Look at Las Vegas today and it's difficult to imagine it as anything other than a major destination.

Millions of people know the name. Massive developments stretch across the valley. Airports, highways, hotels, entertainment venues, restaurants, businesses, homes and communities form an ecosystem that attracts people from around the world.

But Las Vegas didn't begin that way.

In 1905, a railroad company auctioned 110 acres of land that would help establish the young town of Las Vegas. The railroad connecting Southern California and Salt Lake City provided something critically important:

Infrastructure.

The people didn't arrive by the millions first.

The infrastructure came first.

And that principle has a lot to teach us about what we're building today with TheBlackTube.

Before the Destination, There Was a Vision

When we look at successful cities, companies and platforms after they've become successful, it's easy to forget what they looked like in the beginning.

We see what exists.

We don't see what the builders saw when very little existed.

Las Vegas started as a small railroad town. According to the City of Las Vegas, the railroad connection helped establish the city as a refueling and rest point. The availability of water made the location valuable, and the railroad connected it to larger population centers.

In other words, before Las Vegas became a destination, it became connected.

That's an important distinction.

People needed a reason and a way to get there.

Then they needed reasons to stay.

Then they needed reasons to return.

That same philosophy is at the heart of TheBlackTube.

We aren't simply trying to build another website where people can watch videos.

We're building a destination.

TheBlackTube Started With Digital Land

When TheBlackTube launched, there weren't hundreds of thousands of citizens waiting at the door.

There weren't tens of thousands of uploaders.

There wasn't a thriving internal economy.

There weren't years of content.

There was essentially digital land—and a vision for what could eventually be built on it.

Someone had to believe in the destination before it became a destination.

That's what building is.

Today, TheBlackTube has grown to more than 250,000 users and over 25,000 uploaders.

Those numbers matter.

But what's even more important is understanding that we're still early.

We're still building the city.

Infrastructure Comes Before Population

Imagine standing in the Las Vegas Valley more than 100 years ago and asking:

"Where is everybody?"

That would have been the wrong question.

The better question would have been:

"What is being built here that could eventually bring everybody?"

That's the question we ask about TheBlackTube.

Every feature we're developing is infrastructure.

Video hosting is infrastructure.

Creator monetization is infrastructure.

Livestreaming is infrastructure.

Litcoins are infrastructure.

Business advertising is infrastructure.

Paid subscriptions are infrastructure.

Affiliate opportunities are infrastructure.

Community features are infrastructure.

Our creator economy is infrastructure.

These aren't random features being added to a website.

We're building roads, buildings, businesses and attractions inside a digital city.

The Railroad Changed What Was Possible

The railroad was enormously important to early Las Vegas.

The completion of the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad connected the area to Southern California and Salt Lake City and helped establish Las Vegas as a railroad town.

Suddenly, this piece of desert wasn't isolated.

People could reach it.

Goods could reach it.

Businesses could form around it.

Opportunity could travel through it.

The infrastructure changed what was possible.

Every major piece of technology we build inside TheBlackTube has a similar purpose.

We're creating more ways for people to enter our ecosystem, participate in it and benefit from it.

A creator uploads a video.

A viewer discovers it.

A business advertises beside it.

A citizen earns Litcoins for participating.

Another creator starts a livestream.

Someone purchases access to premium content.

Someone upgrades their membership.

Someone discovers a Black-owned business.

Someone learns a piece of history they had never been taught.

Someone tells a story that otherwise might have disappeared.

That's when a website starts becoming something much bigger.

It becomes an ecosystem.

Then Something Happens: People Start Building Too

The original builders can create infrastructure.

But they cannot create an entire city by themselves.

Eventually, the citizens have to build too.

People buy land.

Businesses open.

Homes are constructed.

Restaurants appear.

Entertainment arrives.

New neighborhoods develop.

Visitors tell other visitors.

Investment follows activity.

And suddenly the destination begins developing a life of its own.

That's exactly what we want for TheBlackTube.

TheBlackTube cannot simply be something Coach AP and our team build for Black people.

It has to become something Black people build together.

Every creator who uploads is building.

Every business that establishes a presence is building.

Every citizen who comments is building.

Every person who shares a video is building.

Every educator who uploads knowledge is building.

Every filmmaker who preserves a story is building.

Every entrepreneur who introduces a product is building.

Every family documenting its journey is building.

Every musician releasing their work is building.

The platform provides the land and infrastructure.

The citizens create the city.

Big Infrastructure Can Change Everything

Las Vegas experienced another major transformation when construction of what became Hoover Dam began during the Great Depression.

Thousands of workers came to the area. Population increased. Economic activity increased. Infrastructure expanded.

The project didn't simply build a dam.

It changed what was possible for the entire region.

That's another lesson for TheBlackTube.

There will be moments in our development when one major technological breakthrough, creator, partnership, feature, piece of content or cultural moment dramatically accelerates everything.

We don't necessarily know which one it will be.

That's why you keep building.

The infrastructure has to exist before the opportunity arrives.

You Can't Judge a City While It's Under Construction

This may be the most important lesson of all.

Imagine looking at Las Vegas in its earliest years and comparing it to an established American city.

It would have been easy to dismiss it.

Not enough people.

Not enough buildings.

Not enough businesses.

Not enough attractions.

Not enough infrastructure.

But you'd be evaluating the destination based on what existed at that moment, rather than what was being built.

Builders understand something spectators often don't:

Construction doesn't always look impressive while you're standing inside it.

There are unfinished roads.

Empty lots.

Buildings that aren't open yet.

Ideas being tested.

Plans changing.

Infrastructure being upgraded.

But the builder sees something different.

The builder sees the blueprint.

That's Where TheBlackTube Is Today

We see the blueprint.

We're not looking at TheBlackTube based solely on what exists today.

We're looking at what this infrastructure can support tomorrow.

250,000 citizens can become 500,000.

500,000 can become 1 million.

1 million can become 2.5 million.

25,000 uploaders can become 100,000 creators.

Thousands of businesses can eventually operate inside this ecosystem.

Entire careers can be built here.

New personalities can be discovered here.

Businesses can find customers here.

Families can preserve their histories here.

Creators can build ownership here.

Black stories can live here for generations.

But none of that happens without building the infrastructure first.

Build the Attractions and Give People Reasons to Return

A destination needs more than population.

It needs attractions.

People need reasons to visit.

More importantly, they need reasons to come back.

That's why TheBlackTube's future isn't dependent on simply convincing people to create accounts.

Our challenge is bigger.

We have to build things worth visiting.

Great creators.

Great shows.

Great livestreams.

Great conversations.

Great businesses.

Great documentaries.

Great educational content.

Great entertainment.

Great opportunities.

Great communities.

Great personalities.

The stronger those attractions become, the stronger the destination becomes.

We don't need every person on the internet to arrive tomorrow.

We need to continue making the destination better for the people who arrive today.

A Digital Economy Changes Everything

Cities aren't sustained by visitors alone.

They need economies.

Money changes hands.

People work.

Businesses generate revenue.

Employees get paid.

Properties increase in value.

New investments are made.

Entrepreneurs see opportunity and open something new.

That's why monetization has always been such an important part of TheBlackTube vision.

We don't simply want people consuming Black content.

We want economic activity occurring around that content.

Creators earning.

Businesses advertising.

Citizens participating.

Entrepreneurs selling.

Affiliates earning.

Channels generating subscriptions.

Content generating purchases.

And our Litcoins economy creating another layer of participation throughout the platform.

The bigger the population becomes, the more powerful that economy can potentially become.

Eventually, the Destination Becomes the Attraction

Something fascinating happens when a destination becomes large enough.

People no longer need one specific reason to visit.

They come because the destination itself has become the attraction.

One person comes for entertainment.

Another comes for business.

Another comes for an event.

Another comes for food.

Another comes to see family.

Another comes simply because they've heard so much about the place that they want to experience it themselves.

That's the long-term vision for TheBlackTube.

Someone might come for J Funk.

Someone else might come for Dangerus Diva.

Someone may come for Black history.

Someone may discover us through a business.

Someone may arrive because of a viral video.

Someone may come to earn Litcoins.

Someone may come to livestream.

Someone may come to promote their company.

But once they're here, they discover everything else that has been built.

That's when you've created a destination.

We Are Still in the Building Era

That's what makes this moment so exciting.

Future generations may only know the finished version.

They may never remember when we were building feature by feature.

They may never remember when 250,000 citizens felt like an enormous milestone.

They may never remember when we celebrated 25,000 uploaders.

They may never remember the bugs.

The experiments.

The long nights.

The features that had to be rebuilt.

The ideas that changed along the way.

They'll simply see the destination.

But we'll remember.

Because we're here while the roads are being paved.

We're here while the buildings are going up.

We're here while the population is growing.

We're here while the economy is being developed.

We're here while the culture is forming.

We're here during construction.

From Empty Land to Global Destination

The lesson isn't that TheBlackTube should become Las Vegas.

That's not our story.

The lesson is much bigger.

Destinations are built.

They begin with vision.

Then comes infrastructure.

Infrastructure creates opportunity.

Opportunity attracts people.

People create businesses.

Creators create attractions.

Economic activity creates more opportunity.

And eventually, what once looked like empty land becomes a place people intentionally travel to experience.

That's the blueprint.

More than a century ago, few people could have looked across the undeveloped Las Vegas Valley and imagined the massive destination that would eventually rise there.

Today, we are looking across our own digital landscape.

We see the open land.

We see the construction.

We see the citizens arriving.

But most importantly...

We see what can be built.

THEBLACKTUBE IS STILL IN ITS BUILDING ERA.

250,000+ Citizens.

25,000+ Uploaders.

One Digital Kingdom Still Under Construction.

TheBlackTube

We're not waiting for the crowd to build the destination.

We're building the destination that will bring the crowd.