Hugo Amsellem
@HugoAmsellem
Followers
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Following
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Media
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Statuses
9K
GP at @intuitionVC: Culture + Capital.
NYC / Paris
Joined June 2008
Consumer+ is eating the (enterprise) world. The gap between consumer & enterprise software is disappearing faster than ever. A new breed of companies are turning B2C love into B2B gold at unprecedented speed. 1/15 Here's why "Consumer Plus" matters 🧵
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The cost of launching a startup company went from $10M to a macbook. The cost of launching a media company went from $1M to a macbook and a camera. In the meantime, the upside of both has gone 1000x. Welcome to the internet nation!.
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I spent the past couple of months going down the Creator Economy rabbit hole. My takeaways:. 🗺 Market map of 150+ startups.📊 Comprehensive spreadsheet ($ raised, investors, etc.).🧠 Analysis of the 6 categories and 25 sub-categories. A thread 👇👇👇.
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I saw a girl building a startup today. No pitching at events. No chasing public funding. No raising capital from toxic angels. She just sat there. Building product & talking to users. Like a Psychopath.
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👋 Personal update:. After spending the past year digging into the Creator Economy, talking to 100s of creators, founders & investors, I became obsessed with 2 things:. 1) An idea: YC for Creators.2) A company: JellySmack. So I'm joining JellySmack to build a Creator Accelerator!.
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Is it a Series A announcement or a Coachella lineup?.
We're excited to announce our Series A raise today! Bitski is grateful to be backed by a brilliant team of investors that support our relentless efforts to evolve the way we interact with digital content
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The Loneliness Economy:. I spent the past few months going down the loneliness rabbit hole. I believe technology can help us belong. 🗺 Market map of 160+ startups ($8.5B raised in total).📊 Comprehensive airtable (stage, investors, etc.).🧠 Analysis of 6 categories & 21 sub. 👇
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👋 Personal update, I'm launching @IntuitionVC. I fall in love with people and ideas. I fell in love with the creator economy and, lately, the loneliness epidemic. But most of all, I fell in love with the extraordinary people bringing these ideas to life: Founders. To be exact,
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Brands that have been built by providing great content for founders:. - Tweets (@Naval).- Podcasts (@reidhoffman, @eriktorenberg).- Blog posts (@paulg, @fredwilson, @pmarca).- Books (@eladgil, @bfeld).- Videos (@daedalium). Can't find more brands built through YouTube, help me?.
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Learn, build, distribute. It used to be that you needed permission to do these 3 things. From universities, banks & media. That time is over and it's magnificent.
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Je lance @Sans_Permission, un podcast dans lequel j'interview la nouvelle génération de créateurs qui utilise internet pour entreprendre, sans permission !. Ravi de sortir le 1er épisode avec @HugoTravers, un YouTuber, un entrepreneur et un mec génial :).
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0/ I've listed 230+ accounts to follow to keep up to date with the Creator Economy. Here's the breakdown:. 🧠 15 Thinkers.💰 25 Investors.⚙️ 6 Operators.🗞 9 Journalists.👔 17 Top-Execs.💪 150 Founders.✊ 7 Community Builders . A thread 👇👇👇.
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0/ Thread: Why I'm starting #BerlinCryptoCapital, a portrait Series featuring the people shaping the crypto ecosystem in Berlin, to understand how the city is becoming one of the world's crypto capital. 🚀
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1/ (Late) personal update: Earlier this year I decided to leave @The_Family after 7 years of crazy adventures! Thanks to @daedalium, @Alice_Zag & @Nicolas_Colin's early trust, I had the chance to explore 15+ European hubs and make 100s of friends across the continent.
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Paris is the best city for a flâneur:. - Romantic architecture.- Beautiful and stylish people.- Calm coffees with terrasse.- Car-free streets.- Poetic vibe.- Amazing food & beverage.- The love of passionate conversation. Take your (mac)book and let Paris guide you.
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I just finished the 1st draft of my attempt to define the Creator Economy. I also listed 100+ startups focused on building for creators. Who's interested to read it?.
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It’s crazy how CEE founders (esp. Romania, Ukraine & Poland) unbundle their companies geographically. - Hire in their home country.- Incorporate in Delaware.- Fundraise in the US.- Sell to the whole world .- Pretend they live in SF/NYC. e.g. @Grammarly, @UIPath, @brainly, etc.
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I just finished the draft of a Consumer Manifesto, or why I believe it's the best time to build in consumer. Who's down to read/comment?.
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0/ How are successful creators turning their audiences into empires? Here's my framework: The Creator Lifecycle. 🧐 1/ Attention.🤩 2/ Trust.😍 3/ Commerce.🤑 4/ Ownership. A thread 👇👇👇.
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I met @AviSchiffmann last year in Paris, and here’s why I believe is special:. 1) People are lonely:.I’ve extensively written about loneliness, I’m obsessed with the topic. What we all need is to be seen, heard & understood. What we all need is someone to
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.@Stripe has analyzed the growth of the Creator Economy across 50 platforms:. - 668,000 creators (+48% YoY).- $10 billion in aggregate creators earnings.- Creators earning a living wage increased 41% YoY.- 15.5 million creators estimated in 5 years. LFG.
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I’m super impressed by @amoamoamo’s new product for 2 main reasons:. - it’s designed for social signaling but pull and not push (your friends are signaling for you). - it’s designed for spacial serendipity (you visually discover new profiles, not through feed). Very refreshing
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Finishing an article about 'The Creator Lifecycle' -- who's interested in reading the draft?.
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How to Invest in Creators?. I talked to creators, founders & investors and found 9 financing options + 23 companies pioneering new models. A thread 🧵.
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Content is like food. If you eat too much and exercise too little, your body gets fat. If you scroll too much and create too little, your mind gets fat. Creating is to your brain what exercising is to your body. Consume less, create more.
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Consumer is back. There's something special about consumer founders. There's something special about building for millions. There's something special about changing culture. And that ‘something special’ needs to be preserved, cultivated, celebrated, and shared IRL!. So last
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Exactly a year ago, we decided to go on a European tour with @_TheFamily. We went to Lisbon, Tallinn, Copenhagen, Bucharest, Budapest, Kyiv, Warsaw, Prague, Brussels & Madrid. And realized Europe doesn’t exist! 😭 Here's why.
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Welcome to @_TheFamily in Kreuzberg 😇. It’s warm, welcoming & colorful, just like Berlin! (🤔). Anyone can become an entrepreneur & any office can become a temple 🙏🏽
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3 Myths from the Berlin Tech Ecosystem:. 1) It's cheap 💸.2) It's creative 💥.3) It's a capital 👑. The stories you hear about Berlin today are like the light from distant stars: they’re coming from the past. Here's an article for my non-Berlin friends 💫.
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Big week for newsletter creators:. - @revue got acquired by @Twitter.- @mariodgabriele & (@nbashaw @ljin18 @fortelabs) are "Graduating from Substack" and moving to custom-made stacks.- @Forbes launched a Substack competitor. Competition drives things fwd!.
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0/ What *really* is a creator?. As it became the way to define a new generation, I asked myself that question and came up with a definition:. A creator isn't someone who creates. A creator is an individual who scales without permission. Here's why:. 👇👇.
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Rihanna is a billionaire. A billionaire creator, not a billionaire musician. She mastered the Creator Lifecycle to turn her audience into an empire: Attention, Trust, Commerce, Ownership. Creators are eating the world.
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In the face of war, everything seems trivial. I find it difficult to think & tweet about tech.
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I’ve been struggling with a cornea ulcer that kept me away from screens for more than a month now. 10 years ago, I wrote about the genetic disorder that triggers it. Sorry for all the unanswered messages and see you soon when I fully recover!. 🙏.
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Loneliness. Ok, I'll admit it, I've been following a new rabbit hole for the past few months. I just finished categorizing & mapping 150+ companies using technology to solve the loneliness crisis we're going through. Who wants to read the draft of the article?
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I'm hosting a Creator Economy dinner in Amsterdam in 10 days. Which creators/founders should I add to the list?.
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"Germans are efficient" is the best marketing stunt I've ever seen.
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67% of French people are in favour of economic decline (degrowth). I have no words.
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The American Dream is being replaced by the Internet Dream.
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.@_TheFamily , the end of an era. I spent 7 years there backing hundreds of founders with a team of crazy people. Heck, I even got married there! 💍. I wouldn't change anything, to be frank. To the next generation!
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11/ I'm still trying to make sense out of all this and I decided to create content in order to find coherence a posteriori. If you love that topic or just want to get in touch -- my DMs are open 💌 Also, I'll be spending September in Berlin! 🇩🇪 .
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Interesting. 🤔. I just mapped out the French Tech ecosystem by exporting the followers of France's top 150 tech-related accounts (VCs, founders, influencers, journalists, accelerators, etc.). ➡️ 1M unique people interested by @LaFrenchTech. Stay tuned, more stats coming! 🇫🇷📈.
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My thesis in a nutshell: . Everything that happened to the startup world for the past 20 years will happen to the creator one in the next 5. Why? Because creators & startups are two different expressions of the same phenomenon: Scale. It’s time to Arm The Creators 💪.
👇Thread. To thrive as a content creator online - whether writing/audio/video - it's not enough to have software. You also need a business model, training, and a community of people to learn from. Sometimes you need financing. Sound familiar? Yes, it's what all startups need too.
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Things I started doing during quarantine that I'll (hopefully) continue once it's over:. 👨🏽🍳 Cook real meals.🕢 Wake up at 7:30am without an alarm.🌳 Walk 45-min every day in the woods.☎️ Call my parents every other day.💵 Make money on internet. What about you?.
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4 layers of monetization for creators:. 1) Attention (ads, brand deals).2) Access (tips, memberships, private communities).3) Commerce (physical & digital products).4) Ownership (financial upside). Anything else?.
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It’s always when you get back to your parents for Christmas that you realize how much TV sucks now.
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0/ Thread: 10 steps to become crypto-conversational in a week-end (for those who think it’s too late to jump in!) 🔥.
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People are lonely. Because creators are scalable friends, they are at the center of the fast-growing loneliness market. My hope is that creator-led communities will turn this initial desire for connection into actual long-lasting friendships. Events, co-working, co-living, etc.
Americans have fewer friends than they used to. 15% of men and 10% of women have no close friends.
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The fat tail is getting fatter:. Spotify: 1.2% of artists earn 90% of royalties.YouTube: 3% of creators earn 90% of revenues.Twitch: 1% of streamers earn 50% of revenues. The lower the barrier to entry, the higher the competition.
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The post-pandemic mental health crisis, in one graph. Fueled by the fatal Remote/Uber Eats/Netflix combo. Loneliness it the hidden cost of convenience.
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#BerlinCryptoCapital: A Portrait Series featuring the people shaping Berlin’s crypto ecosystem and the reasons why Berlin is attracting them
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0/ Thread: A few reasons why public money is—more often than not—a bad option for startups. 😈
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An entrepreneur is a creative individual with clarity of mind and energy of will. It’s a perfect fit for artists, creators & developers. The world needs more entrepreneurs and the internet is its biggest provider.
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Creators should focus on 2 things only:. 1) Create better content.2) Engage with their audience. Until they reach content/audience fit and take off. From 0 to 1, creator edition.
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The best Creator Economy creators I know on each platforms:. - @ColinandSamir on YouTube.- @ianrborthwick on Podcast.- @tejashullur on TikTok.- @rex_woodbury on Twitter. 1. You should all collab!.2. Who are your favorites?.
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Creators are increasingly starting their YouTube channel with the mission to solve a specific problem for a specific segment of users. Content is the new product.
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Why the next Social Network might start as a Mobile Game? (or how I got addicted to @NeopolisGame). In 10 years, gaming and especially mobile gaming has evolved from solo, hyper-casual games to more complex, deep, and social experiences; tripling the market size in the process.
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0/ Thread: Trent McConaghy (@trentmc0) is the co-founder & CTO of @OceanProtocol, a decentralized data exchange protocol. Part of the #BerlinCryptoCapital portrait Series.
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Web3 is AI, not crypto: From "Read, Write, Own." to "Access, Distribute, Create."
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YouTubers, TikTokers, Instagrammers -- these names will all disappear and the reign of the creators will soon begin. Why? Because no one has won the social media war and the future is consequently multi-platform.
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building (in consumer) is lonely. this is why we're doing our consumer tour. it's not much, but these messages mean the world!
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8/ Example after example, I want every 20-year-old kid to realize that internet-powered entrepreneurship is not about building a billion-dollar company. It's about becoming free and there are a million ways to reach that goal.
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0/ Thread: A post-permission world, or what Internet means for a new generation of entrepreneurs.
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Amazing Creator Economy session on Clubhouse with @BackseatVC & @urilevanon!. We reached 1000+ concurrent listeners. How do you record a Clubhouse session? 😇
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0/ Thread: A bunch of us from @_TheFamily are in San Francisco for the next 15 days. Here's what we're respectively doing & how we can help -- who should we meet while in town? 💖.
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"Creators are starting the new billion-dollar commerce brands and the new billion-dollar media companies" — @TZhongg interviewed by @conniechan on @a16z's amazing podcast. Gen Z will spawn millions of media entrepreneurs. It's just the beginning!. 💪.
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A French dinner.
What do you call an argument where both sides think they’re winning?.
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People often ask if the creator economy is growing. The number of 1M+ subscribers YouTubers has been increasing 65% each year. There’s 17M people making a living out of their content online. And it’s just the beginning! 🤯.
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As a creator, you want to be exposed to the upside of algorithmic feeds, but not dependent on them. That's the difference between opportunity and strategy. Winning the lottery is an opportunity, but you wouldn't base your life strategy on it. That's TikTok vs. YouTube.
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Creators are no longer simply talents detected & developed by an industry. They are entrepreneurs building & scaling businesses. As a result, the skills & mindset required to work with them are changing completely. How does this impact the role of the manager?. 👇👇👇.
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It was a pleasure to co-host a consumer founder dinner with @bonatsos & @alexia last week. The Parisian consumer scene is alive and kicking. If you're building/investing in consumer & happen to pass by Paris this summer, you know where to knock!. #ParisConsumerCapital
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nothing yet to celebrate, except great people and crazy ambitions 🔮
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I wanted to write again and @BeOnDeck launched the Writer Fellowship. Then I wanted to start a podcast and they announced the Podcast Fellowship. Now I'm thinking about becoming a YouTuber. TAKE MY MONEY.
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"Link in bio" is becoming the new battleground of the Creator Economy. Who will become Lord of the Links? Will there be one link to rule them all? 💍. A few thoughts:. 👇👇👇.
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0/ Thread: Lefteris Karapetsas (@lefterisjp) is a core developer of the @raiden_network & building @rotkehlchenio on his spare time. Part of the #BerlinCryptoCapital portrait Series.
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😂😂😂.
Things money can't buy:.1) happiness .2) love.3) product market fit.
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Loneliness is one of the most important issues of this decade. The more we empower the individual over the collective, the lonelier it gets. The future of belonging is a thesis that will emerge in 2022. Who’s already building/investing/looking at it?.
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The Creator Economy is going to be a lot more like the Music Industry than many people think (including me). Advances, 360° deals, production, etc.
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.@ColinandSamir + @NasDaily = 🤯. Two of my favorite creators talking about my favorite topic: Creators are founders. This video is a MASTERPIECE and a MUST-WATCH. A thread with some learnings from Nas 👇👇👇.
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It's still day 1 the Creator Economy, but things are moving fast. Everything that happened to the startup world for the past 20 years will happen to the creator one in the next 5. So I'm thrilled to spend this time building the best place for early-stage creators to grow from!.
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Every social network now has a Creator Fund. @Linktree_ just unveiled its Passion Fund, a $250k grant program to support creators. But you know what would 100x the Creator Economy?. Investing in creators and make a fortune out of it. How do we get there?.
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Most creators start out as content-based creators. Most of them evolve into relationship-based ones. From niche entertainment to genuine friendship. From a small market to a massive one.
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I landed in Berlin a year ago, from Paris. I found lots of amazing things, and also a couple of bad habits 😈 Here's my take on them. Share, like, comment 🔥
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Creators are working SO HARD to build engaged audiences from scratch. So why are they still promoting other brands' products and not their own?. For 3 reasons 👇👇👇.
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Some people are suddenly *super* enthusiastic about @_TheFamily's approach now that we raised €15M. The approach didn't changed, only our bank account did.
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Power laws in Consumer:. - 9% of US adults account for 34% of US candy consumption.- 5% of Canadian gamblers account for 53% of online gambling spend.- 10% of US adults account for over 70% of US alcohol consumption.- 20% of US adults account for 70% of ice cream consumption.-.
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Who's building cool consumer stuff in London? 🇬🇧. We're hosting a consumer, social & entertainment hangout in London with @sararahmcb next Tue at @Huckletree Soho (🙏 @FelixCapital). We have top VCs attending and have a few spots left for founders. Tag folks and DM me! 🤝.
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I just landed in LA, ready for some @VidCon action this week with @Jellysmack!. Who’s around?.
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They like startups as long as they stay in the sandbox: Cute, entertaining & docile.
European politicians like startups in principle, but individual startups they want to crush.
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The Creator Economy needs 3 things to thrive:. 1) Capital.2) Talent.3) Rebellion. @YesTheory hiring their Head of Ops is the perfect opportunity for former.@Uber ops talents to transition from the gig economy to the creator economy. Who should apply?
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Learn, build, distribute. It used to be that you needed permission to do these 3 things. From universities, banks & media. That time is over and it's magnificent.
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