
Patreon Gains $30M Series B Funding to Support Growth - minimaxir
http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/19/patreon-gains-30-million-series-b-funding-experiencing-major-growth/
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bentlegen
Co-founder Jack Conte after raising $15M in 2014 [1]:

> Conte said his main concern in raising the round was pissing off the Patreon
> community. “Because we’re so cognizant of how venture capital can also be a
> dangerous thing, we do want to make sure our creators know how thoughtful
> this round was,” he said. “We spent a long time meeting a lot of folks.”

I wonder how creators feel about Patreon raising $30M today?

[1] [http://recode.net/2014/06/23/creative-patronage-startup-
patr...](http://recode.net/2014/06/23/creative-patronage-startup-patreon-
raises-15m/)

~~~
hawkice
I was extremely worried to see this headline. Patreon is opening up a new path
towards professionalism (a 10x improvement over e.g. YouTube, and that was a
pretty massive deal), and if it goes under a lot of human potential will be
shuttered. Might sound overly dramatic, but cultural shifts are always on a
razor's edge

~~~
forthefuture
I'd like to think of Patreon as validation for this model of supporting
content creators. Even if Patreon can't turn a profit (which seems impossible
considering the amount of money going through them), it's validated the idea
that consumers are willing to pay the people they like to make the content
they like.

~~~
hkmurakami
Well the fear with taking VC is that they now have an ever greater growth
agenda, and it's either the moon or bust. No option of living happily on
earth, so to speak.

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staunch
Now that the internet has billions of people, if just a tiny fraction of them
direct their gaze upon someone, that person is almost instantly made rich.

There are lots of Bob Ross type people in the world that we would all love to
learn from and get to know. They're starting to show up on YouTube and
podcasts. They're providing huge value to millions of people. All they need is
a few dollars per subscriber to be comfortable and productive.

~~~
exception_e
I disagree with saying "instantly made rich" (with respect to Patreon). The
reality is closer to what you stated in the last sentence of your comment.

This is actually why I like Patreon... the model seems to align more with
sustainability.

~~~
jarcane
There are a fair few who've done it in the Youtube space (the infamous
Pewdiepie for example), but no, I don't think I know of any Patreon
millionaires yet either.

~~~
creshal
But how sustainable is it? Patreon is rather simple: Users directly pay the
artists, however much they want (and Patreon presumably takes some fee).

Youtube makes artists depend on Youtube's subscription and/or advertisement
viability, which are largely outside of the control of both artists and
consumers. Consumers cannot control where their money ultimately ends up,
artists have little planning security.

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21echoes
Hey all! Engineering manager at Patreon here. Thanks for all the kind words
throughout the comments. Would love to answer any questions you may have about
what we're up to, how we do things, where we're going, and all that fun stuff.
We're also hiring! Shoot an email to jobs@patreon.com if you wanna talk more
:D

~~~
messick
It'd help if you described your current technology stack. Right now it's not
really clear what type of software engineer you are looking for.

~~~
mcpherrinm
If you're really curious, Patreon's code (and user data) was leaked onto the
web.

It appears to be a Flask app, storing data in mysql, couchbase, and redis. All
presumably hosted on AWS.

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minimaxir
I have a question for HN: would running a Patreon for a software developer be
a good idea?

It's something I've been considering doing myself in lieu of the traditional
ads/sponsorships/ebooks/etc methods of monetization, but it might not make
sense since the costs of development (for purely code-related endeavors) are
much more manageable than artistic endeavors.

~~~
rkho
I back the Patreon campaign of a software engineer who makes a very niche
platform that I find lots of value in:

[https://www.patreon.com/cubetutor?ty=h](https://www.patreon.com/cubetutor?ty=h)

~~~
brandnewlow
CubeTutor saved my bacon several times during this most recent Holiday Cube.

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cpeterso
As for other crowdfunding platforms, I'm surprised Twitter hasn't tried to
monetize Likes using a Flattr-like system. Just add a "tip" button next to the
heart button, paying out say $0.01. It could create a virtuous cycle of more
tweets, more tweeters, and more idle funds in tip accounts for Twitter to
reinvest elsewhere.

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chippy
If you have a website online and ask people to support you via patreon and
reward them with some kind of extra feature on the site would this be seen as
them paying for this feature? Contractually, or legally for example?

A bit like the idea of crowd funded projects could accept money but not
delivering anything were looked at negatively in terms of legal contracts and
people paying for things and services.

In my case, my hobby website of a few tens of thousands of users could benefit
from some extra development time (backups, caching etc) and I was thinking of
Patreon rather than a paid service to reward the donors with these new
features. Would Patreon be a better fit for "support this and as a side effect
get somewhat improved access to new features" rather than "I will give you X
in return for your money". Seems like a Patreon donor may consider their
donation as a service they have paid for, rather than a gift.

~~~
jlgaddis
> _... would this be seen as them paying for this feature?_

I can't give you an answer that I know is 100% correct and back it up with a
primary source. However, I believe that it would be and let me explain why.

I recently received a renewal notice in the mail for an organization of which
I am a member. A while back I had already decided that when renewal time came
around, I would become a "life member". In the marketings materials with the
renewal letter was an offer for a slight discount on a lifetime membership
along with the _option_ to receive a "free gift" (of my choosing, out of three
or four choices) or to forego the "free gift" entirely.

If I did not select a free gift, 100% of my membership would be tax-
deductible. If I _did_ choose one of the gifts, part of the membership fee
would be applied towards that gift and only the remaining amount would be tax-
deductible.

It's a slightly different situation, obviously, but I believe the decision of
whether they are paying or not paying (legally, at least, in the USA), would
hinge on whether or not the "donator" was receiving _ANY_ "compensation" \--
regardless of what that compensation is.

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armandososa
I hate Jack Conte, CEO of Patreon, in a good way. I mean, he is a super
talented musician, singer and youtuber. And just recently I learned that he is
also the CEO of Patreon? And I'm just a mediocre musician and an always
aspiring founder. That's why I hate him, but not really.

~~~
kiba
Don't you mean jealous?

~~~
jk563
I think envious is the word you're looking for.

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kelukelugames
Remember when kickstarter was all the rage? Then they started to lose
credibility. I think Patreon will be more sustainable.

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onewaystreet
I do wonder what the end game looks like to these investors. Patreon doesn't
strike me as a company that's going to have a big exit.

~~~
gizmo686
Even if Patreon doesn't have a big exit, it could still make a profit, and
that profit could then go back to the investors.

According to the article, this gives Patreon a $47 million valuation, and
Patreon has 17,000 artists.

That is only ~$2,800 per current artist.

Given that this investment is made with exception of growth, this does not
seem like an unreasonable valuation.

~~~
vecter
$47M isn't their valuation, it's the amount they've raised. No company would
raise $30M at a $47M valuation unless they were very desperate.

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jnaour
Similar concept, but more youtube and french oriented:
[https://www.tipeee.com/](https://www.tipeee.com/)

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techiebecky
Good stuff!

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6stringmerc
Ahh Patreon, the middle man helping uneducated or uncaring musicians raise
money through performing cover songs but probably not paying the mechanical
license rates to the authors. Just like Conte's Pomplamoose. Not a fan.
Fortunately I'm of the belief that the serf-patron model isn't viable so I do
at least have their eventual disbanding to look forward to in time.

~~~
cldellow
Eh, I'd advise caution with your generalizations. I support a web comic that
rakes in $226/month drawing cats with exceptional financial acumen. My wife
supports a knitting ezine that rakes in $17,000 per issue.

~~~
harryh
Um, link for the cats? That sounds like a comic I would enjoy!

~~~
cldellow
Tom Fonder's Adventures of Business Cat. The humour's a bit different, but I
like it.

The archives are small; his Patreon covers some other projects that he's
working on, too.

Patreon link:
[https://www.patreon.com/tomfonder?ty=h](https://www.patreon.com/tomfonder?ty=h)

Some samples:
[http://www.businesscat.happyjar.com/comic/photocopier/](http://www.businesscat.happyjar.com/comic/photocopier/)
[http://www.businesscat.happyjar.com/comic/redundancies/](http://www.businesscat.happyjar.com/comic/redundancies/)
[http://www.businesscat.happyjar.com/comic/numbers/](http://www.businesscat.happyjar.com/comic/numbers/)

