Andrew McCluskey

Any enterprising creator can build a business as a curator of products, monetizing her influence. Savvy businesses underpin this new economy. Flagship, one of my portfolio companies at Daybreak, allows anyone with a community to launch their own boutique storefront that showcases their favorite products. They earn ~20% of sales in exchange for... See more

My analysis reveals that successful beauty communities consistently maintain around 50-75 highly active members, regardless of their total size. These aren't just casual participants - they're what I'm calling “core members,” users who posted at least 3 times during my January analysis period.

Curators face the same challenges artists do - getting discovered, building a reachable audience and earning a living. Independent music playlisters might have playlists with hundreds of thousands of followers, but no tools to reach those listeners, know who they are or attribute streams from their playlists.

Did they have to turn into a panopticon, where each of us is prisoner and guard simultaneously?