Welcome to the fourth issue of our new biweekly newsletter, your go-to destination for the latest events and developments taking place in the San Francisco Bay Area’s creator economy.

If you’ve received this newsletter, then you are either subscribed or someone forwarded it to you. If the latter – and you want to subscribe, get it here and follow us on LinkedIn.

In this issue, we hear from our co-founder Jim Louderback. He is back from Lisbon where he attended Web Summit and we have his exclusive recap on everything he saw and heard. 

We also have updates to share about our upcoming community holiday party on Thursday, December 19th, at Dovetail’s San Francisco office. Please RSVP by Thursday, December 5th, to attend if you haven’t already.

Finally, we highlight upcoming events taking place inside and beyond the Bay Area, select news stories relevant to our community, hot Bay Area-based jobs and a fun new section: “Hella Bay Area” Creator Pick.

Let’s dive in!

— The Bay Area Creator Economy Community Team

Event Recap: Inside Web Summit 

Jim Louderback, Contributor

If you've never been to Web Summit, put it on your bucket list.  I am flying back as I write this from my fourth one (in a row), and I can't wait to go back.

There's a strong international creator presence there, which the event has been developing for the last four years. I brought creators there in 2021, and have emceed their creator economy stage the last three years. It was called the Verified Stage for the first two, and then expanded into the "New Media Summit" this year.  

OK that name sounds like a conference from 2010, but it was a tremendous gathering of top CEOs and creators across everything from the company building interactive experiences for Taylor Swift and The Sphere to Jack Conte from Patreon and Lucas Kollman from Lunar X.

But the real reason Web Summit is so much fun is that it explores so many topics, including AI, new power generation tech, marketing, fintech, something called "The Panda Stage", which is not about zoology, and much more. It also brings all sorts of execs and startups together from Europe and beyond.

If you go, definitely try to be a speaker.  If you do you get access to the Speakers Lounge, which is the best place to hang out. Lavishly decorated, with wonderful local food from morning till night, drinks, coffee on demand and a tremendous cast of experts that will stop and chat about anything. For example, I spent 20 minutes eating sushi with a top European tax researcher from Paris, learning about how the EU is tightening its corporate tax laws to keep Apple and others from paying zilch.

I also held my 3rd Annual Inside the Creator Economy meetup with Influencers.Club, and was excited to see Stephanie Hind of Patreon there (she's an honorary member of our Bay Area Creator group, as she stopped by our October meetup in November).  I got a chance to reconnect with many old friends, including Patrick Walker - early YouTube EMEA head, with stints at Base 79 and Facebook too.  He's now teaching wellness and healthy stuff in Cascais, a phenomenal beach town just a few kilometers away from Lisbon - and on a local train line. In addition I learned a new term. Nollywood. At least one studio there makes 2-3 movies a week for a few thousand dollars each. The “N” stands for Nigeria.

The last reason to visit? Lisbon is one of the best European capital cities, full of friendly people, great food, wonderful walking and great sights. There's so much to do in Portugal too. If you're planning a trip, hit me up at our Holiday Party or elsewhere and I'll share some tips. I try to see a new part of the country every time I visit.

You can watch my wrap up video from the New Media Economy here, and check out the meetup photos here too.

Next up for me? The One Billion Followers Summit, where I'll be doing a meetup again with my friends at Influencers.Club, and bringing a bit of our Bay Area community together too. See you there!

Upcoming events

Inside the Bay Area

NOVEMBER

November 20th
Social Media Creators & Influencer Meetup San Francisco #2, 6:30-8:30pm, San Francisco

November 22nd
Founder/VC Friendsgiving Afterparty, 9pm-2am, San Francisco Bay TBD (get on the list to see location)

DECEMBER

HOSTED BY THE BAY AREA CREATOR ECONOMY
1st Annual Community Holiday Party
Get ready to jingle and mingle at our first annual holiday bash! 🎅🏽🕎

Date: Thursday, December 19th
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
Location: Dovetail’s San Francisco Office

Whether you're a solopreneur or part of a large company, everyone deserves a "fun corporate holiday party" so come celebrate with your friends in the Bay Area Creator Economy community.

Expect festive vibes, creative connections and holiday cheer! So far, we have ~70 people confirmed to attend, including: 

Marina Mogilko, Founder and Creator, linguamarina and Silicon Valley Girl
Terren Tong, CEO, Linus Media Group
Kim Larson, Global MD & Head of YouTube Creators, Google
Zach Blume & Nate Houghteling, Co-Founders, Portal A
Neal Jean & Jesse Zhang, Co-Founders, Beacons
Aaron Day, CEO, Amaze Software & Spring Creator Platform
Dylan Huey, Founder and CEO, REACH
Sebastian Fung, Co-Founder and Creator, asksebby

​We are still looking for sponsors so we can add some fun flair to our event – see some of the options below:

• Drinks ($1K)

• Outdoor Heaters ($500)

• Photo Booth ($1K)

Please email [email protected] if you are interested in sponsoring ✨✨

RSVP by Thursday, December 5th, to attend.

Beyond the Bay Area

DECEMBER

December 13th - 14th
Creator Conf, virtual event

Have an event you’d like us to include here? If so, please send the event URL to [email protected].

Community News

• Visa, headquartered in San Francisco, is empowering creators with its financial tools, resources and products that have helped millions of small businesses thrive globally (Visa)
  

• Last week Jack Conte, CEO of San Francisco-based Patreon, highlighted the need for platforms that empower creators to monetize their work effectively, while the company also introduced subscription gifting and discounts (Forbes & The Verge)
  

• Flavrs, co-founded by Bay Area residents Alejandro Oropeza and François Chu, is a TikTok-style video app for food creators that Business Insider included in its list of 13 creator-economy startups to watch in 2024, according to top VCs (Business Insider)
  

• Since hiring Bay Area-based Twitter vet Katherine Rundell earlier this year, beehiiv is investing millions in beehiiv Media Collective, a coalition of writers who will share their thoughts through beehiiv’s platform in exchange for much-needed perks (Tubefilter)
  

• TikTok’s DevDay 2024 in San Jose, CA, unveiled new APIs, AI tools, and innovations, uniting 300+ developers to shape the platform’s future (TikTok)

Jobs

• YouTube Strategic Partner Manager, Creator Third Parties Partnerships @ YouTube / Google (San Bruno, Los Angeles, or New York)

• Executive Communications Manager @ Patreon (San Francisco or New York)

• Senior Product Manager, New AI Product @ VSCO® (San Francisco)

• Content Lead @ Notion (San Francisco)

• Video Creator @ Elegant Themes (San Francisco)

Have a job you’d like us to include here? Send the job posting URL to [email protected].

“Hella Bay Area” Creator Pick

East Bay-based Black comedy and dating creator Joy Ofodu was hilariously not a fan of the Oakland Airport being renamed San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport. Fortunately, for her, on November 12th, a federal judge blocked the airport from renaming itself.

Are you interested in contributing to the community or sponsoring an event? 

Email us at [email protected]