Can Patreon fight fire with social media fire?
A lot has changed on the internet, in the creator landscape, and at Patreon itself since CEO Jack Conte was last on the show in 2021. AI and platform shifts have stolen creator content and decimated artists' reach and revenue streams, and Patreon has made some pretty existential changes to the way it works in response.
Links:
My thoughts on AI | Patreon
I tried to prove I’m not AI | Howtown
Patreon: Apple’s 30% tax is the price of staying in the App Store | The Verge
Welcome to hell, Elon (2022) | The Verge
Reality is losing the deepfake war | Decoder
Elon Musk is steamrolling Wall Street to become a trillionaire | Decoder
Incorruptible | Simon & Schuster
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Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt. This episode was edited by Xander Adams. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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Advice Line with Jack Conte of Patreon (December 2024)
Patreon co-founder and CEO Jack Conte joins Guy on the Advice Line, where they answer questions from three early-stage founders about marketing and building community.
First we meet Zac from Indiana, who’s looking to grow his coffee company with a subscription offering for newlyweds. Then Rowena from New York, who wants to expand her international cooking kits for kids to all ages. And Melissa from Florida, who’s hoping to break into schools with her handwriting program for preschoolers.
And stick around to the end to hear whether the callers took Guy and Jack's advice.
Thank you to the founders of Honey Moon Coffee Co., Eat2Explore, and Adventures in Handwriting for being a part of our show.
If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to hibt@id.wondery.com or call 1-800-433-1298.
And be sure to listen to Patreon’s founding story as told by Jack and his co-founder Sam Yam on the show in 2021.
This episode was produced by Chris Maccini with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Gilly Moon.
You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Advice Line with Jack Conte of Patreon
Patreon co-founder and CEO Jack Conte joins Guy on the Advice Line, where they answer questions from three early-stage founders about marketing and building community.
First we meet Zac from Indiana, who’s looking to grow his coffee company with a subscription offering for newlyweds. Then Rowena from New York, who wants to expand her international cooking kits for kids to all ages. And Melissa from Florida, who’s hoping to break into schools with her handwriting program for preschoolers.
Thank you to the founders of Honey Moon Coffee Co., Eat2Explore, and Adventures in Handwriting for being a part of our show.
If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to hibt@id.wondery.com or call 1-800-433-1298.
And be sure to listen to Patreon’s founding story as told by Jack and his co-founder Sam Yam on the show in 2021.
This episode was produced by Chris Maccini with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Gilly Moon.
You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#208 CEO & Co-Founder Patreon, Jack Conte: Crowd Surfer
Guest: Jack Conte, CEO & co-founder of Patreon
For many YouTube video creators, getting millions of views on your videos may seem like the goal. But when Jack Conte and his wife Nataly Dawn became YouTube stars through their band Pomplamoose, they didn’t automatically find gold at the end of the rainbow.
“You check your ad revenue and you make 48 bucks in ad revenue and you're like, ‘Oh my God, I'm worthless,’” Jack recalls. “And you check that dashboard every day ... and eventually you start to believe that you're worth $48 a month. That's a bad f**king feeling.”
That’s why in 2013, he co-founded the artist-funding platform Patreon, and discovered that there were a lot more creators like him out there. As of 2022, those creators have earned more than $3.5 billion from Patreon.
Chapters:
(01:06) - Barriers to entry
(03:04) - The creator economy
(08:36) - Patreon’s mission
(11:22) - Its name
(13:12) - Talking to artists
(17:26) - Detail obsession
(24:07) - “Nobody has an answer”
(27:17) - Playing empty rooms
(31:09) - Success feels like failure
(33:37) - “I’ll be happy when...”
(39:26) - Type one vs type two joy
(45:32) - Self-confidence
(48:30) - Obsession, humility, and kindness
(53:51) - Figuring out your sound
(56:18) - “I’m f**king terrified”
(01:00:33) - Pedals
(01:04:04) - Starting Patreon
(01:07:04) - Who Patreon is hiring
Mentioned in this episode: Jason Kilar, Spotify, YouTube, Pomplamoose, Google Docs, GoDaddy, LaCroix, James Freeman and Blue Bottle Coffee, Woody Allen, Medium, YCombinator, Apple and the App Store, MySpace, Matthew “The Oatmeal” Inman, AdSense, Home Depot, Skrillex and Fred Again, Matt Bunting, and Sam Yam.
Links:
Connect with Jack
LinkedIn
Read "I'm f**king terrified"
Watch the "Pedals" music video
Connect with Joubin
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
Talking UX philosophies and deployment best practices with Patreon's VP of Engineering
Srivastava reflects on his upbringing in India, learning to write Assembly, and going to Stanford University to complete his Ph.D in computer science.
He shares his early career experiences at big tech names like Yahoo!, Google, Twitter, and Google.
The group reflects on some of the engineering challenges at Patreon including technical debt, migrations to open source services, and troubleshooting bugs.
Srivastava walks us all through upcoming product features that his engineering team is working to implement.
Andy wins a Lifeboat Badge for answering this question about a list of all tags on Stack Overflow.
Follow Ben, Matt, Cassidy, and Utkarsh.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The Wrongness Playbook, part 2, w/Patreon's Jack Conte
When is it time to double down on your instincts, and when is it time to open yourself up to feedback? Sometimes it comes down to a hard call… that you might get totally wrong. In Part Two of our episode with Patreon’s Jack Conte, you’ll hear how he was able to raise capital by telling his authentic story after a series of pitches that went disastrously wrong! And you’ll hear how his worst mistake as a founder helped him reconnect with Patreon’s mission and community, and build Patreon into a $4B company. How can being wrong accelerate your business? It takes running at the solution with insatiable curiosity.
Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com
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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The Wrongness Playbook, part 1, w/Patreon's Jack Conte
Building a business means making mistakes. Lots of them. But how you’re wrong isn’t always obvious. Jack Conte has learned this lesson as a working musician — and while scaling Patreon into a company worth $4b. In Part One of a two-part series, you’ll hear how Jack wrote his own Wrongness Playbook, as he learned to answer questions like: If something isn’t working, is it time to trust your instincts? Or is there critical feedback you’ve been ignoring?
Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com
Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Julian Gutman, CPO at Patreon, Part Two
We continue our discussion with Julian Gutman about community and culture in today's episode.
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Julian Gutman, CPO at Patreon, Part One
Today, Julian Gutman, Chief Product Officer at Patreon, joins us to discuss community, culture, and buy-in.
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📮 Ask a Question
If you enjoyed this episode and would like me to discuss a question that you have on the show, drop it over at: developertea.com.
📮 Join the Discord
If you want to be a part of a supportive community of engineers (non-engineers welcome!) working to improve their lives and careers, join us on the Developer Tea Discord community by visiting https://developertea.com/discord today!
🧡 Leave a Review
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Patreon CEO Jack Conte on why creators can’t depend on platforms
Nilay Patel talks with Jack Conte, co-founder and CEO of Patreon, the platform that allows people to pay their favorite creators directly with monthly subscriptions.
Nilay and Jack talk about how Patreon’s model as “membership” works, what Patreon’s relationship is to Apple and the app store, and where the overall creator economy is going on the internet.
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On Monetizing Community with Patreon Cofounder Sam Yam
It's clear from the growth of Patreon, Substack, TikTok, Clubhouse and many more that the power of the Creator Economy continues to build. These platforms share one thing in common: They all enable independent creators to monetize their skills and products like never before. It's a trend that’s become increasingly relevant as the demand for virtual work grows.
In this episode, first published a year ago, Patreon cofounder Sam Yam, Atelier Ventures' Li Jin (formerly a16z), and host Lauren Murrow discuss monetizing community, why creators today are effectively making more money off fewer fans, and what all of this means for the future of work.
The discussion is based on The Passion Economy and the Future of Work, a popular essay that first ran on a16z.com in October 2019. Check out that post and more creator content at: a16z.com/creatoreconomy.
Stay Updated:
Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Patreon: Jack Conte and Sam Yam
As part of the band Pomplamoose, musician Jack Conte had a sizeable fan base in the late 2000s and was making thousands of dollars a month from iTunes sales. But when streaming services like Spotify took over the music scene, Jack's income dwindled. So he called up his college roommate Sam Yam, who had spent his post-college years launching startup after startup. Together, Sam and Jack created Patreon, a platform where artists' most passionate fans can sponsor them for just a few dollars a month. Following a Covid-era surge in new members, Patreon is now valued at over a billion dollars and supports over 200,000 musicians, artists, and content creators.
Order the How I Built This book at: https://smarturl.it/HowIBuiltThisSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The Passion Economy: Redefining Work
This episode of the a16z Podcast covers the the rise of online platforms that enable people to make a living off their unique interests and skills. It's a trend that's become increasingly relevant as the demand for virtual work grows.
The discussion -- with Patreon cofounder and CTO Sam Yam and a16z consumer tech partner Li Jin in conversation with Lauren Murrow -- covers the new forms of work made possible by these online platforms, why creators today are effectively making more money off fewer fans, and what all of this means for the future of entrepreneurship.
See more on the Passion Economy, metrics for it, 100 True Fans, and more at a16z.com/creatoreconomies.
Stay Updated:
Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube
Find a16z on X
Find a16z on LinkedIn
Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify
Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts
Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg
Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
DTNS INTERVIEW - Jack Conte on new Patreon plans
Patreon Founder and CEO Jack Conte talks with Tom Merritt about why Patreon is changing its creator plans. Patreon will be hosting live Q&As throughout the week. The schedule can be found at https://specialeditionhangtime.splashthat.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
S5:E5 - How to figure out what’s next in your coding career (Jarvis Johnson)
Jarvis recently went from engineer to engineering manager, taking his career down a whole new path. He talks about how he thinks about his career, what different tech career paths look like, and why, although being a developer can be wonderful, it may not be everything you think it'll be.
Show Links
Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor)
CodeNewbie Patreon
Jarvis's YouTube Channel
"Why I don't code anymore" [Jarvis's YouTube video]
Codeland Conf
Codeland 2019
Jarvis Johnson
Jarvis is an Engineering Manager at Patreon, Youtuber, and co-host of the comedy podcast about feelings, Sad Boyz.
DTNS Labs - The Fate of the Internet
Tom Merritt talks with Jack Conte about the idea that the Internet has gone from subculture to mass adoption and whether that means we can't have nice things. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
DTNS LABS – INTERVIEW – Jack Conte, CEO of Patreon
We talk with jack Conte about how Patreon came about, and the challenges it faces as it grows.
MP3
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If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!
Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the DTNS logo and Ryan Officer for the DTNS Labs take!
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How artists can (finally) get paid in the digital age | Jack Conte
It's been a weird 100 years for artists and creators, says musician and entrepreneur Jack Conte. The traditional ways we've turned art into money (like record sales) have been broken by the internet, leaving musicians, writers and artists wondering how to make a living. With Patreon, Conte has created a way for artists on the internet to get paid by their fans. Could payment platforms like this change what it means to be an artist in the digital age?
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#14: Moving from PHP to Python 3 with Patreon
See the full show notes for this episode on the website at talkpython.fm/14
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