Patreon, Inc.

Creator Economy MonetizationFounded 2013- HQ today: San Francisco, California, United States

Founders

Who Founded Patreon?

Jack Conte, Sam Yam · Founded 2013 · HQ today: San Francisco, California, United States

Who founded Patreon?

Patreon was founded by Jack Conte, Sam Yam in 2013. It is now led by Jack Conte.

Founders: Jack Conte, Sam Yam
Founded: 2013
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Number of founders: 2
Current CEO: Jack Conte (since 2013)

Where was Patreon founded?: Patreon was founded in San Francisco, California, United States in 2013.
When was Patreon founded?: Patreon was founded in 2013.
Who started Patreon?: Patreon was founded by Jack Conte and Sam Yam.
How old is Patreon?: Patreon is 13 years old as of 2026.

Founding Story

In 2013 Jack Conte, half of the YouTube music duo Pomplamoose, spent heavily producing a music video that drew about a million views and paid him roughly $166 in ad revenue. He teamed up with his Stanford roommate Sam Yam, who had previously co-founded mobile ad company AdWhirl, and they launched Patreon in May 2013 so fans could pay creators a set amount per piece of work or per month.

Jack Conte

Background

Stanford University graduate and musician; one half of the YouTube duo Pomplamoose and a member of Scary Pockets.

Role at Patreon, Inc.

Jack Conte co-founded Patreon in 2013 after years of building an audience on YouTube with Pomplamoose and earning little from ads. He has been CEO since launch, steering the company through funding rounds up to a $4 billion valuation in 2021, the 2025 move to a single 10% fee for new creators, and a 20% workforce cut in July 2026. He continues to release music and publicly advocates for creator ownership of fan relationships.

Jack Conte was born in 1984 in San Francisco.

Sam Yam

Background

Software engineer and tech entrepreneur.

Role at Patreon, Inc.

Sam Yam co-founded Patreon in 2013 alongside his Stanford roommate Jack Conte. While Conte was the creative musician deeply frustrated by YouTube's terrible ad payouts, Yam was the brilliant technical architect. He built the entire initial Patreon platform in just six weeks, creating the highly robust payment backend that allowed fans to reliably subscribe directly to creators. Sam Yam was born in 1983.

Patreon, Inc.: CEO & Leadership History

Full timeline →

Jack Conte

Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder

2013 – Present

As Co-Founder and CEO, the eccentric musician serves as the absolute, highly passionate evangelist for the 'Creator Economy,' fiercely advocating for artists against the algorithmic tyranny of YouTube and TikTok.

Sam Yam

Co-Founder (former CTO)

2013 – Present

As Co-Founder and President, he oversees the massive engineering and product divisions, ensuring the platform remains highly reliable for creators whose entire livelihood depends on it.

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Who Founded Patreon? FAQ

Who are the founders of Patreon and when was the company founded?

Patreon was founded in May 2013 by musician Jack Conte and technologist Sam Yam in San Francisco, California.

How did Jack Conte and Sam Yam meet before founding Patreon?

Jack Conte and Sam Yam were former college roommates at Stanford University. When Conte conceived the idea for a direct fan patronage platform in early 2013, he called Yam, who immediately recognized the market need and agreed to build the technical platform.

How quickly did Sam Yam build the first prototype of Patreon?

Sam Yam built the initial working version of Patreon in just under three weeks in May 2013, launching with Jack Conte as the very first creator. Within weeks, Conte was earning thousands of dollars per month directly from his Pomplamoose fan base.

Who were the early venture investors who backed Patreon's founders in 2013?

Patreon raised a $2.1 million seed round in August 2013 led by Freestyle Capital and prominent angel investors, followed by a $15 million Series A round in 2014 led by Danny Rimer at Index Ventures with participation from Alexis Ohanian and SV Angel.

What initial skepticism did the founders face from Silicon Valley investors?

Many traditional venture capitalists initially dismissed Patreon, arguing that consumers would never willingly pay monthly subscriptions for content that was already available for free on YouTube or Soundcloud. The founders proved that fans subscribe to support the artist, not merely to bypass paywalls.

What was the early technical architecture designed by Sam Yam?

Sam Yam engineered a scalable, multi-currency recurring billing system that synchronized with creator social feeds, automated patron tier access permissions, and provided webhook APIs for third-party integrations (Discord, Discourse, WordPress).

How did the founders cultivate Patreon's early creator community?

Jack Conte and Sam Yam personally reached out to prominent YouTube creators, indie animators, and podcast hosts, helping them configure their membership tiers and hosting intimate creator meetups to build authentic grassroots loyalty.

What core values did Jack Conte and Sam Yam establish for Patreon's company culture?

The founders established five core corporate values: Put Creators First, Build with Focus, Win as One, Practice Candor, and Seek Continuous Mastery, guiding corporate strategy and platform development.

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Core profile pages, founders and related research hubs for this company.

Who founded Patreon?

Founding Story

Jack Conte

Background

Role at Patreon, Inc.

Sam Yam

Background

Role at Patreon, Inc.

Patreon, Inc.: CEO & Leadership History

Compare Patreon, Inc. Leadership With Competitors

Keep researching Patreon

Who Founded Patreon? FAQ

Who are the founders of Patreon and when was the company founded?

How did Jack Conte and Sam Yam meet before founding Patreon?

How quickly did Sam Yam build the first prototype of Patreon?

Who were the early venture investors who backed Patreon's founders in 2013?

What initial skepticism did the founders face from Silicon Valley investors?

What was the early technical architecture designed by Sam Yam?

How did the founders cultivate Patreon's early creator community?

What core values did Jack Conte and Sam Yam establish for Patreon's company culture?

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