Patreon Gains $30M Series B Funding to Support Growth
techcrunch.com
techcrunch.com
> 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...
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.
This is actually why I like Patreon... the model seems to align more with sustainability.
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.
This is important. Typically one would have income from: youtube ads, twitch payout, sponsored content and patreon as a bare minimum. Usually you can add sponsored stuff on instagram/fb/wherever, possibly selling merch. Not to mention the stuff you get without being explicitly asked to endorse it.
It appears to be a Flask app, storing data in mysql, couchbase, and redis. All presumably hosted on AWS.
- Server is in Python using Flask and SQLAlchemy, running on AWS (EC2, RDS (MySQL), and some Redis, Celery, SQS, etc. to boot). A few microservices here and there in other languages too (e.g. real time chat server with Node & Firebase)
- Web code is written in React (with some legacy code in Angular). We tend to use Redux for the non-component pieces, but are still trying out new React-compatible libraries here and there.
- iOS and Android code are written in Objective-C and Java, respectively. We use Realm on both platforms for data storage, most of the rest is pretty standard modern project stuff (CocoaPods for iOS, Gradle on Android, etc.)
In addition to looking for your standard development experience on those technologies, we do have a few additional specific roles we're looking for: specialists in payments, specialists in database usage design and management, and security experts.
Any other questions?
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.
I suppose there's room for different models though: both "support your hero developer", and "support features of projects". But perhaps the former is better served by organizations like Mozilla?
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.
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.
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.
Pomplamoose pays mechanical licenses for their covers.
"The duo buys mechanical licenses for all of its covers online, which is a quick and easy process." — http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1257832...
Not only that, but they've helped lots of other musicians learn about licensing (via Twitter, on podcasts, etc.), and how to do the right thing.
The platform itself is sorely underutilized by large groups of people for who it's very suitable: Animal Rescue (Rescue (many species), Trap Neuter Release), homeless outreach and care, harm-reduction, etc. All of these groups require ongoing funding, and are positioned to provide monthly backers with evidence of the funds good-use. Obviously, if they're large enough to have 501c3 status and an active fundraising branch, it's less useful, but it would be gratifying to see Patreon attempt to enable grassroots work.
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
Some samples: http://www.businesscat.happyjar.com/comic/photocopier/ http://www.businesscat.happyjar.com/comic/redundancies/ http://www.businesscat.happyjar.com/comic/numbers/
It's way better than the alternative - ad support in that arena has just resulted in most of the "top" sites being slathered with banners.
At least one person I saw on there was pulling down 10K/month to produce what appears to be a regular review of classic video games.
I would like to get a perspective from people who are doing the funding.
Funding in general, or funding in those specific cases? I fund an Indie band that despite what the OP claims writes their own music and tours. I support them because I enjoy their music, they are nice people, I've met them in person, and want them to know that I value their efforts and this is a way for me to encourage them to continue.
Not sure if this answers your question, or if it was even what you were looking for.
I don't like that Patreon has "won" the recurring support market but I like the model very much.
As a YouTube maker, AdSense money is an absolute pittance (1000 views+ for $1 or less). Patreon is a great way to support these video makers.