Sam Blumenthal

Everyone wants to talk metaverse, but what about advertising?

When it comes to liquidity, the use of most points and rewards is limited to their respective brand ecosystem; consumers cannot redeem them at another company. Hotel brands such as Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott allow points to be used like cash within a certain threshold. However, this is only permitted during hotel stays — and in most cases, points... See more

The daily check-in is a simple yet brilliant feature that encourages users to engage with Pinduoduo on a daily basis. While each check-in does not generate revenue for Pinduoduo, the product experience eventually ties back to commerce if/when users redeem their vouchers. This theoretically should yield a higher customer lifetime value for... See more

Third-party seller acquirers will continue to be popular because many of the large consumer packaged goods companies aren’t as good at selling online, according to Jason Stoffer, general partner at Maveron, a venture capital firm investing in consumer products and services.  “These aggregator companies are good at the online perspective with... See more

Once creators have earned consumers’ attention in a crowded bar called Twitch or Facebook, BYOA is the creator version of: “let’s get out of here, I know a spot😉”.  OnlyFans has grown on the back of Reddit as a free marketing channel, where adult content creators market themselves through popular R-rated subreddits. Reddit itself is not conducive... See more

Native vs. Skeuomorphic innovation, lessons from Gaming, and the future of online commerce