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Patreon is a CRUD app and something you could build in a few months and consider it done if you wanted to. The core value proposition of Patreon hasn't changed

Patreon is a CRUD app and something you could build in a few months and consider it done if you wanted to. The core value proposition of Patreon hasn't changed since they launched, and the business problem is still "take $$$ from people, figure out how much to pay each creator, pay out $$$ to creators". > And so many of these companies aren't even profitable, either. It's not profitable because it's an engineering playground - the objective is not to solve the business problem described above, it's to build complexity for the sake of complexity to justify future funding rounds. If they wanted to, they could literally consider the project done and run it with a skeleton crew handling support & maintenance, but why intentionally put yourself out of a job?

deleted 4y ago
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Cu3PO42 4y ago
I don't disagree that the core concept of Patreon is relatively simple and may even be able to be recreated in a few months, but what you definitely can't do in that amount of time is to comply with the breadth of regulations all over the world.
unity1001 4y ago
> Patreon is a CRUD app and something you could build in a few months and consider it done if you wanted to. Yeah. EVERYBODY says that for EVERY single app or service that is posted on Hackernews. They could do it with even less people and funding. Yet, there doesn't seem to be anyone who actually did any such thing in a few months with 4-5 people. Apparently, real world works differently.
- Nextgrid 4y ago
  > Yet, there doesn't seem to be anyone who actually did any such thing in a few months with 4-5 people. What about https://liberapay.com https://liberapay.com ? Also, keep in mind that once a well-funded player with infinite money to spend on marketing enters a market it's often no longer worthwhile for a bootstrapped player to compete even if it's possible on technical grounds.
  - unity1001 4y ago
    I heard about it and I know enough about it to know that it is scarcely known. The problem is not making something that caters to a small group of users. The problem is doing it at scale.
    - Nextgrid 4y ago
      I agree, it is scarcely known. However it does confirm that the technical problem of Patreon isn’t rocket science if it can be solved by volunteers on a very restricted budget. > The problem is doing it at scale. IMO that’s more down to support/operations than tech.
      - unity1001 4y ago
        Subscription aggregation services already existed WAY Before Patreon. So the technical problem was never rocket science. The technical problem was, and still is, making it easy, safe, legal and scaling it to millions of users. Like every single technical problem in the tech startup world.

deleted 4y ago

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Cu3PO42 4y ago

I don't disagree that the core concept of Patreon is relatively simple and may even be able to be recreated in a few months, but what you definitely can't do in that amount of time is to comply with the breadth of regulations all over the world.

unity1001 4y ago

> Patreon is a CRUD app and something you could build in a few months and consider it done if you wanted to. Yeah. EVERYBODY says that for EVERY single app or service that is posted on Hackernews. They could do it with even less people and funding. Yet, there doesn't seem to be anyone who actually did any such thing in a few months with 4-5 people. Apparently, real world works differently.

Nextgrid 4y ago
> Yet, there doesn't seem to be anyone who actually did any such thing in a few months with 4-5 people. What about https://liberapay.com https://liberapay.com ? Also, keep in mind that once a well-funded player with infinite money to spend on marketing enters a market it's often no longer worthwhile for a bootstrapped player to compete even if it's possible on technical grounds.
- unity1001 4y ago
  I heard about it and I know enough about it to know that it is scarcely known. The problem is not making something that caters to a small group of users. The problem is doing it at scale.
  - Nextgrid 4y ago
    I agree, it is scarcely known. However it does confirm that the technical problem of Patreon isn’t rocket science if it can be solved by volunteers on a very restricted budget. > The problem is doing it at scale. IMO that’s more down to support/operations than tech.
    - unity1001 4y ago
      Subscription aggregation services already existed WAY Before Patreon. So the technical problem was never rocket science. The technical problem was, and still is, making it easy, safe, legal and scaling it to millions of users. Like every single technical problem in the tech startup world.