During the discovery process, the single most important problem we encountered was that creators did not want to go through the trouble of producing content for VideoShops. The site had no audience, and therefore creating special content that nobody would see made no sense. But without content, the site could not build an audience. It was the classic Web 2.0 problem.
Up until this point, the company had attempted to solve that problem with a syndication system that was so confusing that even people at the company could not explain it.
The only answer to this problem that made sense was to abandon the Web 2.0 model entirely.
Web 2.0 hinges on the simultaneous congregation of content producers and content consumers in a single space. It is a chicken-egg problem that only a tiny majority of companies ever solve, and a struggling startup in a crowded market doesn't have great chances. Fortunately, there is another way.
While a company cannot make consumers out of thin air, it can create content. In the early days of the Web, this was the standard MO of any website. Our proposed plan involved building an in-house team of content creators, Gen Z and late Millennials with small followings online who had some understanding of the subject.
Though the prospect of paying creators might seem an unfeasible expense for a startup, there was immediate cash to be saved discontinuing the celebrity-focused campaigns and promotional events to attract video creators.
Furthermore, the cost of creating consumer-grade video editing and account management tools needed for a Web 2.0 approach had not even been considered. We would use mainly off-the-shelf solutions and "employee-grade" tools on the back-end, further reducing costs.