Influencers are the future of discovery-driven, brand-centric commerce. This means that they’re juxtaposed to Amazon and search-driven, brand-agnostic commerce. Picks and shovels like Shopify and Stripe enable influencer commerce.

Here the “product” is the individual or something they’ve written, spoken, curated, or created. This category relies on influence and people caring about what you say or think in a particular niche. Customers, often “fans” or “supporters”, provide payments directly to their favorite creators as a one-off transaction or a regularly recurring subscri... See more

A creator needs a community, and not just any old community, but one that takes advantage of the most important dynamic enabled by the internet: a network effect.