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Earlier quoted context omitted.
If I had an upvote button, I would on this response. I was critical of your previous comment, but these are the questions I think deserve an answer for this general concern. Good on you, and thank you for asking them.
> If I had an upvote button You don't have an upvote button?
Many musicians, for example, make less than 50 percent on distribution deals with their labels. I'm leading with this because 5 percent on top of CC payment processors' 30 cents + 2.whatever% is completely unethical from where I'm standing. You can integrate Fosspay [1] with fewer bells and whistles but totally free except for CC processors' cut (exorbitant as that in itself may be).
We need to stop inserting ourselves between creators and their money. It isn't worth whatever valuation we're fetching and it doesn't justify making us rich while creators gratefully accept their pittance.
[1] https://github.com/ddevault/fosspay
EDIT: The word "free" is tossed around so frequently on https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ko-fi-alternative I feel I have to re-check my own reality of what free means. The service is very much not free when the price is being extracted from every purchase a customer makes.
> unobtrusive way to monetize their work I have seen this movie before and I know how it ends. [waves at Patreon] Help me understand why this a venture scale business and not a non-profit, a benefit corporation, a co-op or some other model I am unaware that does not demand venture-scale returns.
By connecting creative economy types online and across the globe with their audience so that they can more easily engage in transactions/commerce is the definition of "venture scale". The only thing that separates business from non-profit is the tax designation, and how much ROI you plan to make for yourself/funders/public.
Here's the problem. Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, etc are another middle man between creators and supporters.
That's another mouth to feed on top of Stripe/PayPal and possibly a Credit Card Company.
There is a very good reason PayPal has for eternity pushed/prodded and dark patterned users to death trying to get them to pay via bank transfer instead of credit card--credit card fees are business killers.
Now, why does this matter?
Even at venture scale, a Patreon/Buy Me a Coffee is the 2nd or 3rd middle man to the game. That means they need massive volume, but it's not enough. The perverse incentive cat is out of the bag and the good natured startup that just wanted to empower "creative economy types" starts doing all sorts of things that are in the company's best interest and not in its users' best interests.
Here is an HN thread from 18 days ago discussing the Patreon's CEO view that "the company's generous business model is not sustainable."
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21550645
So I asked OP, in frustration because this seems like a failure to learn from history (very recent history at that!), but also in earnest--why should Buy Me a Coffee be a venture-backed business and not some other model.
> unobtrusive way to monetize their work I have seen this movie before and I know how it ends. [waves at Patreon] Help me understand why this a venture scale business and not a non-profit, a benefit corporation, a co-op or some other model I am unaware that does not demand venture-scale returns.
What's wrong with Patreon?
Creators are already getting nickel and dimed. One of my big things when I was managing musicians (really my friends whose work I loved) was I continually refused to step into the that thick miasma of profiteering others in the industry practiced. Many musicians, for example, make less than 50 percent on distribution deals with their labels. I'm leading with this because 5 percent on top of CC payment processors' 30…
Nobody is stopping you from putting your hat out on the street or signing with a huge label like you'd likely have to do a few decades ago.
I'm mostly interested in payment workflow discussions. I actually don't care about sales/marketing possibilities.