustler. Awesome! We'll see you on another episode of Culture Uncovered.​