Slow Upload
The Creator Evolution
A few weeks ago, we wrote that the term “creator” may just be a lens through which we interpret an emerging entrepreneur: one who has leveraged an online persona to build a community, establish domain expertise, and bolt diversified businesses onto that foundation. We put forth six creator archetypes – each with a different entry point and objective function related to their endeavors.
We can also frame these creators in terms of their intended audience, use cases, and value generation which (like any technological shift) have meaningfully evolved over time.
Era 1 – Consumer Creators: The first wave of creators were often focused on lifestyle or entertainment content. They had a followership, composed of everyday consumers, grounded in entertainment, kinship, and even identity. For the creators from this early wave who chose to expand beyond content, consumer products were a natural starting point; they have broad appeal, are relatively simple to launch (with a low AOV), are easily incorporated into content, and can be de-risked through performance/conversion data from previous brand deals. If it feels as though every creator has their own merchandise line or CPG brand, this might be why. E.g., Emma Chamberlain (coffee), YesTheory (apparel), Mr.Beast (snacks), Nelk Boys (alcohol).
Era 2 – Business Creators: As the term creator has come to encompass much more than vlogging, we’ve seen some use the same parasocial and community-building mechanisms to target a slightly different audience than the everyday consumer. Business creators speak directly to a person’s professional needs. Perhaps their follower is a CFO or HR leader, or is simply trying to improve their writing proficiency. In a way, these creators are the B2B counterpart to B2C creators, and their content and offerings have similarly evolved. E.g., Miss Excel (courses), David Perrell (courses), Wolf of Franchises (software).
Era 3 – Academia / Research Creators: Once confined to research labs, university offices, and insular communities, these individuals are leveraging twitter, podcasts, newsletters, whitepapers, and more to build distribution and a personal brand. Their reach allows their insights, research, and analysis to be more easily disseminated (not only through primary sources but also secondary synthesis), increasing opportunities for recognition, funding, experimentation, collaboration, and even business building. Interestingly and unsurprisingly, the most evident examples are consumer-facing like Andrew Huberman, Ph.D. (health and longevity) or Emily Oster (parenting). But there is also an emerging, non-consumer cohort like Erik Brynjolfsson or Yann LeCun focused on highly technical topics such as computer science, machine learning, quantum physics, or applied mathematics (h/t to my friend Grace Kasten at Pace Capital for the leads).
Today, the internet allows for the propagation of ideas (good and bad) from a single individual or source at an unprecedented scale and speed. And as these ideas increase in sophistication and substance, the importance of credibility and authority grows across the board. To take up the mantle of community leadership, “creators” will require more personal and professional qualifications than ever to instill trust in their followership.
About Slow Upload
An exploration into individual- and creator-first companies: how they are built, underwritten, and financed. From the Slow Ventures Team, Sam Lessin, Megan Lightcap, and Caroline Cline.