Hank Green (2015)

Of course.

This would be a really great way to self-destruct our friendship.

I think it's great. The more distribution systems out there the better. Every creator has such different goals and content and audience, all I want is to see people finding new ways to connect and create because the fertility that has created over the last 10 years is unprecedented.

Yeah...we have a weird relationship with notoriety.

I'm waaaay over this. I listen to myself all frikkin day. We did a SciShow on this topic though, if you want to learn more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2wThQljxcY

Slowly but surely. 33,000 words. My protagonist has gotten herself into an unpleasant situation, and it's going to get worse before it gets better. Maybe I should make a Patreon page for it! You can read un-finished chapters and tell me how awful I am!

Yeah, I'm not actually sure if this is true, but mostly when I get stopped on the street it SciShow and Crash Course that people recognize me for. This is, however, terrible science. There's a huge sampling bias in only polling people who approach me in public.

Also, Vlogbrothers has had more views than both of those channels combined, but I get the feeling that those views come from the same core audience whereas SciShow and Crash Course are viewed fewer times by more people.

Oh, and I didn't answer your question. Yes, Vlogbrothers (and more specifically Nerdfighteria) was absolutely essential in establishing SciShow and Crash Course. The support of our community has been more than we could ever ask for.

First, Patreon started taking monthly pledges, which made the difference between the two platforms much smaller.

Second, over the last couple years, we've invested less and less in Subbable because:
1. We knew we were never going to make the money back
2. The differences between Patreon and Subbable had become so small that investing in Subbable seemed a little like re-inventing the wheel.

I hopefully will be visiting Nerdcrafteria on GWH soon. And for breakfast I had a cherry pineapple smoothie. Not time for real food!

EDIT: I should have said...Nerdcrafteria is our minecraft server which is, itself, funded through crowd-funding (though it's server-side minecraft crowdfunding so probably not right for Patreon.)

Also outtakes videos. Stuff that isn't "the show" but might be interesting to people who really like "the show."

I think, in order for America to be more interested in planetary and space science, more Americans need to be affluent and educated and, in order to accomplish that, we need a strong economy and social support systems (which is what we spend most of our money on) so I don't actually think we're doing a terrible job.

We did get a small stake in Patreon as part of the acquisition. So...yes?

1. Each creator gets to decide how they will / won't distribute their content. SciShow and CrashCourse are remaining free from all paywalls, though we are producing some supplemental content that will only be available to patrons.

2. I was really glad that Patreon and Subbable got to be separate entities for the first couple years. That allowed us to each try different things and see what worked. But it also felt a little like each company was re-inventing what the other was doing. I think Patreon will continue to evolve and grow and find new ways to serve the needs of creators and audiences, which I'm thrilled to be a part of.

Here's my "How To Adult" video on this topic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExP1PisfjgQ

It will. This is definitely the biggest change. On Patreon, we (and you) simply have to make sure that whatever monthly reward you choose is worth the price being paid.

Without all that pesky plastic in your house!

Intestines are pretty complicated. Not just the cells but the microflora that occupy them. The more we learn about this microbiome the more complicated it becomes. It's actually more important to sustain and rebuild this giant diversity of intestinal bacteria and fungi than the health of the intestine itself. Weird...

Grey and Google have a long-standing...erm...tension. Basically, YouTube's algorithms weight creators who make content frequently. Grey makes one or two videos a month, so YouTube isn't super good at actually telling his subscribers when he's made a new video. This is frustrating.

Yeah...sometimes it's awful and sometimes it's wonderful. I like saying "no" to people at big companies who want to give me money to do things that I don't believe in and them just being SO CONFUSED!

Business is a creative enterprise. It's making in the same way writing a song or a video is making. The tools are different, but the creativity is the same. The most fun part of it for me is figuring out how to do things differently from everyone else but still make it work. Challenging conventional wisdom is empowering and fun. Living in Montana helps a lot, but so does having such a wonderful supportive community.

ABSORBED, like a macrophage around a glob of glucose they will ingest and digest us. Maybe not quite like that though.

We're asking all subbable subscribers to convert their accounts ASAP. It's a really simple process and all current Subbable creators already have Patreon pages.

I'll add to this that I worry about the psychological difference between being required to pay and being asked to pay. If we /made/ people pay for Crash Course we would make MUCH MORE MONEY! But no one would call it immoral, that's just business. Like, pharmaceutical companies make people pay to not die, and that's just America.

But when you ASK people to pay, like they aren't required but you would like them to, suddenly the burden is on you to prove that you need the money. This is very odd, but it's something we all feel. Getting over the psychology that weights forcing a fan to do something rather than asking the ones who can afford to pay to pay is very important not just for Patreon, but for the future of independent creation.

I'm not sure that adblock is as big a deal as it seems like. Most people don't know it exsits and folks have a remarkably high tolerance for advertising (much higher than my tolerance, for example.)

I don't really think the problem is with adblock (though I don't use it because it makes me feel guilty). I think the problem is with advertising...a business model that is almost intrinsically duplicitous.

Oh, the most unexpected thing is that YouTube turned out to be a way to make money. Like, compared with every other system of online creation, YouTube is a much easier way to make money (though Patreon is helping that problem.) And it has taken me here, and also to the White House...just, so peculiar,

A thing I wish I could do differently? I don't know, I'm pretty happy with how things have shaped up. I missed a lot of opportunities to get super rich but, looking back, I wouldn't have enjoyed them.

Next big project? As mentioned in my most recent video, it is currently a secret and you will find out next week.

I'll leave this one to Jack since it's his company but we did talk a little about the future of the company to make sure they weren't going to do anything that would be contrary to our values. The way he and his investors think about the future of the company is very sustainable and much more about cultural change than money, which is what was important to me.

I think five years ago is when I first saw Pomplamoose in concert. I was playing a show in SF, and afterward they were right down the street playing their own show in what appeared to be a very fancy laundromat.

I'm taking an unpaid advisor and advocate position at Patreon, which I'm really excited about. This kind of crowdfunding has a massive future and I'm very excited to see it grow and evolve.

I actually got to all of the questions I had prepared. However, he released his prooposed budget the week after I was there and I really wish it had been before because I would've asked how on PLANET EARTH military spending is INCREASING as we end TWO WARS!

Setting up non-profits is complicated and you are required by law to put control of the organization into the hands of a board of directors. There are also all kinds of financial reporting regulations which we'd be happy to do, but keeping track of it is a pain in the butt and we'd rather be making videos than doing accounting.

Oh! I like your thing! It seems like it would be good YouTube videos (I think about everything in terms of whether it would make good YouTube videos).

At the moment, Patreon (nor any crowdfunding program, I don't think) has a system in place to match creators with granting agencies or large-scale donors. Patreon has a built in audience of people who are proven to be interested Patrons, but we haven't yet considered how to bring in outside money this way.

It's an intriguing idea though (especially since we have an existing relationship with PBS.)

The great thing about YouTube is that it you can adjust so fast that everything is essentially a work in progress. This is one reason why big media companies are so bad at YouTube....they want to be able to film 40 episodes and then upload them over a year with absolutely not response to the audience or reaction to how certain stuff does.

So yeah, CCKids came out a little confused in it's age range, we are adjusting.

You won't be charged until the first.

Literally...I am doing it.