Welcome to Going Direct: No More Gatekeepers!

Individual creators have larger audiences than traditional media companies with thousands of employees. If we told you this 10 years ago, would you have believed us? 🤔

So, what comes next?

👉 For the first time in history: an entire generation of creators are bypassing traditional gatekeepers - and we are just getting started. We believe the creator economy will change a variety of industries in deep, meaningful ways that we can only dream about today. The shift is already happening. Creators are launching their own products, there is an increase in celebrity-backed brands, and venture studios are building companies around talent.

What intrigues us is this is all happening at a time when many industries in both the physical and digital worlds have turned into de facto monopolies and monopsonies (more on that at a later time). As the creator economy continues to grow, it has the potential to build direct distribution at scale and disrupt many areas of the economy that have seen such concentration of power. If the systems are built correctly, it will allow us to create our own game vs trying to beat incumbents at their own game. 🎮

“Going Direct goes much deeper than D2C brands selling directly to consumers. It is about Going Direct along the entire supply chain to bring the consumer closer to the producer”.

Going Direct extends well beyond D2C into the worlds B2B and B2B2C. As consumers are increasingly losing trust in our institutions and corporations, they are demanding more transparency about how products are made, where they come from, what is inside them, and who is involved in making them. They want products that are better for human and planetary health, but are frustrated with greenwashing and will not sacrifice on quality or convenience. The creators are uniquely positioned to provide this transparency and establish trust among consumers, at scale, in an uncensored way. 🌍

👉As Scott and I started talking about the current state of the creator economy and where we see it going - we were coming at it from different angles. Scott has been focused on structuring equity deals between start-ups and influential talent at Influencer Capital. This includes athletes, celebrities, and other well-known individuals. I was coming at it from my experience as an angel investor and my work at Cultured Supply where we are building software to enable, “direct from the source” procurement. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for businesses to work directly with producers. I found the current wholesale distribution model in several industries to be filled with multiple layers of brokers and middlemen, which erodes margins and makes it very hard for emerging suppliers inventing and making things to compete. This is what led me to the creator economy. It can be the great equalizer by unlocking direct distribution at scale. 📈

Scott and I were recently discussing the latest Goldman Sachs estimates where they predict the creator economy could roughly double to $480 billion by 2027, from $250 billion today. What is fascinating about this market is only ~4% of global creators pull in more than $100,000 a year. These numbers caught our attention and made it clear there is something much deeper to explore around unlocking the long-tail of the creator economy. 💰

Most of what we read covering the creator economy targets creators themselves or people in the field of marketing. We wanted to create something that a wider audience may find valuable. Our plan is to start sending out a weekly piece that combines:

🌟Insights on how the creator economy can enable new systems of direct distribution and play a much bigger role than many people think across business, culture, and society.

🌟Current events and mini case studies from happenings in the creator economy. Things that have worked, things that have not, and key learnings.

The first piece will be sent out next week! We look forward to exploring together.

Jordan & Scott