TheCreator.ME

TheCreator.ME operated as a global social-commerce platform, founded in 2010 by Bacon Christophe Bernard, Maxime Pourrat, and Joseph Rubenstein. The company's operational focus was on creating a curated community that brought together a diverse group of participants, including designers, engineers, consumers, retailers, and manufacturers. This ecosystem was designed to facilitate the entire lifecycle of a product, from initial submission and design to creation and final purchase.

The business model was structured around a three-stage process to bring community-driven design products to market. The first stage, 'DesignIT', was a collaborative phase where the community would work together on new product ideas. Following this, the 'BackIT' stage allowed viable product concepts to be crowdfunded by the community, functioning as an initial sales and funding mechanism. The final stage, 'BuyIT', served as the e-commerce portal where consumers could purchase successive batches of these unique, community-developed products. This multi-stage approach aimed to harness collective creativity and talent under professional supervision.

Financially, TheCreator.ME secured $400,000 in a single Seed Round on December 1, 2010, with Origo Partners listed as an investor. Despite its novel approach to integrating social networking with e-commerce and product design, the company ceased operations. It has been designated as out of business or 'deadpooled' since approximately April 1, 2016.

Keywords: social commerce, community design, product creation platform, crowdfunding products, collaborative design, consumer-driven products, curated e-commerce, design collaboration, peer production, social manufacturing, online design community, product lifecycle platform, crowd-funded retail, TheCreator.ME, Bacon Christophe Bernard, Maxime Pourrat, Joseph Rubenstein, Origo Partners, DesignIT, BackIT, BuyIT