Entrepreneur-first

I never wanted to create content, and I’m very honest about it — I hate it.

I find content creation as a distraction for the major part, and in a way, I’m grateful that I avoided content creation for the longest time.

Yes, I did get 20k followers in 1 month, but that was because I went all-in to content creation. I was obsessed with it.

Anyway, I was watching this surprisingly informative podcast and there was a section about successful “content-led” brands — think Parul Gulati’s, Chai Sutta Bar, etc — there was one common thread between them: the founders were entrepreneurs first, then content creators — their business fundamentals were clear for the major aspect.

Any content creator-first personality so far has not managed to make a genuinely good business (afaik), even with the likes of Mr.Beast with Feastables, KSI & Logan w Prime (dead), etc.

Every successful content-led business requires three equally strong pillars:

• Operator (CEO, etc; manages business, think Nikunj Biyani for SuperYou)

• Content Creator (distribution; works as a catalyst, think Ranveer for SuperYou)

• Investors (credibility + institutional experience & connects, think Kishore Biyani from FutureGroup for SuperYou)

Most content creators try to monetise their audience in the following forms:

• Merch & good-to-have accessories like Journals (LLA)

• Sub-par F&B products (Ryan Trahan, Mr. Beast) which is then fueled and gain (short-term) popularity because of the distribution the CC brings in.

Though what I believe, a good litmus test to check whether a content-led brand’s product would actually succeed or not, is to present it & get it tasted by a neutral observer; someone who doesn’t know that XYZ media personality is backing it or XYZ brand is backing it.

I’ve had first-hand experience with this when I first heard this song by Lele Pons: Link

I organically discovered it, and because I enjoyed consuming the tune, I kept coming back to it (repeat consumer).

Similarly, a content creator’s distribution may get them a foot in the door with a consumer + some GW association, but the end-consumer will only come back again & again (repeat-rates) if:

• The product itself is worthwhile (high quality)

• Priced competitively

  • unless aspirational / lifestyle brand, which is another story altogether

• Not a novelty/gimmicky item (Salt Bae. Dolly Chaiwala)

Coming back to my case, I started out as an entrepreneur (still am ffs), and that shaped my mind in thinking from the consumer’s pov & the seller’s pov, and analysing what actually makes business sense.

If I would’ve started off as a content creator, I would have no idea about all this + wouldn’t bother learning about it because I can’t afford to fail in public + I’d already have massive distribution so there would be some bias in the results.

I think a person whose approach I want to emulate and take to the next-level is a bit of Nikhil Kamath (Solid cashflow +ve business, a bit sane) + FoodPharmer (Build in Public series) + Elon (Degenerate, Audacious & Tech-bro Maverick branding)

Ideally I want elements of the following three (at minimum) encompassed in my personality — Nikhil Kamath + Tanmay Bhat + Varun Mayya

Infact, if you know me you’d know that for the longest time I hated social media; I never used Instagram and was never active on Instagram before December, 2025 — i found it useless + i had no friends, so there was no point for me to be active on the platform tbvh — I always tried outsourcing the Instagram marketing to different folks — didn’t pan out.

I was so incredibly camera shy that I had not clicked even a selfie of myself in 2-3 years, and I’m not kidding when I say that. I had never clicked a pic of myself, never a video, never nothing. I had extreme body dysmorphia & insecurity about my looks & voice.

Then, as a last-ditch measure, I started content creation & went all-in — you can see my previous blog articles for some insight into the process.

My plan for the future is to completely focus on content creation for the next few months — to build credibility, leverage followers for opportunities, build partnerships w influencers & brands, and create an additional revenue stream. After this, I want to focus on building Dublieu’s product better — right now it’s pretty shit, I admit. Then I’ll completely pivot and start a massive build in public series which will get the right eye-balls on me (lot more things planned, can’t say it right now).

But yeah, anyway, the point I want to make is, I’m a founder-operator at core, and I want to leverage content creation for distribution — I hope I don’t get sucked into clout-chasing & get distracted (fingers crossed, lmao)