VidCon and the Business Trifecta of Creating Content, Community, & Commerce

1/ I describe myself as a content carnivore (I devour content) and content omnivore in terms of consuming all types of media: movies, music, news, podcasts, etc…

Growing up, my busy parents left my siblings and I at the local public library and said “go do your homework and we’ll be back in a few hours after work.” I typically ended up doing less homework and more reading books off the shelves. In the 1990s when people paid for content (compared to say the 2000s and 2010s which were peak information is free zeitgeist - paying for content and subscriptions are back in the 2020s in a strong way.) going to the library was (and still is) the most cost-effective way to watch movies for free, listen to music for free, and read the news without paying (I love libraries).

2/ I’ve always loved reading and creating content. While on active duty in the US Army I was the first The New York Times At War blogger and wrote essays for Infantry Magazine, Army Magazine, and other military publications. The intersection of media and technology is why I joined Pocket. It’s also why before starting Context VC I founded and bootstrapped Media Mobilize.

3/ While building Media Mobilize I learned that many of the best businesses are those that develop competencies across what I call the business trifecta: content, community, & commerce. This was a theme echoed at VidCon 2023, the conference that brings together video storytellers.

4/ VidCon is an edutainment event. I got to learn and meet from fantastic business leaders & creators such as

- Trish Lindo's recommendation about posting on Linkedin: be consistent, authentic, focus on quality, and experiment. 
- John Green on how to create authentic connections with your audience and how content is NOT free and how attention is monetized
- Samir Chaudry & Colin Rosenblum on how successful creators pursue the business trifecta
- Jim Louderback and the evolving creator economy
- The session that Paul Bakaus & Peter Hollens 🟣 led about Generative AI was the most popular session as they thoroughly covered how AI will revolutionize content creation

5/ Another lesson I’ve learned from building Media Mobilize is the importance of effective storytelling and that the media business can be broken down into 3 parts: content creation, distribution, and monetization.

Building a company that can do just one of these areas is difficult and building a company that can do all 3 further increases your ability to complete the business trifecta.

I often joke that founders, marketers, and rappers have one thing in common: they all care about distribution.

#VidCon #Creators #creatoreconomy #linkedintips #vidcon2023 #entertainment #business #Innovation #distribution #ContentCreators
#founders #ai #content