Hi, everyone! New vibe for Smoothletter, tell all your friends.
Also? We’re hiring. We acquired Energy Central back in July and now we’re looking for a Brand Partnerships Associate to take it to the next level. More here. Share if you feel so inclined!
—Kinsey, cofounder & head of editorial at Smooth Media
Knowledge Creators 🤝 Cool Stuff
The latest content + concepts from the creators we rep here at Smooth
Jen and Kristen from The Wall Street Skinny started covering HBO’s cult favorite investment banking drama Industry with videos calling out the technical errors (gasp). They just launched The Industry, their unofficial companion podcast for the show to break down “what they get RIGHT, what they get WRONG, how it all works, and where the fictional drama intersects with stories from our own lives.” Love seeing J&K use an accessible topic (a popular TV show) to educate their audience.
Kallaway breaks down the Spiderman-inspired new technology from running brand On that somehow 3D prints a shoe in 6 minutes. Funny, that’s the same amount of time it takes me to run one (1) lap around a track.
Camille Bergin aka TheGalacticGal goes deep on the future of hurricane forecasting and how space tech is helping us during extreme weather disasters. This one hit especially hard, given that Camille is from Boone, NC—a town largely leveled by Hurricane Helene. 💜
Avni Barman of Gen She is hosting a power walk for founders and funders in LA next week. Networking, pitching, making friends—all the things you want to be doing during LA Tech Week. For our West Coasters: Get more info here 🚶
Brand Campaigns Hot Off the Press 🗞️
Some of the fun partnerships our team’s been working on with creators + brands
Matt Wolfe x Meta | covering the biggest impacts of Meta’s new AI model for…AI enthusiasts 💯
The Coding Sloth x Notion | “how to study programming the lazy way” (with Notion) is an immediate click for aspiring coders, IMO
The Wall Street Skinny x Public | breaking down an admittedly complicated concept—investing in bonds with Public—with that signature WSS flair
Sondering Emily x IBM | explaining how AI tech from IBM powers even the trickiest elements of game design as Emily builds out her own game
Thoughts for the Road 🛣️
A little something we’ve been chatting about here at Smooth HQ
Back in my day (2017), conferences were not something we’d classify as “cool” or “fun” or “worth your time.” They were simply an excuse to add to your collection of enterprise SaaS company-branded fidget spinners.
Today, though, conferences and events are hot. And better yet, they’re worth the time. Why? People crave IRL connection, niche community, and a break from the norm of their jobs. Following years of pretending we were paying attention to speakers during Zoom events, real-live conferences are so back.
And creators are a big part of the resurgence. Across the creator space, “I attended [insert event here] and did [insert something remarkably cool and interesting here]” videos have gone from peppering our feeds to dominating them. More and more, creators are covering and speaking at major conferences—and we love to see it.
Last month, for example, creators Kallaway and Jacklyn Dallas both attended the biggest AI conference in the world, Salesforce’s 50,000-person Dreamforce (check out their coverage here and here).
And for further reading:
a16z’s Andrew Chen on why startups are back in on events
Event expert Julius Solaris’s 6 observations from the event industry’s biggest event (say that 5x fast)
What are you seeing in the event space? Hit reply and let us know.
Thanks for reading! Please enjoy these cutesy photos of your local Smoothies from a busy couple of months. See you next time!
