Consumer+ is eating the (enterprise) world.
The lines between B2C and B2B are blurring.
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The lines between B2C and B2B are blurring. What used to be parallel universes—gamers and suits, viral growth and sales decks, instant adoption and procurement cycles—are now merging into a single reality.
90s gamers have become enterprise decision-makers, Gen-Z think of themselves as businesses, and AI is eliminating traditional gaps. For the first time, consumer and enterprise adoption curves—that used to be years apart—are converging.
I call this consumerization of the world “Consumer Plus”, giving birth to a new category of hybrid companies that are turning B2C love into B2B gold at unprecedented speed.
Let’s see why and how a new playbook is being written:
The Great Divide (2000s)
Back in the late 90s, consumer and enterprise software existed in entirely different dimensions, separated by an ocean of culture, expectations, and most importantly, time. Consumer adoption of new technology would usually precede enterprise adoption by 5-7 years, creating two distinct ecosystems that rarely intersected.
In the consumer universe, gamers initially ruled the adoption curve. They were the cowboys of the digital frontier, always first to try new technology, but notoriously resistant to paying for it. The culture was all about open source, hacking, and sharing. Adoption happened at breakneck speed, but monetization was almost taboo. These early adopters would eagerly beta test anything new, but the moment you asked them to pay, they'd disappear faster than a Steam sale.
Meanwhile, in the enterprise universe, the pace was glacial but the budgets were astronomical. Corporate buyers, mostly boomers who had climbed the corporate ladder, approached technology with deep skepticism and even deeper pockets. They weren't interested in innovation for innovation's sake – they wanted proven solutions with clear ROI. This led to a peculiar dynamic where enterprises would pay millions for outdated software with terrible user experiences, simply because it came with the right certifications and support contracts.
The gap between these worlds was so vast that companies had to choose their lane. You either built for consumers and accepted that monetization would be a nightmare, or you built for enterprise and accepted that your product would feel like it was designed by a committee of accountants. Hence, 2 adoptions curves so far out, that the same company could rarely perform on both. Just look at TeamSpeak, IRC, MegaUpload, Xfire, and Skype—all these consumer products could have been enterprise hits if they'd launched a few years later. Meanwhile, Slack, Zoom, Yammer, and Stripe built similar products at exactly the right time for enterprise adoption.
The Facebook Effect (2010s)
Then something remarkable happened. Consumer companies like Facebook and Google didn't just succeed – they redefined what software should feel like. Their products weren't just functional; they were beautiful, intuitive, and addictive. For the first time, consumer software wasn't just faster to adopt; it was fundamentally better.
This created a new kind of tension in enterprises. Employees who spent their evenings on Facebook and their weekends on Gmail started questioning why their work software looked like it was designed in the Clinton era. The "consumerization of enterprise" became a movement, but the fundamental adoption gap remained.
Why? Because the decision-makers inside enterprises were still from a different generation. They valued stability over innovation, security over speed, and process over progress. The tools got prettier, but the gap persisted.
The Perfect Storm (2020s)
Today, we're witnessing something unprecedented. Three massive cultural and technological forces are converging to eliminate this historic gap, creating perfect conditions for a new breed of company.
First, those teenage gamers from the 90s have grown up. The generation that was modding Quake servers and building MySpace layouts is now in their late 30s and early 40s, with purchasing power in enterprises. They don't just want better software – they demand it. These digital natives have become the decision-makers, and they're bringing their consumer-grade expectations to enterprise software.The gamers have suited-up, Thomas Anderson has become the managing partner.
Second, Gen Z has entered the chat, and they're rewriting all the rules. Unlike their millennial predecessors who believed everything on the internet should be free, Gen Z arrives with both the willingness to pay for value and a native understanding of digital tools. They don't see a distinction between personal and professional software – they just want tools that work to help them scale. More importantly, they view entrepreneurship as the default career path, and don’t want to bring a knife to a gunfight. For them, being a creator isn't a side hustle; it's the main event.
Third, and perhaps most dramatically, AI has accelerated everything. It's not just another technology wave – it's a tsunami that's washing away the traditional barriers between consumer and enterprise adoption. What started as individual experimentation with ChatGPT has turned into a full-scale enterprise revolution in months, not years. We're witnessing the fastest technology adoption in human history, and it's happening simultaneously across consumer, creator, prosumer and bottom-up enterprise sectors e.g. most of the new fastest-growing AI-first apps like ChatGPT, Runway, ElevenLabs, Gamma, Cursor, Granola, Photoroom, Suno etc.
This acceleration has given birth to "shadow IT" on steroids. When employees can access AI tools that make them 10x more productive, they're not waiting for IT approval – they're just using them. The traditional enterprise barriers of security, compliance, and procurement are being overwhelmed by the sheer utility and leverage these new tools bring.
The New Playbook: Enter the Consumer+ Era
This convergence creates space for a new type of company – one that can successfully navigate both consumer and enterprise waters simultaneously. Call it Consumer+, B2C2B, or even Crensumer (consumer + creator + enterprise + lol) or something else entirely, but the playbook is clear and it's revolutionizing how software companies grow.
Unlike traditional software companies that pick a lane and stay in it, modern companies are following a new ascent pattern - one that turns consumer love into enterprise gold. Here's how the playbook works:
Step 1: The Consumer Launchpad
The journey begins with consumers, but not for the reasons you might think. While the consumer market is bigger, its real value is as a high-definition laboratory for product development. Through platforms like TikTok and Reels, you get instant, raw feedback about what works and what doesn't.
PhotoRoom and Customuse (intuition portfolio) exemplify this perfectly. PhotoRoom didn't start by selling enterprise-grade background removal to e-commerce companies – they focused on individual Etsy and Instagram sellers first. Similarly, Customuse began by enabling the Roblox generation to create professional-grade 3D assets. Both companies turned consumer platforms into powerful product labs, getting real-time data on what features matter, what people will pay for, and how their products actually get used in the wild.
The results speak for themselves: PhotoRoom's individual sellers are becoming e-commerce powerhouses, while Customuse's teenage creators are evolving into the next digital luxury brands. This isn't just about quick iteration cycles – it's about building with the users who will shape the future of your market.
Step 2: The Creator/Prosumer Bridge
Here's where things get interesting. Today's consumers aren't just consumers – they're potential enterprises in waiting. Take Argil and Delphi (both intuition portfolio), two companies redefining how creators scale themselves through AI. Argil lets creators clone themselves visually, turning a simple video into an AI avatar that can produce endless social content. Delphi goes even further, enabling coaches and knowledge workers to create AI versions of themselves, turning individual expertise into scalable digital businesses.
This is the new creator playbook: use AI to transform individual capacity into enterprise-grade output. Just like Shopify helped merchants scale from side-hustles to empires, these tools are helping creators evolve from content producers to full-fledged businesses. A single creator can now run a media company, a coaching practice can serve thousands, and individual expertise can be productized at scale.
The key is following your fastest-growing customers, letting their journey from consumer to entrepreneur guide your product evolution. When your users can scale themselves, your business scales with them.
Step 3: The Enterprise Ascent
The final act is where consumer love transforms into enterprise gold. Beehiiv (angel portfolio), a publishing platform, exemplifies this evolution perfectly. They started by serving individual newsletter writers with a consumer-grade experience, but quickly understood that the same tools powering solo creators could serve major media companies. By adding enterprise features like advanced analytics, team collaboration, and API access while maintaining their user-friendly DNA, they've built the bridge from individual writers to enterprise publishers.
This is the power of the Consumer+ approach: when your product is loved by individuals, it's already halfway into the enterprise. Just like Figma's journey from individual designers to company-wide adoption, you're not selling to enterprises so much as responding to demand from your champions inside these organizations. Your product isn't just another vendor solution – it's the tool people already trust with their personal brands and livelihoods.
Looking Forward
The future belongs to companies that refuse to choose between consumer and enterprise. This new playbook is elegantly simple: start with consumer love, grow through prosumer success, and scale into enterprise adoption. It's not B2C or B2B – it's B2C2B, and in today's AI-first world, it's becoming the most natural way to build a software company.
This evolution is accelerating at an unprecedented pace. What historically took Amazon and NVIDIA 20 years, and Dropbox 10 years, new AI-first companies are accomplishing in 2-3 years. The gap between consumer and enterprise adoption isn't just shrinking – it's disappearing.
The implications of this convergence are profound. The most exciting companies of the next decade will serve both worlds simultaneously, and the opportunities will fall to investors open-minded enough to look beyond traditional venture boxes.
Welcome to the age of Consumer+, and if you’re building around these lines, hit me up.