If the answer to the question "I want to create a business funded through patronage online" is "the only place you can sustainably do that is on Patreon" than i

If the answer to the question "I want to create a business funded through patronage online" is "the only place you can sustainably do that is on Patreon" than its a monopoly in online patronage. A lot of people for decades have tried self-hosted websites with Paypal, Bitcoin, Ko-fi in recent years, etc links. They might even have perks the way Patreon does. But Patreon has mindshare and network effects now and in the same way the only place to get video ad revenue is on Youtube the only place to find recurring sponsors is on Patreon. Those effects are probably not as strong because people aren't looking for things to sponsor on Patreon, they find projects with Patreons and pledge through that, but the familiarity of Patreon versus unfamiliar alternatives dissuades enough contributors to make most alternatives nonviable or at best extremely risky to try.