Sam Blumenthal

Shop LIT’s successful livestream formats include exclusive promotions, product launch announcements and seasonal sales, said Zhang. The platform is integrated with Shopify and can be accessed via the Shopify app store to list products. Each purchase on the app is fulfilled by the individual participating brand. While the app earns revenue from... See more

A New Entertainment Model, The Imagination Economy, Amateurization, and the Four Components of the Metaverse

When it comes to buying, more buyers can be validating. Unlike the rise of social vertical communities—a promising trend in its own right—the success of a shopatainment platform isn’t about fostering community and intimacy among a small group of fellow shoppers. Shopatainment is a numbers game, where seeing more shoppers purchase a product helps... See more

Another piece of CryptoKitties’ success was the story. CryptoKitties were adorable, shareable, and fun — and the idea of buying a $1,000 digital cat was so absurd that it made a great news story. Additionally, the smart contract’s overeager users “broke Ethereum”, which made for a story in and of itself. Since Ethereum can only process a limited... See more

In the span of just two years, Whatnot became the first U.S. livestream shopping unicorn with a valuation of $1.5 billion. Its app is home to thousands of sellers that deal in sports and Pokemon trading cards, action figures and comic books. Some have created multi-million dollar businesses on the back of its marketplace. Lafontaine says it’s these... See more