The direct-to-consumer landscape has many faces, professions, and levels of experience. The collective also has many opinions on how the industry is going to develop. 2PM compiled a list of many top people who run, analyze, report, and invest in and around the industry.”DTC Twitter” is a loose moniker for this group of professionals, students, and leaders who are varied in their thinking, approach, and background. Their words and conversation aren’t exclusively commerce or retail-rooted. In fact, the value in following along will be considerably derived from the diversity of their thoughts, topics, and cited sources.
This cohort has influenced online retail. Some are teachers of the math of customer acquisition, some understand how sociology influences demand, and some have taken brands from zero to one. A few of this list’s members are employed by the platforms that these brands use to distribute their products and a few have become masters of investing in what will continue to shape our consumer economy.
The coffee house analogy
Though coffee was originally an Ethiopian staple of the 10th century, the institution of the coffee-house was a continuation of coffee’s influence in Yemen, then-Persia, and Turkey. The first European coffee-house opened to the public in the mid-17th century. And the idea of the coffee house has been credited with driving the movement towards reason, individualism, and deep thought. The coffee-house was a proponent of the Age of Enlightenment, a time known for the contributions of intellectuals like Locke, Francis Bacon, Voltaire, and Descartes.
In the Age of Enlightenment (1715-1789), a European could gain entry into a coffee-house by buying a drink. But the drink was just the price of admission, the conversation was the attraction. It wasn’t solely the conversations on matters of sociology, economics, and law that drove the age forward. Sometimes, patrons would overhear concepts that will fill gaps in their own thinking. Other conversations would solidify pivotal ideas, directly and indirectly.
The coffee houses of the Age of Enlightenment were exclusive to the male upper class and the distinguished intelligentsia. In that way, I’d argue that the great flaw of this age was its socio-economic exclusivity. Rather than relying upon the merits of the thoughts shared, there was a status required to join the conversation. Today, platforms like Twitter and Slack are the closest that we have to the coffee houses of old. On these platforms, a diverse group of people can have a remarkable influence on an idea or an outcome.
The DTC List
Rather than pursuing an exclusive solution, we chose the open source approach to amplifying these DTC conversations. It’s in the above context that we’ve provided a few tools to replicate the cross section of profession and personality in the DTC space. We’ve listed many top contributors below. The list is organized by first-name alphabetical and it includes their current title, professional class, and their profession.
| Person | Type | Twitter Account | Position | City | 2PM Indexes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron Orendorff | Analyst | @AaronOrendorff | Editor-in-Chief | Portland | None Yet |
| Aaron McClendon | Operator | @acmcclendon | Venture Capitalist | Detroit | None Yet |
| Alex Taussig | Operator | @ataussig | Venture Capitalist | San Francisco | DTC Investor Index |
| Ana Andjelic | Analyst | @andjelicaaa | Consultant | New York City | None Yet |
| Andrew Chen | Operator | @andrewchen | Venture Capitalist | Palo Alto | DTC Investor Index |
| Andrew Dudum | Operator | @AndrewDudum | Founder | San Francisco | DNVB Power List |
| Ann Marie Alcantra | Media | @itstheannmarie | Reporter - AdWeek | New York City | None Yet |
| Austin Rief | Analyst | @austin_rief | Founder | New York City | Indie Digital Publishers |
| Brandon Hoffman | Operator | @BHoffmanRetail | Consultant | Los Angeles | None Yet |
| Brianne Kimmel | Operator | @briannekimmel | Consultant | Palo Alto | None Yet |
| Casey Armstrong | Operator | @CaseyA | CMO | Chicago | Logistics Index |
| Conor McDonald | Analyst | @couuor | Consultant | Los Angeles | None Yet |
| David Perrell | Analyst | @david_perell | Founder | New York City | None Yet |
| Donald Richard | Analyst | @DonaldRichard | Founder | New York City | None Yet |
| Elizabeth Segran | Media | @LizSegran | Reporter - Fast Company | Cambridge | None Yet |
| Eric Toda | Operator | @toda | Executive | San Francisco | None Yet |
| Hans Tung | Operator | @hanstung | Venture Capitalist | Woodside | DTC Investor Index |
| Henry Davis | Analyst | @henryshandle | Consultant | New York City | None Yet |
| Helena Price | Operator | @helena | Founder | San Francisco | None Yet |
| Hilary Milnes | Media | @hilarymilnes | Reporter - Digiday | New York City | Indie Digital Publishers |
| Hugh Thomas | Operator | @uglyhugh | Founder | New York City | DNVB Power List |
| Hunter Walk | Operator | @HunterWalk | Venture Capitalist | Los Angeles | DTC Investor Index |
| Jake Mendel | Analyst | @ijakemendel | Consultant | New York City | None Yet |
| Jason Del Rey | Media | @DelRey | Reporter - Recode | New York City | None Yet |
| Jason Stein | Operator | @jasonwstein | Venture Capitalist | New York City | None Yet |
| Jeremy S. Liew | Operator | @jeremysliew | Venture Capitalist | San Francisco | DTC Investor Index |
| Jesse Genet | Operator | @jessegenet | Founder | Los Angeles | DNVB Power List |
| Jonathan Mew | Analyst | @jonmew | Consultant | London | None Yet |
| Jonathan Poma | Operator | @pomajp | Executive | Columbus | Agency Power List |
| Kaleigh Moore | Media | @kaleighf | Freelance Writer | Chicago | None Yet |
| Keith Knapp | Operator | @kknapp | Executive | Cincinnati | None Yet |
| Kristen Green | Operator | @kirstenagreen | Venture Capitalist | San Francisco | DTC Investor Index |
| Lauren Thomas | Media | @laurenthomasx3 | Reporter - CNBC | New York City | None Yet |
| Magdalena Kala | Analyst | @magdalenakala | Venture Capitalist | Boston | None Yet |
| Nate Poulin | Analyst | @digitallynativ | Consultant | Austin | None Yet |
| Nicole Quinn | Operator | @Nik_Quinn | Venture Capitalist | San Francisco | DTC Investor Index |
| Nik Sharma | Operator | @mrsharma | Executive | New York City | None Yet |
| Paul Munford | Operator | @leanluxe | Founder | Washington D.C. | None Yet |
| Peter Pham | Operator | @peterpham | Venture Capitalist | Los Angeles | None Yet |
| Raj Nijjer | Operator | @RajNijjer | Executive | New York City | None Yet |
| Robin Li | Operator | @robin_p_li | Executive | New York City | DTC Investor Index |
| Ryan Caldbeck | Operator | @ryan_caldbeck | Venture Capitalist | San Francisco | DTC Investor Index |
| Sapna Shah | Operator | @RedGiraffe | Consultant | New York City | None Yet |
| Steeve Vakees | Operator | @steevevakees | Executive | New York City | None Yet |
| Steven Dennis | Analyst | @StevenPDennis | Consultant | Dallas | None Yet |
| Taylor Holiday | Operator | @taylorholiday | Founder | Newport | Agency Power List |
| Taylor Sicard | Operator | @taylorsicard | Founder | New York City | DNVB Power List |
| Tracey Wallace | Operator | @TraceWall | Founder | Austin | DNVB Power List |
| Wilson Hung | Operator | @WilsonGHung | Executive | Toronto | None Yet |
| Web Smith | Operator | @Web | Founder | Columbus | DNVB Power List |
| Zoe Leavitt | Operator | @zoe_leavitt | Analyst | New York City | None Yet |
Follow them, individually, or you can visit an actively updating list by visiting 2PM’s first and only Twitter list. Many of these participants are moving the direct to consumer economy forward. Each of these professionals challenge thoughts, authors unique positions, devise strategies, or actively invest in an evolving ecosystem of: products, services, agencies, and their technical platforms. Whichever direction the industry moves, you’ll find the signals – here – long before those developments materialize.
Read the No. 305 curation here.
Report by Web Smith | About 2PM