Bilt Spent $300M to Own Everyday Life
“The next generation of consumer giants won't necessarily win by owning every product. They'll win by owning the relationship between the products.”
Transcript
Build just acquired a company called Lava for $300 million dollars. And this deal gives Build access to relationships with 56 professional sports franchises. And I think this reveals something much bigger than you think. Because Build isn't just building rewards companies. It's building a company that wants to own your entire consumer experience.
And let me explain. Build started with something incredibly simple. You're rent. One of the largest expenses in your life and historically something you earned absolutely nothing from. Build turned that payment into rewards. Then it expands it into restaurants, travel, fitness, and neighborhood businesses. And today, its network includes more than 7 million members and 5,000 merchants
. Now comes Lava. Lava provides the technology connecting professional sports teams to their fans through ticketing, payments, loyalty, and personalized experiences. Think NFL, NBA, NHL, and the MLS teams. Now imagine this. You pay rent through Build. You earn points.
You use those points at a restaurant. You get an offer to see your favorite basketball team. You buy tickets, grab dinner before the game, and get rewarded for spending money throughout the entire experience. One ecosystem, multiple transactions, one customer relationship. And here's where it gets even more interesting.
Build doesn't need to own the apartment building. And it doesn't need to own the restaurant. And it definitely doesn't need to own the basketball team. It just needs to be the platform connecting all three. And that's an incredibly powerful business model. Because the more transactions build connects, the more valuable its network becomes to consumers, merchants, and partners.
And the more opportunities it has to monetize those relationships. But there is one very small risk. Connecting 56 sports franchises doesn't automatically mean fans will change how they spend money. Build still has to prove that all these relationships create actual consumer behavior. But from my perspective, here's the biggest takeaway.
The next generation of consumer giants won't necessarily win by owning every product. They'll win by owning the relationship between the products. And Build is making a $300 million bet on exactly that. Every industry, every business model, there's a larger opportunity hiding inside of it. I'm here to help you find them.
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