Six Months of Knowledge Creators 📈

At the beginning of the year, we rebranded here at Smooth and publicly declared our focus on knowledge creators. We told the world about our commitment to building the platform for this growing and ambitious creator class.

Quick context: When we say “knowledge creators,” we mean…

• Creators who educate and empower their audiences through smart, insightful content.

• Creators who publish their expertise freely and accessibly, ushering in a new era of the internet—allowing anyone to explore diverse topics, develop skills, advance their careers, gain perspectives, overcome challenges, and grow.

For the last six months, we’ve been hard at work helping knowledge creators refine their business strategies, build their content worlds, and partner with world-class brands. So what did we learn in H1 2024? Let’s dive into some learnings, reflections, and debriefs →

First, this feels really true to who we are. This focus on knowledge creators is authentic to the Smooth team because we are a bunch of big ’ol NERDS. Learning about our knowledge creators’ super specific niches—video game development 🎮, career advice for investment bankers 🤑, space tech 👽, etc.—so we can better represent them to partners and the world is like catnip for us.

Second, we like having an edge. There are tons of startups that operate with an agency model and work with content creators and use a sans serif font on their website. But narrowing the scope of our work and specializing on knowledge creators has helped us to stand out from the crowd. And better yet/more importantly, rallying around knowledge creators has helped us communicate both internally and externally what we do and why we do it.

Third, even niches that seem specific are wider than you’d expect. We used to think “space” was a specific knowledge creator niche. But then we got to know space creators covering rockets, space tech, startups, astronomy, etc., and we came to realize that the internet is awfully big and even the special-est of specialties can get more and more refined. Going as narrow as possible without alienating chunks of your audience is how knowledge creators find ideal content-market fit.

Fourth, we were wrong about how quickly the world would “get” this focus. We’re certainly not the first people to put the words knowledge and creator together, but we definitely started beating the drum a lot more back in January with the expectation that it would click. Turns out…there’s still a lot of educating to be done, even six months in. People don’t always get what we mean by knowledge creators. People don’t always get what we’re about. It’s on us to continue making it clear.

Fifth, niche audience 🤝 niche advertiser. This has been a winning combination for Smooth—knowledge creators get to work with brands their audiences actually want to know about, brands get to put their products and stories in front of viewers that truly make sense for them, and everyone is happy.

Ultimately, we believe that knowledge creators continue to have boundless potential and appeal. They know their audiences on a deep and personal level, which allows them to provide real impact—and makes them a key element of any modern marketing department’s strategy. They dictate their own distribution. They are passionate, talented, and creative. And we’ve loved working with and for them.

Disclaimer, though! We’re acutely aware of the fact that business building never really feels done. We’re sure we’ll continue to refine our mission and focus as we scale, buoyed by a team that can think strategically, creatively, and with tremendous focus…no matter what our website tagline reads.

• Acquired is hosting an arena show (is it frowned upon to say they’re in their Eras Tour era?) in SF in September ft. Mark Zuckerberg “and special guests.” I’m interested!

• Spotify will begin letting users comment on podcast episodes. FYI, YouTube is now the most popular podcast platform in the US.

• Sports/media/finance newsletter JohnWallStreet raised $1 million. The goal: add publishing, events, research, and consulting to its existing business.

• Is Jack Schlossberg the ultimate nepo baby knowledge creator…? Much to think about.