Maintaining the value of digital content has always been a challenge for the creative community. In the current paradigm, the effort and access involved in creative asset security can present insurmountable obstacles. But now that is changing. Today, we can build a better future with Po.et by putting the power of written, visual and audio content back in the hands of creators.

I decided to leave my position as the vice president of innovation and commercial strategy at The Washington Post to become CEO of Po.et because I believe in that future. Po.et is a shared, open-source universal ledger designed to track ownership, attribution and the marketplace flow of the world’s creative assets through a never-before-imagined chain of value.

Po.et is a natural progression in my career to create a better model for the media ecosystem. At The Washington Post, I founded RED, its research experimentation and development team. RED went on to launch several digital ad products which helped drive revenue in the ten figures. Prior to joining The Washington Post, I led product and technology teams at the world’s most innovative companies. At Time Inc., I led emerging products and Huffington Post, where I originated native advertising. I then rejoined the core Huffington Post technology team at RebelMouse to build its future content management system. That is to say that over the years, I’ve worked to build products and strategies on the publisher side to help direct the future business models for publishing and technology. At Po.et, we are constructing what this industry needs — a new environment where creators are paid for what they can do instead of what is required of them by an old and broken paradigm.

The path Po.et is taking toward digital artistic independence can free not only content creators but media companies, brands and marketers from servitude to particular platforms, publishers and revenue models. Blockchain technology and the Po.et platform sanction a new network effect to not be “owned” by a single entity but maintained by the collective owners of the content itself.

Beginning with Bitcoin Magazine and seven other alpha partnerships, Po.et had a successful token sale on August 8, 2017. Now with an online community of more than 40,000 developers and creators spanning Telegram, Reddit, Twitter and other social media platforms, Po.et has used the Bitcoin blockchain and InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) to build a new media infrastructure for the digital economy. Its recent partnership with the Maven Network, Inc., a WordPress developer integration and an ever-growing list of use cases have only strengthened our resolve to see our open-source vision realized.

We, as an industry, are running uphill when it comes to growth, scale and loyalty. Our revenue strategies are negatively impacting consumers and audiences. Engagement with digital advertising is at a stagnant low. Social platforms have a stronghold on creator IP and content has become a leaf in the wind of brand, platform and publisher circumstance. This should not be the case.

Creators need a turnkey solution to help with asset protection, authentication and certification. By leveraging information and data, Po.et can provide an extendable platform for end-to-end transparency in media attribution and valuation. The platform will showcase, archive and track content where buyers and the community set its value. It provides a steady signal to creators of the quality of their work, as rewarded by the community, brands and publishers.

How does it work? Po.et keeps a ledger of all creative assets. Its technology records all actions, changes and locations of origination for IP rights disposition. Using Po.et, brands, publishers and individuals now have an equal opportunity to access the best content and own an original voice regardless of business and historical relationships. Creators own their IP and their identities, as defined by their creative assets on the platform. Control of distribution and message by publisher and brand is now reversed. In the market today, Po.et is the first and most evolved open-source publisher on the blockchain.

I’m excited to be leading the charge by opening new opportunities for creators, media companies and brands to take their work on to the next frontier. Po.et’s success will depend on fostering an exceptional international community within the workplace and throughout our network. Diversity, excellence, integrity and fellowship will be essential elements to building a better ecosystem for creators. We believe that with the right platform and technical stack, IP will finally now lend itself to new revenue streams, explorations and something bigger than ever before.

This is the first step toward bettering the world of independent content creation. Together, with technology, we can recalibrate the media business and set forth a model that benefits creators, publishers, platforms and brands alike. Po.et opens the door. All we have to do is walk through.