Clipping apps become a real distribution channel
What happened: “Clip marketplaces” like Clipping pay legions of editors/posters per 1k views to cut and syndicate shorts from long-form video - the original meaning of the word ‘clipping’ (Digiday). Clipping coordinates campaigns via Discord and reports 23,300 clippers and $7.7M YTD sales (LA Times). MrBeast also launched his own marketplace, Vyro, to “get paid to post” (Vyro), with explainer write-ups noting ~$3 per 1,000 views on some campaigns (Opus).
Why it matters: performance-priced reach (pay for delivered views, not followers) while thousands of clippers compete on hook quality and speed (Digiday) - it’s a great organic channel.
Clipping is also:
a new form of gig economy: the clippers are attracted to the opportunity to start earning immediately, sometimes with hourly payments.
a trust-builder: people still watch people, and still react as ‘it might be good’ if someone reposts.
a new moat of social media. If everyone starts using this model, new creators withut this tool will struggle. It’s like editing manually in the AI era.
Expect new startups in line with this trend: both marketplaces and tools for analytics, fraud-prevention, etc.
a16z: AI lifts all boats, but the scarce piece is the human edge (especially that final 1% approval!)
The read: A great newsletter from a16z discusses how increasing productivity in one ares (read: better AI) is doing 2 things: boosting the usage of the good thing, AND boosting the demand/prices for other, not so efficient things.
This is an amazing piece on economic theory applied to modern day problems!
Why it matters: As AI take more tasks, there still will be the final 1% done by humans. This may take form of regulation, of specific consultancy, or of high-demand jobs. Hope we’re all making one of those!
It makes sense to design products (or your own services as a human) that wrap automation with premium human loops - and positioning them accordingly.
PMF for AI startups: durability of spend > demo wow
The read: Ann Bordetsky from NEA told a packed room at TechCrunch Disrupt about new mesnings of product market fit. Early adoption is a signal - except AI spend is often experimentation for big companies. True PMF shows up as durable budget, retention, and workflow embed - less the vanity of trials and virality.
Why it matters: Check for prolonged, active usage (renewal cohorts, seat activation, time-to-second-use), aim for the smallest loop that locks into a daily/weekly workflow. And talk to your clients’ decision-makers about their budget approach and core tools in their workflows. (TechCrunch).
VC & accelerators news: Europe’s deep-tech is on the move
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Have a great week of ventures and adventures ahead!
Jane