Our core business is neither a social graph, nor locking in creator/patron data, nor advertisements/time on site. We’re a creator-first company, and we strongly believe that patrons are creators’ customers, not ours. We want your patrons’ experiences to take place wherever makes the most sense.
See where this is going?
Patreon’s vision is to power membership businesses for creators, in order to fund the creative class. Hence, our API supports that focus by giving creators choice and allowing them to give their patrons value anywhere.