How to Make Money From Clubhouse
A new era for venture capital and social media is emerging with this social app, and users could get rich from it if they act now.
It used to be that venture capital investors were the ‘behind-the-scenes’ money managers, quietly working their connections and influence to help startups grow their business.
Not anymore.
With the new social media app Clubhouse, they are moving from coaches on the bench to players on the field.
Money managers cum social media influencers
Beta launched in March 2020, Clubhouse had just 1,500 users in May 2020 but was valued at US$100 million after a US$10 million seed round led by one of the most respected venture capital firm in the world — Andreesen Horowitz (a16z). On January 24th, 2021, after amassing just two million users, a16z invested another US$100 million at a valuation of one billion, officially turning Clubhouse into a unicorn.
If you haven’t heard about Clubhouse, it’s a simple app that allows users to create what basically amounts to a virtual version of those panel discussions usually held onstage at big conferences.
There are three roles that users can take on — moderators, speakers and listeners. The moderator(s) creates and controls a room, sets the topic and invite speakers to share their thoughts. Users can drop in and out freely as listeners. They can also ‘raise their hands’ to ask questions or get invited by the moderators to become a speaker.
Marc Andreesen and Ben Horowitz, the founders of a16z, have been appearing regularly in Clubhouse as speakers, in addition to inviting celebrity friends like MC Hammer, Drake, Tiffany Haddish, Ashton Kutcher, Chris Rock and many others to appear.
Their firm’s partners, and even spouses, also regularly host sessions, making it a truly unprecedented modus operandi where the institutional investors are getting directly involved in marketing their investee companies.
With this sort of celebrity draw and the exclusive ‘invite only’ system (each new user can only invite two other friends to join the app), Clubhouse soon became the new…
