Good morning. Still feeling FOMO from Press Publish NYC? Or want to relive it if you were there IRL? Thanks to our partners at Microsoft Copilot, all of the sessions from our summit are broken down on our website.

Check them out here.

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

Three years ago, car creator Doug DeMuro was making YouTube videos with no crew, no equipment, and no plans for expansion. Now, he leads a team of 40, has an audience of 5 million, and sells about 40 cars per day through his car auctioning site Cars & Bids. 

What’s the playbook? DeMuro told Slow Ventures’s Billy Parks and Cars & Bids co-founder Blake Machado yesterday at Slow’s Creator CEO Summit. Here’s what we learned →

DeMuro knew his audience. “We wanted to build a product that solved actual market problems and improved transparency and speed and all the things you need to do in the market,” Machado said. 

He built his business strategically. “It was clear to us from the very beginning that we wanted to make sure that the business could stand alone without me,” DeMuro said. His passion was (and still is) YouTube, where he posts multiple times per week.

Finally, he accepted outside funding. After a $37 million investment in 2023, The Chernin Group now owns a majority stake in Cars & Bids.

“It’s going to allow us to take Cars & Bids to the next level, let me refocus on making YouTube videos and get the help of a group of people who actually know what they’re doing,” DeMuro told Robb Report.

To date, Cars & Bids has done $675 million in revenue and sold over 30,000 cars.

What’s your favorite movie this year? Sinners? KPop Demon Hunters? Found a Homeless Billionaire Husband for Christmas? If you answered C, you might be familiar with the world of vertical soap operas.

Context: Originating in China, vertical soap operas are an emerging short-form, serialized video format. Filmmakers shoot feature films vertically and release as 60–90 minute-long episodes for the platform ReelShort. ReelShort charges viewers per episode, with some films costing about $40 to watch in their entirety.

Vertical soap creator Danny Farber broke it down on The Colin and Samir Show, by the numbers:

Big picture: Vertical soap creators aren’t competing with Hollywood filmmakers and directors—unless you count TikTok accounts that pirate and upload full-length movies in clips. Instead, they’re meeting the growing demand for short-form narrative series that many other platforms are lacking—promote clips on TikTok, send viewers to paywalled content on ReelShort, rinse, repeat.

Fashion’s biggest week just concluded in New York City, punctuated by a flurry of creators making their mark. Here are the highlights:

NY-based designer Tyler McGillivary is a fan favorite among creators like Veronika Slowikowska, Levi Coralynn, and Aimee France. 

Her nautical-themed show (complete with an appearance from Aquamarine actress Sara Paxton) was covered by creators including Mandy Lee (aka OldLoserInBrooklyn), Clara Perlmutter (aka TinyJewishGirl), and Fritzie (aka ContraChloe).

Trans creators excel. Jari Jones walked for Guvanch’s show, Vivian Wilson made her NYFW debut in four different shows, and Alex Consani juggled commercial and runway.

Street style remained a staple of the week, c/o creators like WhatPeopleAreWearing and KaryaStreetStyle.

Zoom out: As traditional fashion publications work to keep up with modern media consumption (see: Vogue promoting its former digital editor to lead the brand), fashion creators are carving out their own lane at events like NYFW—growing audiences inside and outside industry.

The content we’re looking forward to reading, watching, and listening to this weekend.