Talking shop with Ben Weiss

Today I’m publishing a podcast with Ben Weiss about creator versus software businesses.

While a student at Northwestern University, Ben founded Zcruit - a software for college football recruiting. After graduating, he continued to grow the business, and eventually sold it to a private equity firm.

After being a successful software founder, Ben transitioned to working on creator businesses as he became the head of operations at Meat Mafia, a media company in a period of rapid growth. Today, he continues to work with creator businesses to help them grow and scale.

In this episode, we discuss the differences between creator and software businesses, the challenges of each, and how they can collaborate.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or many other players. Watch the interview on YouTube here.

Links from the episode

• Ben’s website
• Philip’s website
• Zcruit
• Meat Mafia
• The World After Capital
• 37Signals
• Marques Brownlee Joins Ridge as Executive Board Member, Equity Investor, and Chief Creative Partner

Show notes

• 00:00 Introduction to the podcast and guest
• 00:25 From software to creator businesses: Ben Weiss’s journey
• 01:43 Deep dive into ZCruit: Building and selling a software company
• 02:33 Transition to creator business: Operations at Meat Mafia
• 07:09 Exploring the creator business model and value capture
• 09:27 Operational challenges and solutions in creator businesses
• 14:15 Advice for creators and software brands on media strategy
• 21:58 Reflections on the shift from software to creator space
• 23:41 The allure of the creator economy
• 23:56 Transitioning from founder to creator
• 24:47 The changing prestige of working in tech vs. creator world
• 25:38 The power of attention in the information economy
• 26:02 Creators vs. Hollywood: The battle for eyeballs
• 26:52 Choosing between software and creator careers
• 27:57 The value of content creation and audience building
• 28:40 Breaking into industries through content
• 29:31 Marketing strategies for software startups in the creator age
• 39:39 Leveraging creators for software product growth
• 46:20 Final thoughts on software and creator business models