备忘录类型屋
Bundle and unbundle, bundle and unbundle, bundle and unbundle – but then generate profits on both. These weren’t his exact words but that was the message. In one sentence, my father described his industry. At 12, I sat in a cubicle in a Houston industrial park, an unofficial intern of his Time Warner Communications division. I would go on to work the traditional work weeks, each summer, between that year and my graduating year of high school. I was paid in perspective, and I mean that sincerely.
At the time, my father was the senior executive in charge of a fledgling broadband internet project called “RoadRunner.” (It would later go on to power Texas’ residential internet needs, but that’s a different story.) His words were transcendent to me because they explained that the value of a product could be amplified by how it’s packaged.
By now, you’ve heard of the TikTok influencer craze. (You may have even felt a twinge of fatigue by the momentum of it all. There is new terminology, dance moves and global political implications to keep up with, along with the excessive screen time required to digest it all.) This creative platform has further popularized the concept of the “collaborative house” made popular by YouTube creators David Dobrik (Vlog Squad) and Jake Paul (Team 10). For the most marketable of these houses, the platform began to matter less. Dobrik, a videographer and philanthropist who began on YouTube, nearly duplicated the magnitude of his audience on TikTok in just a month’s time. New members join, old members leave as their profiles grow. Collaborative groups are reminiscent of the cable industry’s intrigue: bundle, unbundle, bundle, unbundle.
In the land of TikTok, the Hype House is a particular group of 20-something content creators who live in or around Los Angeles; many of whom cohabitate. The group includes a number of the best and brightest creators in the space, including former members Charli D’Amelio and her sister Dixie. Together, the sisters have amassed 10s of millions of subscribers across TikTok, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. Some industry analysts argue that the D’Amelio family is the next Kardashian clan. Objectively speaking, that anointing is the golden calf of media and commerce opportunities.
无标题
D’Amelio family is the new Kardashian family.@charlidamelio + @dixiedamelio + @marcdamelio + @heididamelio
The TikTok house seems like it exists in an entirely different media universe than the email newsletter, but there are more similarities than it would appear. Critics of the newsletter industry say its missing the above frameworks: collaborative houses, bundling, unbundling, platform agnostic growth, and the power of media-driven commerce. There aren’t many venture-funded companies with as much raw potential as Charli D’Amelio or David Dobrik. In both cases, the young entrepreneurs mastered the physics of new media. In its own way, the newsletter industry is hoping to crown their own winners. Those winners will accomplish the same.
Consider the inevitability of “subscription fatigue.” It’s a common refrain made by critics of the burgeoning newsletter industry, one that Substack has helped to democratize and Ben Thompson’s Stratechery has helped to inspire. In 2019, Gartner’s Laurie Wurster wrote:
By 2020, all new entrants and 80% of historical vendors will offer subscription-based business models.
But the fear of paid subscription fatigue may be overstated. There are two categories of monthly subscriptions:
Category No. 1: entertainment, distraction, or light enrichment.
Category No. 2: helps to build a new world by enabling education, professional growth, or networking opportunities.
Each of our paid subscriptions can be placed, primarily, into one of the above categories. The first category has dwindling demand elasticity. This may explain Quibi’s current trouble: consumers can only tolerate so many distractions. There’s infinite substitutes for entertainment, sensationalism, dopamine hits. The subscription ecosystem becomes finite at a certain extent. This category includes streaming services, games, digital entertainment.
The second category has demand elasticity that may hold steady. This group of subscriptions may also compete with continued education, social clubs, or corporate networking. Certain newsletters may improve or outright replace certain social or professional functions. Some of the best newsletters are also building communities around ideas, possibility, and navigating the future of the industry.
A play on the TikTok craze, the newsletter industry has its own brand of collaborative house. In it: great ideas have been ideated, concepted, and executed.
Founded by Nathan Baschez, The Type House is a group of 40 newsletter publishers: former A16Z associate Li Jin, Turner Novak, David Perrell, Sriram Krishnan, Lenny Rachitsky, Brett Bivens, Blake Robbins, Ian Kar, Alex Kantrowitz, Cherie Hu, Packy McCormick, Adam Keesling, Dan Shipper, Polina Marinova, Sari Azout, Nikhil Trivedi, Nikhil Krishnan, Brad Wolverton, Josh Constine, Sid Jha, Laura Chau, Morning Brew CEO Alex Lieberman, Trapital‘s Dan Runcie, Byrne Hobart, Allen Gannett, Sarah Nockel, Brett G, Paul Smalera, Trends.vc’s Dru Riley, Justin Gage, Rui Ma, Cat Lee, Can Duruk, Alex Taussig, Seyi Taylor, and myself.
Bundle and unbundle, bundle and unbundle, bundle and unbundle – but then generate profits on both.
The group is diverse in every sense of the term. Within it, you can observe the mechanics of media-driven commerce at work. Of the highlights, consider David Perrell. The writer-turned-teacher has monetized with educational courses. His company is now generating seven-figures in annual revenue. Morning Brew is one of the most promising newsletter-driven companies in business today. Dan Runcie has pivoted from media to consulting those in the hip hop industry. In doing so, his existing Trapital product has become top-of-funnel for lucrative consulting projects. 2PM continues to successfully navigate high level consulting and the growth of its own paid community of senior executives, artists, scientist, and independent thinkers. Polymathic is nearing its first year in existence. But, perhaps, the greatest indication of what’s to come is a throwback to my time in the Houston cubicle. Bundle and unbundle, bundle and unbundle.
Of Substack’s brightest opportunities to solidify its place in the creator ecosystem, the Everything Bundle began as an experiment between Nathan Baschez and Dan Shipper. It has since grown to include Adam Keesling, Li Jin, and Tiago Forte’s work. By bundling their individual efforts, they’ve developed a flywheel of business that has propelled them to Substack’s famed leaderboard. Though each of them are very capable of self-promotion, its their collective works that seem to drive new consumers to sign on for $20 per month or $200 per year. With each new property that is added to Everything, a new wave of subscriptions follow suit. I’ve likened the pivot to Basche and Shipper building The Athletic of business and intellectualism. And it just might work.
The value of prolific writing and creativity is that you’re always in a pattern of thought. You’re constantly assessing beliefs and designing paths to further your understanding of a topic. When entrepreneurial thinkers begin a newsletter on the platform of their choosing, they are doing so out of sheer passion. Their minds are always thinking of enrichment, improvement, development, and progress. Like the YouTube videographers of yesterday, or the TikTok minds of today, or any creator of tomorrow, the art is rarely contained by the platform. The great secret of creativity is that it can evolve. Many of today’s brightest businesses were yesterday’s projects-turned-ventures.
There is great potential for any subscription-driven media company to grow beyond its early intentions. If and when subscription fatigue begins to hinder the newsletter industry’s growth, the best and brightest will identify new mediums for their message and their engaged communities will follow. From YouTube to Vine to TikTok, this is what great digital creators have always done. They’ve outworked fatigue. It’s due time to place newsletter entrepreneurs in this coveted category.
By Web Smith | Editor: Hilary Milnes | Art: Andrew Haynes | About 2PM
第 343 期从观众到社区
致创作者的一封公开信 现在，可行的会员制新闻通讯即使没有成千上万，也有成百上千。这是一件大好事--对于创作者和消费者来说都是一个明确的优势。在这成千上万份新闻通讯中，有很多都是原创观点、新闻和分析的来源，对专业生态系统来说非常有价值。这些想法的综合才具有最大的潜在影响。如果说教育是无价的，那么我们正在进入一个创造价值的新时代。想象一下启蒙时代的咖啡馆。
有经营者经营的通讯，他们发表原创性的想法。还有一些有意义的信件，对他人的观点进行整理。其中有些是新闻报道，有些则是对行业发展进行分类和评论。通常情况下，一个人撰写的报道会经过其他人的润色。华尔街日报》或CNBC等主流媒体也会经常采用原创概念，并将其变成自己的内容。就像咖啡馆一样，这是一种有价值的信息综合形式。
约翰-道尔是密歇根州立大学的教授。在他近 40 年的职业生涯中，他教授过英语、社会学和人类学。他的 "综述导论 "课程介绍了以下内容：
综述是利用一个或多个资料来源进行的书面讨论。因此，您撰写综述的能力取决于您推断资料来源之间关系的能力，包括散文、文章、小说以及非书面资料来源，如讲座、访谈、观察等。这个过程对您来说并不陌生，因为您一直都在推断各种关系--比如，您在报纸上读到的东西与您亲眼看到的东西之间的关系，或者您最喜欢和最不喜欢的教师的教学风格之间的关系。
在启蒙时代（1715-1789 年），欧洲人只要买一杯饮料就能进入咖啡馆。但喝酒只是入场费，谈话才是吸引力所在。推动这个时代前进的不仅仅是关于社会学、经济学和法律问题的谈话。有时，顾客会无意中听到一些概念，这些概念会填补他们自己思想上的空白。其他谈话则直接或间接地巩固了关键性的观点。
咖啡馆的灵感
2015 年 11 月，我在咖啡馆的一次谈话让我印象深刻，这是我参加过的最重要的专业讨论之一。讨论的主题是社区的机制，以及对能够最大限度利用偶然性的工具的需求。在 2015 年末一个闲散的日子里，我开始筹划推出当时名为2PM Links 的网站。我支付了一项名为 "Goodbits"的服务，并推出了网站的登陆页面。在推特上推动 "2PM "的想法一周左右后，我确认第一封信将发布给12位读者。接下来，我将每周发布五天，连续发布 180 个工作日。
在纸面上：2PM 链接 "一方面是原创概念，另一方面是数据和叙事的综合，是对发展动态的梳理，将讲述一个故事。电子邮件本身将允许进行 1:1 对话。参与度最高的读者会写信解释他们是如何识别微观趋势和大型运动的。其他人则会解释如何综合每封信以达到最佳效果。有时，我会读到一位早期订阅者发来的电子邮件，解释几周来的一组文章如何帮助他们规划公司的下一步。在近两年的时间里，这些信件帮助他们维持了保持业务一致性的动力。
伸展距离与深度
为了创办一个旨在慢慢成长的刊物，我一直在成熟的公司里担任有报酬的职务。不过，在创办这家刊物时，我正处于媒体工作的间歇期。我曾在两家数字媒体出版商管理或领导过电子商务，从这两种风格迥异的基于转换（阅读：联盟）的出版方式中学到了很多东西。
A 公司建立了一个超目标漏斗，专门针对特定（富裕）消费者。在这里，直接流量很高，搜索引擎优化是次要漏斗。品牌是最重要的。这家公司将依靠它。公司 B建立的系统依靠的是搜索引擎优化和话题兴趣，而不是平台本身的影响力。对B 公司而言，读者忠诚度是搜索引擎优化发现的次要因素。访问者点击阅读的是他们偶然发现的话题。如果 A是一个漏斗，那么它就会又短又宽。信任是随着时间的推移而建立起来的。对于A 来说，读者群是由对平台的忠诚度驱动的。与此同时，B漏斗 通过优化文章的主题关键词来吸引新读者。它的漏斗更长，整个漏斗有多个入口。这些入口也是退出的机会。流失率更高。
结果是
- A 公司：受众较少，忠诚度较高，转化率较高。180 万至 220 万 MAU。产品细分市场：现代奢侈品。
- B 公司：忠诚度较低、转换率较低、受众较多。600-700 万 MAU。产品细分：从平易近人的奢侈品到日常交易。
A和B继续以不同的目标经营着成功的媒体品牌。俗话说，猫有猫的皮，猫有猫的皮。
为了证明通讯的长期可行性，我给自己分配了 180 个字母来思考问题。随着事情的进展，2PM 公司越来越具有A 公司的特征。当我写到第 180 封信时，会有三种选择：
- 推进并发布第 181 号
- 关信
- 重设平台，建立公司
我的选择是第三个方案。在我长达 7 页的潦草计划中，我同意强调深度而非广度。我会继续强调媒体的 "A "版本。为此，我强调付费订阅模式。然后是数据/咨询模式。之后是高管社区。这些举措将使我能够把收入再投资于改进服务、设计、内容开发和更广泛的整体访问。
从受众到社区
在 2017 年 12 月至 2018 年 1 月的两周时间里，我将 Goodbits 重新平台化为 Mailchimp，并围绕 Memberful 整合进行了设计。我对品牌和设计进行了投资。我在空闲时间编写了网站 v1 的大部分代码。后来，我将大约 240 个版本的 2PM 逐一导入 WordPress 网站。2018 年 3 月，经过两个月的测试，2PM 的第一个会员向《周一来信》的订阅者推出。
这样，2PM 的系统就成了一个漏斗。大约 10% 的订阅者会成为执行会员。在收到邀请后，一定比例的执行会员会选择与多个数字行业中志同道合的高管直接交流。
2PM 的执行成员社区 Polymathic 的灵感来自两个不同的想法。
- 该论坛旨在通过以下方式帮助有才能的高管开发新的核心竞争力：(a) 找出盲点，(b) 向掌握这些追求的领导者学习。
- 当我来到最近一次Code Commerce 时，我记得我在会场的第一个小时内进行了四次精彩的对话。他们是杰森-德尔雷（Jason Del Rey）、亚历克斯-陶西格（Alex Taussig）、马克-洛尔（Marc Lore）和珍-卢比奥（Jen Rubio）。
参加 Recode 为期两天的活动，门票从 2000 美元到 4000 美元不等。在这方面，定价起到了重要作用。在那里，与你交谈的每个人都有可能给你留下宝贵的印象。这些活动往往会吸引高层经营者。在这些重要活动的主题演讲之间，几乎不会浪费交谈的时间，而且每次课外互动都会增加专业价值。因此，活动并不是唯一的产品。参会者社区提供了额外的价值。多数学论坛的设计类似于圣丹斯、PopTech、谷歌的Solve for X或FOO营等顶级会议的数字走廊。随着人数的增加，会场的实力也在增强。
从在我们的月度圆桌会议上接待 15-25 名执行成员，到建立 2PM 的Polymathic，从受众到社区的转变提供了以前无法想象的偶然性。订阅收入成为这里的关键变量。付费会员制提供了广告平台无法提供的机会。举个实际的例子，快餐店和四星级餐厅的区别就在这里。
餐馆一般分为两种。一种连锁店标榜 "服务数十亿人"。这强调了公司的关键绩效指标：覆盖面、数量和大众满意度。但是，如果你并不想让大众满意呢？第二种类型的餐厅除了注重食物和服务的质量外，还注重谈话的氛围。在后一种环境中，更容易发现偶然性。这体现了从优先考虑受众（覆盖面）到优先考虑社区（深度）的转变。
GoDaddy 的高级营销经理 Andy McIllwain 对时事通讯行业的发展以及从受众到社区的转变有一个有趣的想法。他在一系列简短的推文中解释道：
2010 年代是社交媒体平台彻底开放的年代--一个巨大的、难以管理的烂摊子。未来十年呢？钟摆重新摆回兴趣和目的的小众社区。
麦克尔温继续说道：
社区收入模式：直接赞助、分级会员费、联盟佣金和付费体验（活动、疗养）。品牌需要参与其中。这是从受众到社区的转变。
虽然在Substack 出现之前就有会员制新闻通讯，但随着 A16Z 支持的平台越来越受欢迎，付费社区的概念也得到了普及。就像在您最喜欢的餐厅就餐一样，在这些环境中，如果操作得当，食物只是吸引人的一部分。另一部分则是氛围和环境。对于 2PM，社区的理念更进一步。行政会员资格为偶然性带来了合法的机会。每年，我们会邀请付费会员在主要市场（纽约、洛杉矶、芝加哥、奥斯汀和波士顿）之一参加十次免费晚宴。
这样一来，由媒体驱动的封闭式社区就成了数字公共空间噪音的解毒剂。你可以在以下刊物中看到这一点：Trapital、Petition、Off The Chain、Stratechery 和 Thing Testing：Trapital、Petition、Off The Chain、Stratechery 和 Thing Testing。 在每一个案例中，每一位媒体创始人都孜孜不倦地为其付费会员提供价值。会员资格是对未来的投票，也是对现在的投票。这样的企业还有更大的发展空间。而这些项目往往始于围绕原创想法的简单策略。希望有更多的新闻简报推出，更多的社区形成。我们应该鼓励参与和竞争。创意就是这样形成的。整个生态系统就是今天的咖啡馆。这不仅仅是媒体的未来，它还象征着人类将数字优先文化作为自身文化的更大转变。
报道：Web Smith | 编辑：Carolyn Penner |约 2PM