Built creator-led revenue systems.
Designed scalable creator acquisition frameworks spanning testing, performance evaluation, and long-term partner development. Built the infrastructure from the ground up.
Scaled
Creator investment program
Issue No. 04 · Spring / Summer 2026 · NYC
NYC · 2026
Building creator-led growth systems for modern & consumer brands.
Performance marketing, merchandising, and creator commerce strategy — practiced as a craft, not a service.
NYC-based operator focused on growth, retention, consumer psychology, and the brand systems that hold them together.
- Creator-led growth
- Performance marketing
- Commerce merchandising
- DTC strategy
- Team building
- Operator mindset
- Creative direction
- Brand systems
- Retention engineering
- Consumer psychology
§ 01IntroductionTobe Fong
Operator first. Strategist always.
I build growth systems where creators, merchandising, performance, and consumer psychology work together.
My background spans creator-led acquisition, ecommerce growth, and operational scaling across modern consumer brands.
§ 02What I DoFour practices
Where I focus my thinking.
Four practices · One operating system
01
Creator Commerce Strategy
Turning creators into scalable distribution systems. Roster design, deal structure, attribution beyond the last-click.
Read more →02
Performance & Partnership Marketing
Writing channels into the brand's P&L, not the agency's invoice. Paid social, affiliate, and influencer as one operating layer.
Read more →03
Commerce, Catalog & Merchandising
SKU strategy that respects the calendar and the customer. Assortment and pricing connected directly to performance reality.
Read more →04
Retention, Community & Brand Systems
Architecture for the second purchase, the tenth, the lifetime. Post-purchase, loyalty, and the cultural texture that makes them hold.
Read more →§ 03How I ThinkSix principles
Operator principles.
01
Paid is never the answer. Paid is the receipt.
Build the demand first. Paid is just a tax on customers you would have lost anyway.
02
Creators are modern distribution.
The companies that win the next decade will treat their creator network the way the last decade's winners treated their retail footprint.
03
Retention is the only honest metric.
Acquisition lies. Cohorts don't. Fix the second purchase rate or nothing upstream matters.
04
Resonance starts long before the first purchase.
The work is to make buying feel like a quiet confirmation of something the customer already believed.
05
Community is the moat. Culture is the well.
You don't get a community by asking for one. Be a brand worth gathering around.
06
Make decisions with consumer psychology.
People buy stories about themselves. The brief, the pricing, the box — all of it is just the story, in different fonts.
Creators are no longer media buys. They are modern distribution.
Field Note · 2026
§ 04Selected WorkTwelve-year sample
Selected Work.
Five systems built across creator growth, performance, and merchandising. Full context available on request.
Led multichannel growth investment strategy.
Managed creator investments across YouTube, Instagram, podcast, radio, and TikTok Shop. Built the evaluation frameworks that determined where capital went.
Built
Multi-channel growth system
Connected brand, merchandising, & performance.
Integrated promotional strategy with creator and ecommerce performance systems. Improved growth efficiency and product mix through cross-functional ownership.
Unified
P&L visibility
Developed measurement infrastructure for creator growth.
Built systems for creator evaluation across ROAS, spend pacing, contribution margin, and long-term scaling potential. Replaced gut with data.
1
Source of truth
Operationalized high-volume creator workflows.
Scaled internal systems across creator sourcing, negotiations, approvals, reporting, and campaign execution. Built the ops layer that let the team scale without adding headcount.
End-to-end
Creator operations
Built across multiple consumer brands. Reference calls available on request.Get in touch →
§ 05JournalField notes & essays
Current thinking.
An irregular log of what the practice is wrestling with. New entries roughly monthly.
The Future of DTC05 / 24
The future of DTC is emotional identity.
7 min readCreator Commerce04 / 18Why creator commerce is becoming infrastructure.
6 min readPerformance03 / 22Performance marketing meets a brand brief.
9 min readRetention02 / 11The next growth moat is community.
5 min readField Notes01 / 03How operators should think about profit, not just ROAS.
8 min read§ 06NotebookCurrently open tabs
What I'm thinking about.
Updated weekly · This week
- Creator-led commerce infrastructure.
- Emotional identity in DTC.
- Retention as a brand moat.
- AI × merchandising systems.
- Community-driven growth loops.
§ 07WorldviewThe operator's context
Life is the context that makes the work better.
Outside of work, I care deeply about boxing, wellness, design, and building a meaningful life around family, freedom, and ownership.
The goal is to build businesses that support a life worth living.
Boxing
Podcast / Kindle
Calisthenics
Hyrox
Dad of a Frenchie
Globally Influenced Upbringing
§ 08ContactEnd of issue
Current Coordinates.
Writing about creators, commerce, consumer psychology, and modern growth systems.