121–130 of 234 posts
I am really interested in the space. A friend has launched https://www.imgrateful.io/ and I think crypto (beyond all criticism that we can do) is an interesting option for tipping and receiving donations without the annoying friction of Paypal(s).
Anyone who has tried to build a pay-by-work model for digital creators knows that it’s simply an awful business model. There just isn’t that much demand for creator work. And there are no “whales” among these customers to compensate. No one’s buying 10 copies of a math explainer video.
If you can find a niche it can work. My friend built his own website to sell his erotic art.
I think the real answer may be that patreon is, actually, a bad business; and that nobody has cracked microtransactions. Separately, while Patreon's charging changes seem boneheaded, I'd guess at least a 50% chance that they weren't driven by stupidity but rather by a CFO having a come to jesus conversation with the e-team. Driven by the fact that microtransactions run on a credit card are tough. Their giant raises m…
The author starts the article with "take Patreon's lunch money". What lunch? The one VCs fed them? Is Patreon even profitable?
I was under the impression that Patreon is struggling because their profits aren't enough to balance out the 9 digits of VC money they greedily took in, not because there's no profits.
I am really interested in the space. A friend has launched https://www.imgrateful.io/ and I think crypto (beyond all criticism that we can do) is an interesting option for tipping and receiving donations without the annoying friction of Paypal(s).
Doesn’t crypto have a gas fee or something that would cost more than most micropayments to begin with?
OP missed the elephant in the room. Patreon is the only platform that allows you to launder softcore (nothing explicit from in front of a camera) NSFW content with legitimate payments. There is an incredible amount of erotic artwork, drawings etc. that are sold through Patreon instead of having to resort to niche adult video site payment processors.
Allowing or disallowing specific categories of content is a lower-level business decision than understanding your customers' basic needs.
Anyone who has tried to build a pay-by-work model for digital creators knows that it’s simply an awful business model. There just isn’t that much demand for creator work. And there are no “whales” among these customers to compensate. No one’s buying 10 copies of a math explainer video.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know how to write this without sounding snarky, which is not my intention but: maybe if you are intending to build a Patreon competitor, you should look into how this model works. It's probably not a big source of their profit, and certainly a competitor can live without it. But as both a consumer and creator it's the only model I'm interested in. It really aligns everyone's incentives.
I am not trying to copy Patreon. I am merely implementing the general idea of selling your digital content online. That's all. If people like Patreon and their monetization channels, I am not here to try and steal them away. Not my intention whatsoever. I am doing a lot of things very differently to Patreon.
> I am not trying to copy Patreon. I am merely implementing the general idea of selling your digital content online. That's all.
You should stop posting, honestly. Either you tried to gather interest for your project by posting in a Patreon thread, or you've realized how little you actually know and you are backtracking.
Best to cut your losses, revisit what you are working on, make sure you have a clear path and you've verified it's what customers want, and build something you can show before talking about it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The author starts the article with "take Patreon's lunch money". What lunch? The one VCs fed them? Is Patreon even profitable?
Why wouldn't it be profitable? All they really do is take money from people, give them to other people, and take a cut of it. I was under the impression that Patreon is struggling because their profits aren't enough to balance out the 9 digits of VC money they greedily took in, not because there's no profits.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know how to write this without sounding snarky, which is not my intention but: maybe if you are intending to build a Patreon competitor, you should look into how this model works. It's probably not a big source of their profit, and certainly a competitor can live without it. But as both a consumer and creator it's the only model I'm interested in. It really aligns everyone's incentives.
I am not trying to copy Patreon. I am merely implementing the general idea of selling your digital content online. That's all. If people like Patreon and their monetization channels, I am not here to try and steal them away. Not my intention whatsoever. I am doing a lot of things very differently to Patreon.
This was you in the original post. If you consider Patreon a competitor, then you need to understand their business model far better than you apparently do. You don't need to copy them, but you do need to understand them. You cannot compete with an established company that you have given zero effort to understand.