Navigating VidCon in a Pandemic [Jim Louderback]

The term “influencer” gets thrown around a lot these days, and it’s not hard to understand why. The creator economy continues to grow and grow, enabling independent artists and thinkers to express themselves and make money doing it.

But like all trends, there were those at the beginning who saw sparks of potential, and thought “what if I could do something with this?” One of those early thinkers - perhaps one of the very first - was Jim Louderback.

Jim generously chatted with me about how he started as a product tester at Ziff-Davis Publishing, building a YouTube-centric network in Revision3, then leading the influencer convention VidCon through acquisition - and later, the Pandemic.

He shares his philosophies in how to experiment as a creator, how to make teams that can address new challenges, and his thoughts on how to keep the work of building fun, even when it’s not.