Jack Conte is an artist-turned-tech CEO. He’s the founder of the indie band Pamplemousse and the co-founder and CEO of Patreon. He gave a great talk at SXSW this year, here. He has an infectious energy and enthusiasm I think you’ll like. But if you don’t want to watch the whole talk, here are some key takeaways:
• He hustled. He made movies and music and animation obsessively in high school. He drove up and down the West Coast, begging bars to let him perform his music, sometimes in front of empty rooms.
• He adopted new media and technology. He jumped on YouTube as soon as he discovered it, seeing other people reaching new audiences with it.
• He built a following. He discovered the YouTube subscribe button and realized this was a shortcut to success.
• He bootstrapped it. He figured out how to package and mail thumb drives of his songs to fans, making thousands of dollars.
• He crowdsourced. He asked fans to create the cover for his first album.
• He built his own thing. Instead of trying to get a contract with a record company, he decided to sell his songs on iTunes and do everything himself (with his wife and cohort Nataly).
• He gained true fans. In line with Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 True Fans theory, Jack realized he could make a living from his creativity by just amassing 1,000 people who liked his work and were willing to pay for it.
• He stayed on top of changes and trends. He saw how in the last ten years, algorithms had taken over the Internet from creators, and he looked for new opportunities to be seen and build fans (even acquiring a new creator-led streaming platform called Moment).
• Now, he’s reconfiguring Patreon to help creators energize their fan bases. He advises creators to invest in their true fans, make beautiful things, know what you want, and scream your fucking guts out.
I have noticed the changes on my Patreon account- as of yet, I haven't gotten any new paying subscribers in some time, but I'm still trying.
Sounds like a kindred soul!