# Patreon add monthly membership after creator hacks

> Watch how creators bend the product, then make the most common workaround a first-class monetization model.

- Canonical HTML: https://growth.iangoh.com/growth-ideas/patreon-add-monthly-membership-after-creator-hacks/
- Source: [techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/12/patreon-product/)
- GrowthDex source hub: [TechCrunch EC-1: The product of Patreon](/sources/techcrunch-ec-1-the-product-of-patreon-techcrunch-com/)
- Last checked: 2026-06-07T03:31:31.000Z
- Rarity: uncommon
- Budget: low
- Channels: Product, Monetization, Customer Research
- Stages: workaround mining, membership model, creator billing, product iteration


## Why this can grow

Patreon did not need to guess that monthly memberships mattered. Creators showed it by hacking the original per-creation model into flat monthly payment behavior. The team then added monthly functionality and eventually made it the default. This works because workarounds reveal real demand under constraints. A creator who fights the product to create a billing model is telling you where the business model wants to go. The right response is not to defend the original architecture. It is to ask whether the workaround is broad, repeated, and better aligned with the customer’s operating rhythm.

## Ian's take

From scaling consumer platforms across MENA and Southeast Asia, my default is to distrust growth work that only looks good in a slide. My bias is to treat this as a small market test first. Make the audience narrow, make the promise concrete, and let the first real response decide whether it deserves more work. I would run it small enough to learn quickly, then only scale the parts that real users repeat, save, reply to, or buy from. For this tactic, I would watch one clear growth signal before putting more time or budget behind it.

## Action plan

1. Define one narrow startup segment where patreon add monthly membership after creator hacks can create a measurable lift.
2. Turn the tactic into one offer, page, campaign, or workflow for the Product and Monetization channel.
3. Use the evidence from techcrunch.com to set the first version of the message, format, and audience.
4. Launch a small test for 7 to 14 days with one success metric: one measurable growth signal.
5. Review the result, keep the winning message, remove weak variants, and turn the learning into a repeatable growth playbook.

## Source-backed example

During Patreon’s first two months, many creators tried to force a flat monthly payment option into the per-creation model. Patreon added monthly support, and by 2015 about 80% of creators used per-month payment.

## Adjacent tactics in the same lane

- [Patreon free content paid patron cap](/growth-ideas/patreon-free-content-paid-patron-cap/) - same source, 1 shared channel
- [Patreon thousand-dollar creator metric over consumer MAUs](/growth-ideas/patreon-thousand-dollar-creator-metric-over-consumer-maus/) - same source, 1 shared channel
- [Patreon special offer quarterly membership kick](/growth-ideas/patreon-special-offer-quarterly-membership-kick/) - same source
- [Baremetrics paying-customer rebuild doubles revenue](/growth-ideas/baremetrics-paying-customer-rebuild-doubles-revenue/) - 2 shared channels, 1 shared stage

## Read GrowthDex essays

Browse the plain-English essay index at [GrowthDex Blog](/blog/).

## Related GrowthDex essays

- [The first patron should prove the next creator](/blog/the-first-patron-should-prove-the-next-creator/) - creator economy, membership, marketplaces

## Advisory

If you want help turning this into a working growth system, Ian Goh offers advisory at https://iangoh.com/advisory.