Pinching myself that I got to write about the future of creators & ownership in @TheEconomist
"Creators will harness their power, leading to the birth of a new set of platforms that confer ownership and control—and treat creators as first-class citizens"
Above all, thank you to all the founders who are building towards a more meritocratic internet, in the @AtelierVentures & @variantfund portfolios & beyond!
Our portfolio companies are hiring across the board — if the vision outlined in this piece resonates with you, please fill out this talent form to be connected!
What’s next for the creator economy & its intersection with web3? 🧵
At a high level, we’re moving from a world in which creators made income on their own, to one in which they build wealth together with their communities.
The creator economy isn’t new, but it’s constantly evolving.
We’re now in what I consider to be the 3rd era of the creator economy, and on the cusp of the 4th.
Last year, I founded Atelier to invest in the passion economy: new platforms that enable users to monetize individuality.
The mission has been crystal clear since day one: to create paths for economic mobility at scale by lowering the barriers to entrepreneurship.
The passion economy is the clear “what” that we are driving towards, but there is a next chapter of the thesis.
Crypto and the ownership economy—software that is built, operated, and owned by users & participants—presents a “how” for fully realizing the passion economy mission.
Like feudalism and divine right monarchy before it, the creator economy is experiencing a legitimacy crisis.
Creators are questioning the terms that govern their relationship with the platforms they utilize—and the right of the platforms to set those terms in the first place.
How the ecosystem responds—what alternatives are proposed, who builds them, and how—will shape the next phase of the Creator Economy.
I want to share the story of how the first analyst I ever hired @AtelierVentures was someone I never expected—an 18-year-old recent high school graduate: @LilaShroff
Last fall, I was still in the thick of fundraising, but looking for help with community building, content, and research for my first fund.
Lila had been connected through @peytonkleinpgh, another recent high school graduate whom I had recently chatted with.
After meeting Lila, I was immediately struck by two things: her age and the fact that her resume, just after graduating high school, was somehow more impressive than mine had been when I was 25.
Gig workers and content creators are now reckoning with the fact that their livelihoods depend on the actions of platforms that they have little ability to sway, and to which are locked in given lack of data ownership and portability.
As a result, a new form of labor activism is appearing in the platform economy, which we call decentralized collective action or DCA.
DCA aims to achieve many of the same goals as historical labor movements: better pay and working environments, protection from harassment, etc.