Whoever Generates the Demand Captures the Value

This will happen in nearly every industry: value capture will more precisely reflect value creation, and the best will make 10x+ more than they are now.

Further, the internet made the marginal cost of distribution go to zero, implying that adding one additional customer is as simple as adding one more row in a database. It’s virtually free. This means the best companies win by providing the best experience, which earns them the most consumers/users, which attracts the most suppliers, which enhances... See more

Ben Thompson described this phenomenon in his signature aggregation theory. Pre-internet, you captured profits by controlling supply. Now, post-internet, you capture profits by aggregating demand.

Pre-internet, middlemen thrived because they controlled supply. In retail, middlemen controlled shelf-space. In news, newspapers controlled publishing. And in music, record labels controlled distribution. So in this world, retailers, newspapers, and record labels were literal kingmakers, because without these middlemen, consumers wouldn’t have acce... See more

The internet changed all that. It provided a way for anyone to create and distribute products without depending on middlemen, and, in some ways, allowed creators to circumvent middlemen altogether.