SV Icons: Jack Conte, Patreon
The happiest creator in the world
Last year, during dinner with Steve Blank, we asked him what the most similar profession to an entrepreneur was. And his answer was an artist.
This week we met the ideal profile of such an artist – Jack Conte, CEO and Founder of Pateron – the first and most sophisticated platform that helps creators monetize their work. Jack is a professional musician/singer – (here is my favorite song on Youtube). The dinner was an absolute sensation – sincere, humble, and open, and Jack shared his arduous journey to make creators happy.
Here we share several lessons we learned from Jack:
Web3 premise is aligned with Pateron – to empower creators full ownership and enable interoperability between different platforms. Jack believes this is the future for creators. The tech for Web3 is getting better, and we can soon see Patreon adopting it.
Decentralization with a relevant incentive structure makes sense – contributors would have ownership and voting power, and there's a chance to see Patreon as a decentralized entity.
One of Jack's initial mistakes with his team was not treating creators as SMBs when they needed other things outside of just monetization of content.
Over the next several years, we will see the shift in marketing channels from horizontal (now) to vertical, from having a content team (inbound marketing) to acquiring a media company (e.g., future.com, a16z);
Branding (and distribution) will be a significant differentiator in the near future.
Jack believes in coaching as a resource, with different coaches for different moments: first critical fire and then working on weaknesses and strengths.
Product discovery: Jack went from relying on intuition and self-experience (one unique buyer persona) to relying on data and research – which was crucial to the growth of the business. But, if data contradicted the needs of creators, Jack supported creators. For example – some creators didn't like that their earnings were public, and Jack allowed them to hide this information.
Vision: create a world where creativity (creators) is a common and valid career and calling.
Organizer: Georgi Koreli
Host: Chinghiz Dzhumanazarov
Editor: Jacky Lin
Contributor: Nacho Vidri