01Future · Product and opportunity
What you care about should not live in fragments.
The opportunity is a connected home for an interest: its Things, knowledge, memories, places, experiences and people. Photography is our first evidence-led chapter, not the limit of the idea.
02A fast read on the opportunity
External signals, shown for context. They are not a TAM.
otherthing: the thing is the object, the other is everything it connects.
The thing is the object. The other is everything it connects.
thing names the tangible starting point. (other) holds the photographs, practice, memories, places and people around it. Parentheses are an aside, not a container.
The parentheses can hold a camera, a bicycle, a record, a recipe or a garden. They name the context around the object: one identity, one record and different interests with their own credible depth.
03The first market
Dedicated cameras are growing again.
Global digital-camera shipments grew 11.2% in 2025 to 9.44 million units. CIPA forecasts 9.59 million in 2026. This is a focused, equipment-rich wedge, not proof of demand for otherthing.
- 7.72M2023
- 8.49M2024
- 9.44M2025
- 9.59M2026F
F · CIPA forecast
04Why photography first
The first proof starts with one Thing.
Cameras can lead to context, practice, discovery, connection and new experience. Recruitment starts with camera people so the first community shares context. Membership is not limited to cameras: members bring the other things they love.
See the product
05The expansion surface
The same human loop appears across many interests.
These are examples of interests a collection can grow around. Staged cohorts will help us learn which category-specific details and shared experiences are useful.
- 01PhotographyNow
- 02Cycling
- 03Golf
- 04Vinyl
- 05Cooking
- 06Watches
- 07Travel
- 08Gardening
- 09Design
- 10Running
- 11Cars
- 12Coffee
- 13Making
06Adjacent proof
Records, rituals and fandom already form at scale.
These platforms prove different behaviours around interests. Their audiences do not add together, and they are not otherthing's addressable market.
Interest breadth
100K+active Reddit communities
Ritual and place
1Mclubs on Strava
Personal record
20BGoodreads recommendation data points
Fandom at scale
751MSpotify monthly active users
07Economic context
Culture is becoming a larger digital economy.
Goldman Sachs Research forecast the creator economy growing from $250 billion to $480 billion by 2027. This is contextual adjacency, not an otherthing TAM calculation.
1.92× forecast growth
SourceGoldman Sachs Research · April 2023 (opens in a new tab)
08Expansion logic
Wedge. Prove. Expand.
- 01
Earn the wedge
Camera people, across brands
9.44Mglobal camera shipments in 2025
GateRepeat use, trusted records and meaningful peer exchange
- 02
Follow the collection
Members who bring several interests
4parts of the model: Interest, Type, Brand, Product
GateUseful organisation, privacy and operating capacity
- 03
Prove the kernel again
Small cohorts with different interests
12directional adjacent interest surfaces
GateThe same Thing-led return loop without product dilution
09The investment boundary
Large potential. Narrow first proof.
- Built
- Open interests in one collection (Interest, Type, Brand, Product) with custom labels, an optional catalogue match, a View for Today and Club, and a privacy-aware Thing model.
- Testing
- Whether camera people record what they do with their Things, and return to share and discover across interests.
- Future
- Deeper category-specific experiences and better classification, informed by small cohorts across interests.
10Chapter one is concrete