Social Commerce: Web3 & The Digital Franchise Model

We are excited about the next generation of these companies, which we are calling “Internet franchises.” These platforms use software and other tech to scale the franchise model, giving operators the ability to run a business built on the product(s) and infrastructure of a parent company without the physical real estate and capital required for tra... See more

What does this mean? All of the infrastructure and services that were once optimized for physical SMBs / mom-and-pops need to be overhauled to accommodate internet-first businesses. If you were a YouTuber and you walked into Bank of America asking for a small business loan, you would be met with a quizzical look followed by a polite but firm dismis... See more

Finally, commerce and social are coming together, although to much less a degree than marketing teams who talk up “brand communities” would like you to think. In all but a few cases, “community” here is just the marketing language used to describe a microbrand’s niche Instagram fandom. To me “community” implies users regularly engaging with each ot... See more

“The Stakeholder Economy” will reinvigorate emerging brands and local businesses and be the most disruptive force against internet behemoths and global marketplaces. Brands are now collectively determined by the content generation of the masses as opposed to a creative agency and a nationwide ad buy. The second disruptive force at play is the const... See more

The Internet RevolutionI already explained what happened to newspapers when distribution erased local newspapers moats in the blink of an eye; as I suggested at the beginning, though, this was not an isolated incident but a sign of what was to come. Back in July I laid out how the acquisition of Dollar Shaving Club suggested the same process was ha... See more

As we enter the web3 paradigm, there is massive potential to align incentives across consumers and brands in a way that has not been possible before, creating opportunities for co-creation and co-ownership, powered by crypto rails (ex: NFTs and social/community tokens).