Every company has to be a content company

Sounds cliché, right? Some time back, the narrative was that every company is a fintech company. Now, the zeitgeist says every company is a content company. What is going on?

Let's take this announcement from a16z here: 

We are building a new and separate media property about the future that makes sense of technology, innovation, and where things are going — and now, we’re expanding and opening up our platform to do this on a much bigger scale. We want to be the go-to place for understanding and building the future, for anyone who is building, making, or curious about tech.

a16z has had thought leadership on almost all dimensions of technology, from consumer internet to cryptocurrency to biotech. It started a podcast series giving out insights about these domains through its partners.

Just look at the 'Social strikes back' article series and you'd find the content (and the presentation) at par with, even better than, any good content producing company.

Credits - a16z

a16z is not the only VC fund producing content though. Sequoia, YC, First Round and other VC funds have been doing so too. It makes sense for VC funds to produce content -

1. it helps them build their brand in one/multiple domains through thought leadership and by helping founders think about problems they face (market trends, cofounder hiring, scaling up etc).

2. it is not a lot of extra effort - studying industries, talking to founders is anyway a part of the job

Funds producing content might be new, but that is not all.

We know that consumer companies like Nike have proved their forte in generating content (especially through ads). And while that is the benchmark for good content, a lot of companies (especially internet based) have had blogs to write about stuff related/adjacent to their operations. So companies producing content is not entirely new per se.

Then what is different between that and now?

1. Earlier, companies used to create content as an additional channel for users. Now, a lot of companies are content first - building distribution through content. The major ones here are obviously YouTube, IG, TT influencers, who become big on their content and then start commerce (e.g. Mr Beast). But there are also D2C brands who have started the same way -

   

2. This content is different - it is not just there to inform consumers about the product, but also to help consumers with what they are doing (typically true in a B2B context). VCs generate content that appeals to founders because it helps them in thinking about problems they are facing (understanding market, finding cofounders, scaling up). B2B companies like Stripe write content that helps their customers (either in understanding their product better or dealing with their customers).

This means every company, big or small, B2B or B2C, will benefit in investing in producing content, that can not just benefit but even dominate acquisition and engagement.

As the direct content space is blowing up, the ripples are felt even to companies who have traditionally not been content companies. And if they don’t wake up, it is going to shake down the edifice.

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