Big Box Retail Just Woke Up. Sovereign Wealth Enters the Chat.

📔 Jeff’s Diary (yes, I’ll let you read it)

I had 3 meetings this week that made me rethink the value I offer. One with an investor who has a pool in his NYC apartment, another with a prospective client at his $20M mansion on the water, and the third at a coffee shop where he pulled up in his Lambo SUV. 

I share this because as I sat at home thinking about where I want to spend my time, I remembered something a mentor once shared with me.

It takes the same amount of time to build a relationship and close a deal with a client who wants to spend $10K with you, as it does for someone who wants to spend $10M, so if you make 5% on the deal, why not focus on the $10M?

If I look into the future, the wealth gap will grow. The rich richer, the poor poorer. It is a sad unfortunate truth which I don’t see changing unless there’s a Joker style uprising (10% chance) ripping grandmas from their upper east side apartments.

So if the future will have a massive divide, as we wind down in 2025, ask yourself, where will you spend your time in 2026?

Will you chase the lower end deals or will you try and punch above your weight?

At Malka, our first project was $1,000 and we were ecstatic. Trust is earned, and so is the right to be in those circles. But if you can choose your clients, choose the ones who will pay you most for the value you bring. 

That’s called Value Based Selling, and the people you’ll deal with will elevate you to recognize that there is a whole other echelon of expectations that will make you better, smarter and more reliable to compete with the .01%.

So yes, close what you can. Build every relationship. But remember your worth. Never forget where you want to be. Look around and ask, is this it?

I don’t care about money. I care about life. If you use your superpower, you’ll love what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with.

If you’ve gotten this far, know that I want to work with you. If you spend money on creators for marketing and customer acquisition, let me show you how we can save you money and make more of an impact.

I promise you we’ll be the most valuable partner in your arsenal.

Give us a try here.

– Jeff

📆 WHAT WE WILL HIT ON THIS WEEK:

→ Home Depot isn't renting creators, they're building plumbing: why big retail is finally moving from renting influence to building infrastructure.

→ Sovereign Wealth Enters the Chat: The UAE just signaled a massive commitment to the creator economy at the BRIDGE Summit.

→ The $37 Billion Reality Check: The IAB confirms creator ad spend is growing 4x faster than traditional media.

Stop Renting Attention, Start Owning Distribution

Most founders treat creators like a slot machine. You put a coin in (ad budget), you pull the lever (a sponsored post), and you pray for a jackpot (sales).

But in 2025, that model is broken. CAC is rising, attention spans are shrinking, and "renting" eyeballs is becoming a game of diminishing returns.

Home Depot just proved the new model. By launching a dedicated Creator Portal, they stopped acting like an advertiser and started acting like a platform. They aren't just looking for one-off shoutouts; they are recruiting DIYers and tradespeople to build content inside their ecosystem.

They realized what smart operators already know: You cannot build a sustainable business on rented land.

The shift is happening across the entire enterprise stack:

• Walmart isn't just hiring influencers; they built a Creator Platform to integrate them into the supply chain.

• Amazon turned creators into a massive affiliate sales force.

• Home Depot is now operationalizing the relationship with tradespeople.

But the founders who are actually winning? They aren't waiting until they are the size of Home Depot to build this infrastructure. They are treating creator relationships as a supply chain problem, not a marketing problem.

Most startups handle creators with chaotic DM threads and one-off contracts. The winners build systems that turn creators into recurring partners.

The difference between Renting vs. Building:

• The Renter (Campaigns): Pays for a post. Gets a spike in traffic. Traffic dies. Repeat.

• The Builder (Infrastructure): Sets up portals, affiliate tiers, and feedback loops. Gets consistent data.

• The Owner (Equity): Aligns incentives so the creator wants the company to win, not just the post to perform.

Why "Creator Infrastructure" Matters

When you build plumbing instead of just buying water, the economics change.

A creator who is integrated into your infrastructure isn't just a billboard. They are a remote employee with their own distribution channel.

• They provide data: You see what products resonate before you scale inventory.

• They provide creative: They generate assets cheaper and faster than your agency.

• They provide trust: They answer customer questions in the comments (customer service at scale).

Founders need to stop asking "How much for a post?" and start asking "How do we integrate you into our workflow?"

Because when you move from transaction to integration, the loop compounds:

• Founders provide the rails.

• Creators provide the fuel.

• The Business owns the engine.

If a company selling lumber and drywall understands they need to own their distribution, you have no excuse for still running your creator program out of an Excel sheet.

Let us help you.

🇦🇪 Sovereign Wealth Enters the Chat

At the BRIDGE Summit 2025 in Abu Dhabi this week, the conversation wasn't about TikTok dances. It was about nation-state capital deploying into the creator economy. Investors like SkyBridge and sovereign-related entities in the UAE are signaling that the next phase of media growth won't come from traditional networks, but from creator-led enterprises.

Why this matters: 

When sovereign wealth funds and institutional capital start looking at creators, the game changes. We are moving from "venture scale" to "global infrastructure scale."

Capital is concentrating at the edges—funding late-stage platforms and early-stage creator ventures. The middle is getting squeezed. If you are building tools or platforms in this space, the check sizes are about to get bigger, but the diligence is going to get harder.

This legitimizes the asset class. Creators aren't just a marketing channel anymore; they are an investable asset class for the biggest money in the world.

💸 The $37 Billion Reality Check

The IAB released its 2025 forecast: US creator ad spend will hit $37 billion by the end of this year. That is up 26% year-over-year, growing nearly four times faster than the rest of the media industry.

Why this matters:

Nearly half (48%) of ad spenders now consider creators a "must buy." This isn't experimental budget anymore. It's essential infrastructure.

If you are a founder pitching investors and you don't have a creator strategy, you are pitching a company with a hole in its distribution model. The market has spoken: Attention has moved. Money has followed. If you're still debating "if" influencer marketing works, you're debating gravity.

The question isn't if you spend, it's how you convert that spend into equity and owned distribution.

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