Comment by Sir_Cmpwn | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Sir_Cmpwn | Hacker News Reader

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It's a difficult problem for sure. I actually built an open source donation platform before I did a Patreon page [0]. Over the past 2 years, I've earned $1500 on it. I've always had an average of maybe $20-30/mo in recurring donations, plus anywhere from $0-$300/mo in one-offs (usually on the left of that scale). Until last month, I had been making $30/mo in recurring donations on the FOSS platform, and now I'm up to $50/mo.

I started the Patreon page two months ago and it was pushing $100/mo within a week, and without any noticable disruption to my FOSS donations - it effectively increases my donation flow 3x-4x. Patreon is a platform people already trust with their CC# and people are already supporting other creators on. Reducing the barrier of entry can get you way more money, which makes a big difference. Patreon also makes it clear that your support is meant to be recurring, which has a big impact on the long term viability of the income stream.

I still accept donations through the FOSS portal, and point people there first if they ask me directly how to donate. But it doesn't make sense to turn down Patreon, either.

Aside: I'm working on an open source git platform too, I feel you wrt GitHub.

[0] https://github.com/SirCmpwn/fosspay

I can echo this, my Patreon isn't for software, but I get more per month on Patreon than I was getting per year through donations with basically the same level of marketing.

I'm thinking of getting a team of friends to make a Patreon platform but tailor made for software devs/code projects/open source projects rather than creative content. As someone that's on hacker news and has a patreon but isn't for software, do you have any suggestions for someone like me that wanted to develop a patreon focused on software?

Me! It's an idea I've been thinking a lot lately. I have some ideas I would love to discuss if there are more people interestes in doing this.We can get in touch if you want.

Ya the idea itself would be so neat. In fact, a super meta way to do it is to have the campaign to build the platform be the first campaign on the MVP version of the platform itself! What better way to demonstrate your software patronage platform by using it to build said software patronage platform. I truly think a dedicated patreon for coders could really change the entire VC hypergrowth stress cycle that is Silicon Valley and instead usher in a new era.

Absolutely. I thought about creating something similar to humble bundle, where you can pay as much as you want distributed as you want. Or creating a git tracker, a tool that tells you at the end of the month which packages and repos have you used /cloned more so it can distribute your monthly donation budget accordingly. The problem with this approach is that you are not giving any chance to all those people who are developing stuff on their own and you don't even know they exist (this happens constantly if you are using a linux distro). I have many ideas I would be very happy to share. I'm on vacation right now, but I will write you back if you send me an email to my personal email. Check my HN personal description to get my email addresss.

Ya, that's not a bad way to execute on the idea, however it does not perform one of Patreon's chief functions that make it so successful: discovery of projects on one, unified platform. Essentially the main setup that Patreon has over all the "tip jar" or decentralized methods that have been tried but never reached critical mass is that the entire patronage ecosystem has a home on the web rather than simply living inside everyone's browser extension or something. That's why a dedicated site for software patronage could really take off because so many open source projects and software ideas are floating around with really just donations or VCs as the only funding mechanism in the valley.

For sure! I will send you an email.

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