Introducing Shapiro Media Enterprises!

Dear Patrons,

If you follow me on LinkedIn you might have noticed a big update: I "founded" Shapiro Media Enterprises! TLDR at the bottom.

The Next Evolution

What does this mean for you and Patreon? Absolutely nothing! Well, almost nothing. Nothing is really going to change around here except that I'm building a team and we're going to turn up the content production quality and rate to 11! 

The first order of business is operationalizing and systemizing content production - my goal is 10 videos per week (presently at about 4 across multiple channels). That means two videos per channel (I have five channels now). It will take us a bit of time to get that workstream operationalized but that is the first goal. 

Beyond that, we're going to be exploring all kinds of stuff, including classes, merch, and more webinars for subscribers. As promised in the preceding months, I've been experimenting (and will continue to do so) to add as much value to Patreon subscribers as possible!

To that end, I realized that I needed to delegate and build a team, which takes time to hammer down (you probably remember the job postings I mentioned recently!) But we are well on our way. 2024 is shaping up to be an incredible year for everyone, and we're all super excited to go as far as we can, as fast as we can. 

Why a Business?

As many of you know, I have a problematic relationship with corporations. The incentive structure for most businesses is all out of whack - it's all about the bottom line in most cases. So, I would not be surprised if some of you are wondering why? Have I sold out? Am I building a real life equivalent of Stark Industries? Maybe one day, but we're starting small...

There are a few key reasons for starting a legitimate corporation. The first is that it creates a legal and financial container for everything I want to do, which is as much about risk mitigation as it is about financial optimization e.g. your dollar goes further if you can write down expenses (which are mounting fast... editors are $$$). So in essence, your support goes further under a corporate tax model than individual DBA. You Patreon supporters get a better ROI for your support. 

Beyond that, it allows me to create a better incentive structure and to "put my money where my mouth is." To that end, I am implementing a revenue sharing model for my full time employees. My success is their success. Due to a lot of legal red tape, you can't really do a revenue sharing model (legally) without being fully incorporated. 

Third, and perhaps most importantly, my brain and time have become the biggest bottleneck. The highest purpose of this business is to optimize my time in front of the camera. Every hour that I spend doing stuff other than being in front of the camera is basically wasted time. You, my supporters, and my broader audience wants more of me, and the best way to do that is to spend more time in front of the camera. Unfortunately, I have spend many hours every week doing stuff other than recording, such as collaborating with editors and other business minutiae. 

And finally, the mission remains the same: navigating the Fourth Industrial Revolution. That is our value prop, our MTP. The toughest times are still ahead, and while I do honestly and sincerely believe the future is insanely bright, it is not without risks. With rough seas ahead, my mission remains clear and steadfast, and now I'm building my team. 

More Thoughts

If you want to know a bit more about where my mind's at with respect to things changing more broadly, you can check out my recent articles on LinkedIn. The TLDR is that we're heading for Post-Labor Economics, and while this can be a rocky transition, we're also seeing the rise of the Meaning Economy, article here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rise-meaning-economy-david-shapiro-chdle/ 

I've also had more thoughts on Postnihilism and Metamodernism, which you can check out here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/metamodernism-three-easy-steps-david-shapiro-3txwe/  The TLDR is that "emergence and convergence" are the name of the game for metamodernism and that this is inextricably linked to the rise of postnihilism (e.g. we converge on meaning over time). 

TLDR

• Shapiro Media Enterprise: I'm packaging up everything I'm doing into a company with a revenue sharing model. This is in service to my mission (unchanged) and is for risk and cost optimization, as well as scalability.
• Meaning Economy: This is all part of the nascent "meaning economy" e.g. coordinating the solution to the metacrisis/meaning crisis/nihilistic crisis. This is part of the solution, but not the entire solution. 
• Postnihilism and Metamodernism: It all comes down to "emergence and convergence" - an emergent complexity and information with a bottom-up model of reality and convergence towards truth, meaning, etc. Again, all part of the plan.