How I Built This with Guy Raz

Advice Line with Jack Conte of Patreon

Episode Date: January 8, 2026 (originally aired December 2024)
Guests: Jack Conte, Co-founder & CEO, Patreon

Episode Overview

In this energetic and insightful “Advice Line” episode, host Guy Raz is joined by Jack Conte—musician, creator, and co-founder of Patreon—to field business questions from entrepreneurs seeking guidance. The episode weaves practical advice about community-building, market differentiation, and scaling, with real-world examples and case studies. Notably, it features check-ins with past callers to see how the advice impacted their journeys, revealing how founder-focused experimentation can drive innovation and growth.

Main Themes

• Building and nurturing community
• Navigating market saturation and the “interest graph”
• Differentiating brands in commoditized markets
• Testing new ideas through rapid iteration
• Expanding and segmenting audiences
• The continuous challenge of marketing and brand awareness

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Community Building in the Creator and Startup Economy

([04:44])

Jack Conte reflects on the evolution of both music and creator communities, emphasizing vulnerability and authenticity:

• “Community is work and effort and intentionality. Building a community as a founder is different than building a community as a creator... If you’re kind of averaging yourself off to appeal to as many people as possible, you kind of appeal to nobody.” – Jack Conte [05:07]

Advice includes:

• Leaning into authenticity, even if it alienates some listeners.
• Studying other successful creators for inspiration and tactical insights.
• “Empty your mind into a microphone”—distinct voices attract rabid, loyal fans.

2. Attention Economy & Breaking Through the Noise

([06:22])

On the growing difficulty of standing out:

• Jack sees discovery as easier for new creators, but maintaining attention as the real challenge:

  “It’s easier to break through now. It’s harder to stick...” – Jack Conte [06:56]

• Shift away from follower models to algorithmic interest-based discovery (like TikTok).

• The importance of designing a “fan funnel”—from viral discovery down to building a core base of super fans.

• “Creative middle class” on Patreon is thriving—most income isn't going to mega-influencers but to creators making sustainable, six-figure incomes.

3. Caller #1: Zach Parsons, Honeymoon Coffee Company (Evansville, Indiana)

([09:54])

Business: Four-location coffee shop/roastery; launching a “newlyweds coffee ritual” subscription for couples.

Challenge:

How to differentiate and scale a coffee business nationally through a couples-centric subscription box.

Discussion Breakdown:

• Iterative product development is key:
  “The most important part... is speed of iteration. Your intuition is gonna be right in some areas and wrong in some areas... what matters most is getting through the mistakes...” – Jack Conte [16:44]

• Deep niche differentiation:

  • Stand out not by competing with “Onyx” or “Blue Bottle,” but by occupying the wedding/bridal gift world.
  • Consider media/partnerships with bridal sites and the gifting industry.

• The importance of storytelling: “The biggest factor is brand. And nowadays, what that means is story. Why should people buy your coffee?” – Jack Conte [20:48]

Notable Quotes:

• “If it's out of left field, you know you're the only person doing it. So there's not a lot of competition.” – Jack Conte [16:34]
• “You're not selling coffee; you're getting into the bridal business, which is a massive multi-billion dollar industry.” – Guy Raz [18:53]

4. Caller #2: Rowena Shara, Eat to Explore (New York City)

([23:32])

Business: International cooking kits for families, exploring culture and cuisine of a chosen country each month; seeking to expand to “all ages.”

Challenges:

1. How to broaden the brand to all ages without confusing current customers.
2. How to cultivate and grow a vibrant community.

Discussion Breakdown:

• Building superfan communities (drawing on Zoe Fraid-Blennaer's “Super Fandom”):

  • Pilgrimages: Events or summits deepen engagement.
  • Co-creation: Encourage user-generated content like recipe submissions.
  • Collections: Cataloging shared achievements or creative outcomes (akin to “Grateful Dead” tape trading).

• Product expansion:

  • Add adult-oriented kits (e.g., global cocktail recipes—both alcoholic & non-alcoholic).
  • “Expand through your current customers”—a Pixar analogy: make something that works for kids, but delights adults too.

• Market segmentation tactic:

  • Test distinct landing pages/brands for different demographics (e.g., a Gen Z skinned box).
  • Recognize that adults might not be attracted to a brand perceived as kid-centric.

Notable Quotes:

• “Maybe one thing she could do is... spend 15 minutes building a Shopify page that’s... a brand for Gen Z people and then make a Gen Z box and see if you get pre-orders.” – Jack Conte [36:48]
• “Every great, original idea is so original...” – Rowena Shara [33:04] (after it’s revealed others had suggested the same concept)

5. Caller #3: Melissa Spitz, Adventures in Handwriting (Boca Raton, Florida)

([38:32])

Business: Interactive, multisensory handwriting lessons/program for children, now entering schools as well as being sold to parents.

Challenge:

Expanding from direct-to-parent to direct-to-school sales—how to scale awareness and impact with limited resources.

Discussion Breakdown:

• Direct-to-consumer (parents) vs. Institutional (schools) is a fundamentally different sales process:

  • “Be willing to throw out everything you’ve used to sell to parents. You’ll probably end up incorporating some of it. But just know it might be completely different, and that’s okay when you’re selling to a school.” – Jack Conte [46:52]

• “Bottoms up enterprise” adoption:

  • Get individual teachers to use/test the program, which creates “pull” for administration to adopt.
  • Build pressure from current users within an institution.

• Strong, mission-driven branding can create organic demand and ease institutional sales.

Notable Quotes:

• “Even when you talk about this, Melissa, like, I’m getting fired up... there’s such a clear mission behind it.” – Jack Conte [48:33]
• “That is the challenge of moving from a direct-to-consumer to an enterprise business: totally different customers and a totally different pitch.” – Jack Conte [46:09]

6. Universal Marketing Challenge

([49:44])

• Across all businesses, the hardest ongoing challenge is getting your brand “out there” and keeping it visible as attention platforms change.
• “Marketing is this kind of never-ending, always-evolving challenge that always requires a really intense deep dive to get it to work.” – Jack Conte [50:32]

7. Jack’s Closing Reflections: What He Wishes He Knew Starting Patreon

([50:58])

• Early pattern: “cross-indexing” many people’s opinions was valuable.
• But at a certain stage, relying too much on consensus slows decisive action: “Figure out what you want to do... Rather than finding the path of least resistance between 15 different opinions... using my own conviction as a North Star for decision-making...” – Jack Conte [52:02]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Authenticity in Community:
  “The ones who are just almost like entirely unfiltered... are the ones who build these incredibly rabid, loyal followings.” – Jack Conte [05:19]

• On Iteration and Product Fit:
  “What matters most is getting through the mistakes so that you iterate your way to product market fit as quickly as possible.” – Jack Conte [16:44]

• On Market Differentiation:
  “It sounds like it’s coming back to this relationship with your wife and this podcast... there’s something in that narrative that could be the hook.” – Jack Conte [20:35]

• On Expanding Through the Existing Customer Base:
  “Grow through your current customers... For what Guy was just talking about, maybe a great example of this is in Pixar movies...” – Jack Conte [33:13]

• On Marketing as an Ongoing Struggle:
  “Even as a business scales, the industry changes... the world just changes, attention changes... Marketing is this kind of never ending, always evolving challenge...” – Jack Conte [50:32]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [04:44] – Building community as a founder and creator
• [06:22] – Getting attention in a crowded digital landscape
• [09:54] – Zach Parsons: coffee shop growth and differentiation
• [16:16] – Rapid iteration and product validation
• [23:32] – Rowena Shara: Eat to Explore and brand expansion
• [31:17] – Building superfans; user-generated content
• [38:32] – Melissa Spitz: Adventures in Handwriting and sales channels
• [46:08] – Strategies for institutional adoption
• [49:44] – The universal marketing challenge
• [50:58] – Jack’s closing advice for founders

In-the-Wild Results: Callers’ Follow-up (One Year Later)

At the episode’s end, Guy Raz gives a “where are they now” update:

• Eat to Explore: Adult Edition boxes launched (with cocktail pairings) now account for 25%+ of sales.
• Adventures in Handwriting: Over 50 new videos for educators/parents; responded well nationwide.
• Honeymoon Coffee Company: “One Coffee Ritual” newlyweds subscription relaunches February, after a year of development.

Tone, Language, and Style

• Warm, supportive, and candid.
• Jack conjectures openly, shares founder uncertainties, and champions “weird,” left-field ideas.
• Realistic about the grind and uncertainty of building something new, with a sense of humor and empathy for callers.

Summary Takeaway

This episode is a dynamic lesson in entrepreneurial problem-solving. Whether you’re iterating a new offer, trying to punch through the digital noise, or struggling to market to new segments, the throughline is clear: experiment quickly, lead with your story, and lean into your community. The creative path is unpredictable—but authenticity, iteration, and focus on niche audiences can chart a sustainable way forward, as the success stories of the featured founders illustrate.