The consumer purchase decision process has changed. Information and opinions are available to consumers before and during their purchase decision, making them more informed. They also know that they have the same ability to share their experience of a product, a brand and a purchase with others, making them more active in their decision to share or not share their experience with a product or brand.

In my experience, there’s a significant misunderstanding in how transformative the identity of “creator” has been on society. This blog, specifically, is to create a more conclusive view of exactly what the “creator” ecosystem is doing, how it’s changing, and how on earth it got to be worth tens of billions of dollars globally.

As someone who’s spent time as close to the center of the creator ecosystem, I’ve become fascinated with the bucketing of this entire ecosystem as just an economy. We don’t do this to any other profession (independent or corporate) or cultural identity.

This disconnect is exactly what’s cost the venture ecosystem to throw (at minimum, excluding creator-focused and creator-run funds) over $2.4B venture dollars into what’s considered “creator economy companies” with very minimal outcomes. There is also an increased view of the “creator economy” as a repercussion of an inflated economy. Still, influential people-driven businesses are at the focus at the venture ecosystem more than ever.

So what’s the actual use of online individuals of influence to the tech ecosystem? Consumer software, software, and tech in general, have lost the 1) trust and 2) attention of the average consumer. Individuals who have learned how to game the shift into the “creator ecosystem” have inherent founder→customer relationship fit, rather than founder→market “persona” or product→ market fit.

This thesis can be broken up into six parts:

This can be visible as a viable identity to track by the growing popularity of what I categorize as “Creator Studies.”

Note: I have only personally had experience in the American creator economy, but for everyones sake, let’s assume a lot of these societal trends are visible in most capitalistic societies.

Creator is the New Consumer

1. Creator = Consumer

Creator is the New Consumer