Fireside Chats, Episode 36: Chatting With Patreon CEO Jack Conte

I saw that this morning; not really up on what exactly happened, though.

Colin Moriarty

I really think Barstool (and to a lesser extent, The Ringer) are showing the potential of independent sports coverage, especially in the wake of Grantland, and how ESPN kinda just gobbled 'em up and spit 'em out. That's the next frontier. I know it.

Colin Moriarty

I'm interested to listen to this. The only real thing I know of him is that Patreon (not necessarily him) pre-preemptively warned Owen Benjamin that his wrongthink on Twitter were basically strike 1 and 2 here at patreon. So if he messed up once he was gone. Owen's patreon shot up like $10,000 whenever YT gave him his first strike. He sent everyone to patreon and Vimeo after he lost his livestreaming ability. That's what drew the warning letter, I assume. I love what Patreon enables, but I hope they don't fall into the "we believe in free speech BUT..." trap. This is all before listening, so hopefully the concern is not warranted.

This was a great sit. Awesome to hear the level of care Jack and his team have for people like yourself. You can hear it in his voice at the end -- almost he will never sell this company and spoil this platform so a buyer can come and gouge everything that makes this platform so unique. My only other Patreon is for sports. I'm with you, sports Patreon is great. Informed and unfiltered - something you can't say about with some of these big networks with agendas or motives.

Kenny Gutzler

My assumption is that they are very much in the red, like most VC-driven companies. It's about finding the profit over time, which is their pursuit, I'm sure.

Colin Moriarty

Thanks for listening. =)

Colin Moriarty

Man, I wanna know Patreon's finances so bad. Jack has gotta be one rich dude.

desperateLuck

Man, I wish I had the talent to work for such an incredible company. Jack’s passion and drive is addictive and makes me so hopeful for Patreon’s future. Amazing interview.

Alex Ball

Glad you liked it! He's certainly the most human executive I've ever spoken with.

Colin Moriarty

I respect that, too. Thank you for listening!

Colin Moriarty

How refreshing and encouraging it is to hear a CEO authentically speak about transparency in a today's spin-heavy culture. Most Execs approach these situations like a dog who just shit the floor (looking into a corner and ignoring it, or worse, trying to pass it off as a victory). Very smart guy and an excellent 'Chat!

Justin Matkowski

Great episode Colin, I respect Jack for being able to admit his/the company's screwups, sounds like they will learn from it and be better for the experience

Bryan Finck

I'm so glad you liked it. I agree; Jack is a rare breed, someone who will say what he needs to say. I respect that.

Colin Moriarty

Jack has a certain quality to him that you possess as well, which is transparency. You can ask Jack a question and he'll answer it. No bullshit, no corporate speak. He's here telling you (and us) what Patreon is trying to do, what doesn't work, what they want to do down the line, etc. How often do CEOs deliver a message like that without it being a canned, written statement? Much love to guys like yourself and Jack for talking to listeners/customers like real people. This episode was great, thanks!

Ian (616Entertainment)

He's great! Thanks for listening.

Colin Moriarty

Glad you enjoyed this show! Thanks for listening.

Colin Moriarty

The first sports league(s) to figure out that democratization of footage and access is going to help them is going to win big. Baseball is in such serious decline that I wouldn't be surprised if MLB did it first.

Colin Moriarty

Excellent episode! Didn't know Jack Conte was such a cool dude.

John Nelson

Enjoyed the podcast. It was interesting to hear about patreon from the inside rather than what our perceptions of it might be.

Peter Campbell

The sports angle wasn't something I thought about before... Youre giving ideas...Biggest issue you sort of touched on is licensing. Would be difficult to do much without footage of games. Hell ESPN and FS1 remove all highlights from shows like First Take when they upload to youtube so they don't get hit again. They just use random stills or don't show anything.

Erik Peterson

I'm glad the podcast gave you a new way to look at things. Patreon HQ in San Francisco is constantly abuzz with people working hard and making shit happen. Really good people there.

Colin Moriarty

Knowing him personally, I can't see where the vitriol is coming from. Thousands of "creative people" from around the world are making a living because of his idea.

Colin Moriarty

I absolutely can not stand Jack Conte. The guy is a flat out liar. That being said, because I've seen similar views as mine on twitter, still give this thing a listen to support CLS, mute it if it makes you feel better. Plus, it never hurts to give somebody the benefit of the doubt and let them change your mind or prove your misgivings wrong.

Michael Ferrari

Very interesting and insightful and frankly speaking it was slightly convicting to me as someone that was annoyed by the audio player having issues early on and lack of in house video; it's important to remember that there are lots of people working very hard behind the scenes to better the platform and bring us new features when the time is right, I too believe Jack and loved what he said about everything tied to the Lauren southern thing

Christopher Hopkins