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Same. But a nice observation in conclusion > To me, I think that there is a real opportunity to take away the reins from middlemen who extract value rather th
by wrasee 2y ago
Same. But a nice observation in conclusion
> To me, I think that there is a real opportunity to take away the reins from middlemen who extract value rather than add it by leaning into things we host ourselves. Creators, for too long, have given too much power away to the company that made our lives mildly more convenient. If they’re trying to optimize to the nubs, destroying quality of service in the process, why even bother letting them have a lane in the middle?
- firejake308 2y agoI would love to support creators directly, but there are some hard problems that creators need to solve before they begin direct-to-consumer sales: 1. Discoverability 2. Payments 3. Shipping While it is theoretically possible to handle all of these without a middle-man, the middlemen running the marketplaces have thus far done a much better job than individuals could ever hope to.
- wrasee 2y agoPersonally I've never discovered anything on Gumroad itself. It's always been from some other source (here on HN, reddit, social media) and then followed a link to Gumroad. Payments and shipping are precisely the kinds of things that could act as services directly to the creator itself. I thought that was somewhat the point of his conclusion - put these services directly in the hands of the creator. Otherwise Gumroad is just acting as a payment + shipping wrapper. And if they're replacing what service they had left with AI, what value-add is left exactly?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]