Building Leverage On The Internet v2
Hi there,
Hope you’ve had a great week. I’m stoked to publish this Saturday newsletter that allows me to share my learnings and ideas that I encounter while building leverage on the Internet. My hope is this will teach you a thing or two about building an audience as a creator/founder in case you ever want to give it a shot!
Oh btw, the pivot to writing about leverage seems to be working. My subscribers’ count has gone up from 114 to 151 people since the last edition so join me in welcoming the new readers :) I also heard people liked the old format of essays, tweets and products so I’ll
Let’s get rolling with this edition:
🐦 TOP ESSAY ON MY RADAR:
As these media companies and platforms start to become venues for creator operations and development, the individual’s brand becomes a business of its own. The journey someone takes to build their business is completely uncharted and adapts natively to their specific needs. That’s because this new world is one won by Janes of all trade. It encourages experiential nuance & a ‘build the plane while you’re flying it’ approach to entrepreneurship. What’s most often discussed are individuals who leave a media company to go and build a brand of their own. Their background is usually as a writer, designer, editor and they carry their individual reputation from a known publication or Twitter to their new independent business.
But the opposite is also happening; entrepreneurial minds who have built businesses at established companies or on their own are also choosing a path to become creators themselves.
So unlike those who have built a career in media or journalism and now decide to become entrepreneurs, there are those who have built a career in business or tech and now decide to become journalists.
This is what I’m calling the age of the Renaissance Creator — the hybridization of the individual as both a creator and an entrepreneur.
This development and definition of ‘creativity’ is one of the more interesting things happening today because it is contrary to the supposed logic for a creator to go independent.
We like to say independence (see: passion economy) is valuable because it lets a creator focus on what they do best; create.
But actually it’s the opposite. By going independent, the creator is aspiring to not only create, but willingly assume the management and business of their entire self. This acceptance of responsibility as a formula for success will dictate a creator’s desire to go independent and develop a micro-label or decide to limit duties and create within a larger media organization.Source: Media 2020: Rise of the Renaissance Creator, Jarrod Dicker [link]
🐦 TOP TWEETS ON MY RADAR:
🐦 TOP RESOURCES ON MY RADAR:
Y Combinator just launched the YC Startup Library for founders around the world. It includes +15 years worth of videos, podcasts, and essays.
A few days ago, one of my threads blew up on Twitter. It was about discovering community favorite newsletters & creators. Yesterday, Sathya created a free database that anyone can use. It's a fantastic collection! Check it out here.
For the next week, I’m planning to ship my 3rd interview for Build In Public on Wednesday.
On Monday, I’m hosting a Cuppa community hour at Remote Week so feel free to join in if you are curious about learning more about how to build communities on the Internet. It’s free to attend. Just register here.
Next week, I’ll also be sharing my early version (v1) of LetterDrop with a handful of passionate newsletter readers from the beta group. I’m building the MVP myself using a no-code tool called Bubble and I’ll release the beta out to the public gradually. If you’re interested, join the waitlist here.
That’s all for now. Hope you have a fantastic week!