Sam Blumenthal

NFTs clearly belong in that tradition. They are digital social objects. Except they are a lot wilder. They don’t live within particular platforms or walled gardens, and aren’t attached to a particular company’s technology or even a specific open standard.

What’s the biggest mistake that founders make in hiring their Head of Growth? In my opinion, it’s when the founders are trying to abdicate responsibility for their growth efforts, and hoping that a magical hire solves everything. The problem is, a startup’s growth is so fundamental that the founders have to take it on themselves. The buck stops at... See more

And with Escape Velocity, we see the emergence of the classic “Growth Team” that the big companies have.  Escape Velocity,  Goal: Scaling up growth across many efforts and channels,  Roadmap: Multiple growth strategies — primarily 2 or 3 — that work in concert to grow the product to millions or tens of millions of users,  Outcomes: Multiple... See more

Yet increasingly, brands are elevating unboxing into an altogether new marketing strategy. A growing number have begun selling their products as “mystery boxes,” clearing the way for unboxing videos where customers genuinely don’t know what’s inside — and allowing brands to bundle their products in a way that is ready-made to go viral on YouTube... See more

As online video platforms seek a business model beyond advertising, and short videos start to look more and more like commercials, it turns out that commerce may be video’s killer app. And not only could video apps become ecommerce apps, but all ecommerce apps may also have to become video apps. Various platforms from China show us how this can be... See more