The New Creative Economy: A Talk with Jorge de los Santos ’01

How can founders, freelancers, and influencers stay ahead in today’s creative economy? Move fast, build trust in public, and stop letting perfection get in the way of progress.

On December 4, residents gathered in the Home Room to discuss the business of creativity with I-House alumnus Jorge de los Santos ’01. De Los Santos is co-founder, president, and CEO of Global Media Review, a social media company that supports influencers, journalists, and publishers, and of Sky Blue International, a cross-border technology and investment advisory firm.

The event, titled “The Business of Creativity: Startup and Personal Branding,” covered how a startup brand and a founder’s personal brand can work together (or clash) across platforms, the different “characters” we tend to play on social media, and how to be strategic about online presence in the new creative economy.

“More than ever, you really need to position yourself online,” De Los Santos told attendees. “It’s part of the job. If you want to be a business owner, you have to be on social media. You have to have a great profile, and you need to be connected with a lot of people. A lot of business opportunities will come from there, but also, that’s how people will perceive your business. That presence online will translate into potential trust.”

De Los Santos emphasized the value of consistent content creation for building credibility, and how important speed is in the creator economy.

“Some of us want to be perfect. We want to have the perfect message, the perfect press release, the perfect business plan. The problem is that speed is sometimes more valuable than perfection,” De Los Santos said. “Perfect is a huge enemy of progress. Sometimes you really want to have something perfect, but drilling into perfect is actually going to make you lose some other battles that are worth winning.”

The talk was the latest entry in a series sponsored by the Götz Mäuser ’91 Global Entrepreneurship Fellowship, an I-House program designed to empower next-generation changemakers to lead with empathy, resilience, integrity, and cultural intelligence. I-House resident Jayat Gonzalez Palomeras, a Götz Mäuser fellow, moderated the talk. Senior fellow Joséphine Goube opened the conversation with introductory remarks.

Throughout the conversation, De Los Santos recalled memories of his time at I-House, including meeting Nelson Mandela and Henry Kissinger. He also shared that a chance encounter at I-House led to a lasting business partnership.

“I met one of my business partners here,” he recalled. “I was doing public policy; he was an engineer. We met at the Pub, we became friends, and we trusted each other. Then we made a company!”

Questions from residents covered topics like adapting to the advent of new social media platforms and disruptive technologies like AI, how to utilize AI while preserving the humanity of creators, and how young entrepreneurs can make the most of their ideas in this moment.

De Los Santos offered simple parting advice: “Do it now. That’s it. And don’t worry about being perfect,” he said. “This is your time. We all have the same 24 hours. All of us. It’s what you do with that time.”