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Comment by preston4tw | Hacker News Reader

I always thought it was awesome that a company to support creators was creator lead. I came across Jack Conte in 2010 before Patreon existed. He was a music creator on YouTube that made what he was calling Video Songs, songs with each instrument part video'd and mixed together, and selling his music collection through e-junkie at the time. He was one of the first creators I ever financially supported. Some of the videos are still up on YT: https://youtu.be/D2PwVkQBp5o

Despite not knowing Jack personally pretty much everything I've seen from him over the years has reinforced my generally high opinion of him. In this case as well. As lay-offs go Patreon seems to be trying very hard to do right by their employees.

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As a former Patreon team member, he has done an incredible job of attracting creator-focused team members -- one of the most mission oriented groups I've ever been a part of.

Don't mistake that for being a good CEO. He gives deep-felt apologies every time he does layoffs... which he does frequently. Often because he just doesn't like what people are doing. He also frequently communicates with the public in a more heart-felt manner than he does his own employees. He's great at putting out a great face.

- 5 days ago - Security Team - https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/09/patreon-security-layoffs/

- 2021 - https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/patreon-lays-off-36-emplo...

- 2020 - https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/21/patreon-lays-off-13-of-wor...

- 2019, September layoffs (can't find the links for these ones)

- 2019, June layoffs

- 2018, June layoffs

Also, to be clear. I was not one of the ones laid off. But I did see my entire team besides my manager vanish one day and then be told I'm expected to do the team's work for the next 6 months.

Yeah, I'd imagine in many respects he's unqualified to be a good CEO since he, as far as I can tell, essentially stumbled sideways into the role as co-founder. There's the upside of the CEO being a creator themselves but the downside of not having a background in business or necessarily the other qualities a good leader possesses.

Patreon has a great mission though and I can see how it would attract creator-focused team members. There are some impressive Patreon alumni in their own right.

Yes, I’m a long time Pomplamoose fan https://youtu.be/FlDGFrP4NgI

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