How 2 men behind the Critical Role machine plan to turn the nerdworld royalty into a legacy brand

Ed Lopez and Ben Van Der Fluit were one of the first three executives Critical Role had on its team. They've been with the eight cofounders for a decade, helping to build the business and ink partnerships. The duo told Business Insider about their roadmap for the company and their priorities for the years to come. When the cameras start rolling at the Critical Role studio in Los Angeles, Ed Lopez and Ben Van Der Fluit are never in front of them. There are eight far more famous faces that front the operation. Critical Role's cofounders , a team of self-professed nerdy voice actors , have been streaming their show , going on tour , and starting their book business and game publishing arm. Lopez, the team's chief operating officer, and Van Der Fluit, senior vice president of business and content development, have kept things humming on the business front. The duo sat down for a call with Business Insider, during which they talked about their plans to grow Critical Role into a legacy media brand. From a Twitch stream to nerdworld's big leagues Anna Webber/Getty Images for Prime Video Both Lopez and Van Der Fluit were based in Los Angeles when they met the cast members of Critical Role. It wasn't even a company at the time. "Ed and I really had the chance to dig in with the founders in those early days, to start to imagine it beyond just that show," Van Der Fluit said. The multimedia company that became the Critical Role brand was incorporated in 2015. Lopez, Van Der Fluit, and one other staffer were the company's original executives. "The second they have to start worrying about how many units of a book we have or don't have, we're doing it wrong," Van Der Fluit said. "So we were saying that, early on, 'Let us worry about that stuff.'" Goalposts Over the years, Critical Role has evolved into much more than just a Twitch stream, and its co-founders each have specializations. Cofounder Sam Riegel and CEO Travis Willingham helm the development of the team's Amazon-backed animations, while cofounders Liam O'Brien and Taliesin Jaffe have focused on the team's art, comics, and book publishing efforts. Creative director Marisha Ray remains in charge of programming, while Laura Bailey oversees merchandise. Matt Mercer, the team's chief creative officer, relinquished control of the main campaign stream earlier this year, but has been spearheading work on the tabletop game "Daggerheart," the crew's answer to "Dungeons and Dragons" and the main product from Darrington Press, their game publishing business . Ashley Johnson leads the Critical Role Foundation, the team's nonprofit arm. Lopez and Van Der Fluit work on the administrative end of things, from inking deals with brand partners to content development. Champagne problems Van Der Fluit said that in Critical Role's early days, working on smaller expansions, such as publishing comics, felt like natural extensions of the Twitch stream. Things have moved quickly since then, the duo said. The team...

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