The Garden Harvest: 8/1/25
Your weekly digest on the intersection of the Creator Economy and Legacy Media.
Welcome back to the Garden Harvest.
Each week, we gather and curate the freshest insights from the worlds of Creators and Legacy Media, so you can stay rooted in what matters and spot new opportunities where others can’t.
Let’s get into it…
FRESH CLIPPINGS
Lessons from legacy media
When Megan Lightcap from Slow Ventures shares advice with creators, she typically shares an interview podcast with… wait for it… print media entrepreneur Adam Sandow.
Why?
Because, as she explains, legacy philosophy closely mirrors creator entrepreneurship. Perhaps that’s an oversimplification, but when you look at the principles, it’s eerily relevant:
Relentless focus on quality vs. quantity — Remember our most recent long form article? Quality and influence matter much more than mere scale
Build an ecosystem of business — The media is only a launch pad for higher-value, complementary ventures
Identify problems and solve pain points — Uncover issues plaguing customers and use them as inspiration to build a business
As Megan goes on to say, it’s so common for creators today to launch products just because they have large followings, but this approach totally misses the real advantage of creating content.
A community and a distribution platform are not just means of selling, but rather the most powerful market research and go-to-market tools a creator can have.
The creator management business is shifting
In one of this week’s Publish Press newsletters, Syd Cohen asks a simple question: Do creators actually need management?
Creators like MrBeast, Ha Sisters, and PrestonPlayz have parted ways with their managers to bring operations in-house. And maybe more will follow.
Now, Syd does make the point that creators with management make 3x more than those without, per NeoReach. But new business models are emerging.
She gives two examples:
One is Zach Honarvar’s Good Story Studios, which is a new iteration of his management company that now focuses on partnering with creators exclusively on sales and brand partnerships.
The second is Eyal Baumel’s Flywheel, which helps creators with licensing and distribution, i.e. becoming a franchise.
The lesson here is that working with a management firm where you’re one of hundreds of creators isn’t cutting it for some. Creator needs are turning more specific, and companies like those above are filling those specific needs rather than generally managing an entire’s creator business.
Are creator channels the future?
Samsung TV Plus recently announced a partnership with top creators as well as an original content deal with Dhar Mann.
We’ve seen many creators forge deals with traditional streamers. It’s been discussed at length.
The more interesting aspect here are creators getting their own fully fledged channels on a TV ecosystem. In other words, you’ll see the Netflix icon, The Disney+ icon, and next to them… the Mark Rober icon?
For big, established creators, this puts them on par with major companies, but isn’t this what we’ve been talking about all along?
And how does this affect YouTube over the long term? Will creators like Mark shift their attention to their new exclusive channel? Or is it just another extension of his flywheel? Is this better than licensing to Netflix?
We have more questions than answers right now, but this is something worth tracking.
GARDEN VIEW
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When I first saw this heartwarming video, I sent it to a few people to brighten their day.
Then, I found out it was AI.
At least personally, I felt fooled. Then, I came across Shelly Palmer’s analysis on the video, which is worth reading. It talks about what truth even means.
Now that anyone can create content that looks like reality, we sort of need to verify everything. We’re going to need much better filters and much more skepticism moving forward.
What media will we trust?
HARVEST QUOTE
“Owning your IP matters”
At first glance this is a bit of an obvious statement, but really it’s a timely reminder for all creators making deals with companies that retaining your IP rights could be the single most important piece of leverage you have in the long term.
Unfortunately, as Reed describes, it’s not the norm. But if you can manage to do it, you’ll reap the benefits for years to come. It’s something worth fighting for.
See you next week…