Let’s jump right into it.
I think being a creator is one of the highest leverage uses of your time.
Building software is another obvious one.
But even then, tons of great projects fail because they struggle with distribution & user acquisition (see below).
“The only moat is... marketing”
Organic distribution and loyalty that creators establish is only becoming more valuable as content creation becomes easier with AI and online tools.
People trust the individual.
Chris Dixon, Tim Ferris, & Paul Graham are obvious examples of massive “creators”.
When they speak, people listen.
When they tweet, people read.
This is because they’ve spent years building their online presence.
Countless hours writing, blogging, podcasting, and providing value to others.
Which in turn, creates massive trust with their respective communities.
But I’ve also recently seen a surge of celebrities, athletes, & CEOs becoming more active as internet creators.
Like Cristiano Ronaldo creating a YouTube account
Or Brian Chesky leveraging his X account to provide product updates for Airbnb
or Shannon Sharpe parlaying his fame in the sports world to launch his interview show “Club Shay Shay” on YouTube
But why?
Why invest grueling hours (or money hiring a team) to build an online presence when they can just partner with an existing brands that have built-in distribution (like Netflix, MTV, ESPN, BET, Hulu, Prime Video, etc.)
Because they realize that owned distribution is the moat.
And having full creative control of what you say/share online is a superpower (especially at the scale that they operate).
But I’ve also been studying niche builders who sit at the intersection of creator x entrepreneur.
Here are just a few examples…
Sahil Bloom
Grew a massive audience on X/Twitter, expanded to other social platforms, then used that as leverage to launch companies, partnerships, and most recently his book.
His holding company “SRB Holdings” is “a personal holding company currently comprised of ten cash-flowing businesses”.
Incredible.
Lenny Rachitsky
Ex-Product Lead at Airbnb who built a massive media empire from sharing product, growth, and career insights.
He’s coming up on 1M newsletter subs, has a very well-respected podcast, invests in startups, runs a job board, and much more.
What I love most about Lenny is that he seems to keep his quality bar so high even after being in the content game for so long.
A quick X/Twitter search of his name will show tons of people still raving about his newsletter.
Ali Abdaal
The Doctor turned productivity creator & entrepreneur. Ali has built a YouTube presence with millions of subscribers across multiple channels, published a productivity book, launched an agency, and it still seems like he’s just getting started.
The amount of trust that Ali has built with his online community is beautiful to see.
He’s put in years of work, consistently providing value to his community without asking for much in return.
You just can’t buy trust.
Has to be earned.
Below you’ll find other creators who I’ve been studying.
As you’re going through these examples, I want you to continuously ask yourself:
“Would they be just as successful without having an online presence?”
The answer in most (if not all) cases, is no.
Having an online presence, building distribution, and nurturing a community is what has increased their surface area for luck to happen to them.
Pieter Levels - The famous solo Indie Hacker who generates $100k+/mo.
MKBHD - The YouTube who built a massive audience reviewing products.
Laura Shin - The ex-Forbes editor turned entrepreneur, journalist, & podcaster.
Packy McCormick - The popular internet writer turned investor & advisor.
Jay Clouse - The creator teaching others how to become professional creators.
Zach Pogrob - The popular Instagram creator turned entrepreneur.
Jon Youeshaei The ex-Youtube employee turned popular YouTuber himself.
Pat Walls - The builder turned YouTuber, highlighting entrepreneur stories.
Brett Williams - The guy who popularized productized services with design.
Justin Welsh - The “Diversified Solopreneur” who grew to $5M in revenue.
Dan Koe - The internet writer turned entrepreneur, author, and YouTube Creator.
Tony Dinh - The indie hacker building and shipping products in public.
Marc Louvio - The entrepreneur turned indie hacker turned online creator.
Amanda Goetz - The 3x CMO turned online creator and fractional CMO.
Taylor Lorenz - The Washington Post writer turned creator and entrepreneur.
Dickie Bush - The entrepreneur teaching people how to become better writers.
Jack Butcher - The Designer turned entrepreneur and popular online creator.
Greg Isenberg - The VC-backed startup founder turned “Multipreneur”.
Roberto Nickson - The software studio founder turned creator/entrepreneur.
Sho Dewan - The tech recruiter turned popular Instagram creator/entrepreneur.
Kevin Espiritu - The urban gardener turned YouTuber creator & entrepreneur.
Andrew Yeung - The Googler turned entrepreneur & tech event host.
David Perell - The Twitter writer turned educator and entrepreneur.
Trung Phan - The popular Twitter creator turned entrepreneur.
Colin & Samir - The guys breaking down the creator economy in real time.
& so many more.
I’ve spent countless hours going through their content.
Here are a few that highlight the importance of building an online presence:
Each creator has their own niche, content style, and business model, but I did find commonalities amongst all of them.
Here’s the playbook they all follow:
They built their online character by creating daily content around their obsessions, experiences, and unique point of view.
They built their cult-like following (aka distribution) via social platforms, email/newsletters, podcasts, & community platforms.
They launch businesses that solve niche problems in areas where they’ve positioned themselves as experts.
Simple in theory, tough to do repeatedly over time.
If building an audience was easy, then everyone would do it.
It requires time, effort, and consistency.
This email is probably becoming annoyingly long, so I’ll close out with a recap of my thesis to bring us home.
Thesis:
Building an online presence is one of the highest leverage uses of your time.
Reasoning:
Building an audience will become increasingly more valuable in the coming years
AI will make content creation easier, resulting in high-trust personal brands becoming more valuable
Having an engaged community = massive leverage, resulting in opportunities, freedom, & control
Having owned distribution allows you to highly separate your inputs from your outputs
Having a loyal following increases the odds of success for your business
I’ll keep preaching this until people catch on.
“Creator Mode” is all about owning your distribution, creating things aligned with you your obsessions, and solving problems that you’re uniquely positioned to solve.
I’ll continue use myself as a live case study to show people.
Don’t worry, I’ll share everything along the way.
Follow along on X for more.
Cheers,
Ish
🫡
Resources to help you get started as a creator:
