Inside Patreon: From 2013 to Now Into a $413 million business
Startup Type:
Headquarter: San Francisco, USA
Current Status: Active (private; over 250k creators funded)
Founders: Jack Conte, Sam Yam
Founded Year: 2013
Investors: Index Ventures, Thrive Capital, CRV
Funding Raised: $413 million
What Is the business model of Patreon?
Platform that allows creators (YouTubers, artists, etc.) to earn recurring revenue from fans via subscriptions, taking a percentage of the payments as its revenue model
How Patreon got started?
Conte, a musician, co-founded Patreon in 2013 to get a steady income directly from fans after he realized ad revenue was insufficient, they built a simple site to let fans “patronize” creators monthly, and it quickly caught on with online creators
what growth strategy has Patreon followed?
Grew through the rise of the creator economy: targeted independent creators across YouTube, podcasts, art, etc., providing them a way to monetize superfans, Patreon’s own success largely came from word-of-mouth as top creators touted the platform to their peers
what are the top products/features of Patreon
Patreon membership platform, patron management tools, analytics for creators
what was the biggest challenge faced by Patreon?
Struggled with balancing growth and fee changes — a 2017 attempt to change fee structures caused backlash from creators and patrons, forcing a reversal and highlighting trust issues when monetizing creators’ livelihoods