7 Insights from Hosting 50 Creators at a16z

Last night, I hosted about 50 creators with the Tech Week team at a16z.

We had Memelords, TikTokers, lifestyle influencers, cinematic video creators, Substack writers, newsletter operators, podcasters, Youtubers, social leads & more.

The full spectrum of internet builders showed up.

In this post, you’ll find 7 takeaways from dozens of conversations I had.

Even the people who live and breathe TikTok or IG shorts are treating email as the backbone of their business.

Some are using events to funnel new subscribers. Others are running paid ads, building lead magnets, or using ManyChat to turn IG DMs into list growth engines.

The cadence doesn’t matter too much.

Some post once a week, once a month, quarterly, or even sporadically.

What matters is ownership.

Every creator seemed to crave a direct, durable way to reach their audience that doesn’t depend on algorithm shifts.

Some of the creators have spent years building digital audiences, communities, and followers across platforms.

Now, they’re finding ways to build IRL connections.

Podcasters are hosting live recordings.

Social creators are organizing private dinners, local meetups, and even retreats.

These aren’t just “fan events”—they’re pipelines for deeper relationships, trust, and higher-value collaborations.

The online → offline flywheel is strong.

It seems people are moving away from the one-off ad deal model.

Smart move imo.

Packaging their newsletter + podcast + social feeds + IRL events into bundled sponsorships.

I’m going to steal this model.

(If you want to work w/ me, reply to this email)

This model is better for creators: more predictable revenue, fewer negotiations, long-term relationships, & better integration with audiences across platforms.

And it’s better for brands: one relationship, multi-channel reach, lots of content that can be repurposed, more creative ways to partner vs the traditional boring ad slots.

This shift feels like a maturation point for the industry.

I love it.

The tighter the niche, the stronger the business.

Like Car Dealership Guy, who I recently had on my podcast and met in person yesterday for the first time.

His total addressable audience? 155,000 dealerships and their employees. That’s it.

Yet he’s built a massive business because his content and products are laser-focused on ICP.

Most people think their niche is too small. But the truth is, if you carve it out well, it’s usually more valuable than you think.

1 + 1 = 3.

Creators are leaning hard into collaborations.

Newsletter swaps, podcast guest trades, joint events, and cross-promoting products.

If you can find someone with a tangential audience, your growth compounds. It’s faster (and more fun) than trying to do everything solo.

This is not new, but nice to see the collaboration happen in real time.

More people are taking the “let’s make the pie bigger” approach.

Almost every creator in the room had a “home base.”

They might be cross-platform now, but the channel that got them traction is still their stronghold—whether that’s YouTube, Substack, IG, or TikTok. That’s where their community feels the strongest connection.

Expansion matters, but dominance wins.

Some of them hired people to help fill the gaps and scale on new platforms, but they still owned the main one that got them where they are today.

Build your empire on one channel first.

This one felt universal.

In a world where anyone can spin up a product, tool, or service, the thing that separates creators isn’t what they build—it’s how they distribute.

Brand + distribution is the moat.

That’s what I have been preaching and will continue to say until people catch on.

And honestly, it was refreshing to see how aligned the group was here—especially since so many industries outside the creator economy are still behind on this idea.

The creator economy is maturing.

The strategies are sharper, the business models more sophisticated, and the opportunities bigger than ever.

If you’re building online today, take note:

That’s the playbook I saw in action.

Excited to see what this next wave of creators builds.

I hope you enjoyed this post.

If you did, reply to this email and let me know.

If you didn’t, reply and let me know what you’d like to see next time.

Cheers,

Ish

More from me on my personal site here.