Patreon Culture Deck

Our core behaviors
Most companies have core values. Few companies have cultures that reflect them. That’s why Patreon has core behaviors — things you can do to ensure a thriving workplace for you and your teammates.

Our core behaviors were crafted by our first two dozen employees. To this day, we use them as our guiding light toward maintaining the culture we’ve built and love.

1. © Patreon 2018
May 2018

PATREON CULTURE

2. © Patreon 2018
DISCLAIMERS
The material in this deck is not necessarily “right” or “wrong.” You won’t agree with
everything here, but as a team, we have to make certain decisions about how we operate
together in order to maximize our effectiveness and efficiency.

Our culture is a living and breathing organism that evolves over time. This deck covers what
works for Patreon today, but that’s not what’s worked for Patreon in the past, or what will
work for us in the future. We expect you to help create our future slides.

3. © Patreon 2018
Mission
Core Behaviors
Transparency
Manager Expectations
Communication
Office Energy
Inclusivity and Diversity
Spending
People
Compensation

OVERVIEW

4. © Patreon 2018
MISSION

5. © Patreon 2018
WE HAVE TWO MISSIONS


1.Fund the creative class
2.Create a company where teammates build fulfilling lives

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IT’S NOT AN ACCEPTABLE OUTCOME TO
COMPLETE ONLY ONE OF THOSE THINGS. WHY?

Because we don’t want to accomplish our mission at the expense of our teammates.

And we don’t want to create a happy, fulfilled team if we aren’t getting creators paid.

7. © Patreon 2018
CORE BEHAVIORS

8. © Patreon 2018
WHAT IS CULTURE?

Culture is a group of people repeating behaviors, which is why our core behaviors are the
most important aspect of our culture.

When people say they like our culture, they’re saying they like the way we treat each other,
our visitors, our creators, and our patrons.

9. © Patreon 2018
WHY CALL THEM “CORE BEHAVIORS”
INSTEAD OF “CORE VALUES?”

Because behaviors are actions you can take and things you can do. Behaviors are lower in the stack
than values, and thus, more actionable.

Most companies have core values, but few companies have cultures that reflect them. Why is that? It’s
because most companies write down values and then hope people adhere to them.

At Patreon, our culture reflects our behaviors because we’ve built all of our systems (hiring,
promoting, recognition, feedback) around them, and we ground decision-making in them.

10. © Patreon 2018
PUT CREATORS FIRST
1

11. © Patreon 2018
Patreon creator, Strangely Bikes
1 - PUT CREATORS FIRST
Patreon is nothing without our creators.
It is:
●Prioritizing delivering long term value to
creators when making important decisions
●Understanding the issues that are most
important to creators and patrons










It isn’t:
●Prioritizing features and offerings solely
based on creator feedback
●Ignoring the needs and interests of Patrons





Trade-offs:
We’d rather folks prioritize creators
. . . over their own comfort or convenience
. . . over short term gains for Patreon

12. © Patreon 2018
We deliver unusual care to creators.

Our business provides creators’ income and rent checks, so we do not take our responsibility
lightly. We exist because of, and in service of, creators. There is a creator behind every text, email,
call, request, bug, and payment issue, and we treat them as human beings, not users.

We will fight to keep the human spark in our relationships as we scale. We invest in teams like
Community Happiness, Creator Care, and Trust & Safety who are on the front lines taking care of
our creators because it’s both the right thing to do, and a strategic advantage for Patreon.




1 - PUT CREATORS FIRST

13. © Patreon 2018
When creators visit our building, we
show respect.

When creators perform in our space, we are so quiet you
can hear a pin drop. We are not distracted on our devices
because we want creators receiving our undivided attention.
When creators finish performing, we are so loud that we
shake the building.

When a creator leaves Patreon, they should feel like it was
the best show of their lives.



Patreon creator, Strangely Bikes
1 - PUT CREATORS FIRST

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ACHIEVE AMBITIOUS OUTCOMES
2

15. © Patreon 2018
Patreon creator, Strangely Bikes
2 - ACHIEVE AMBITIOUS OUTCOMES
Set, measure, and accomplish goals that deliver massive value to our
creators and patrons.


It is:
●Setting, measuring, and accomplishing
really challenging goals that matter to our
creators and patrons
●Prioritizing outcomes over output
●Working efficiently to drive results













It isn’t:
●Working harder or longer for its own sake
●Accomplishing things at the expense of your
teammates






Trade-offs:
We’d rather folks achieve ambitious outcomes than
. . . do great work that doesn’t actually contribute to our mission
. . . do what’s popular or attention getting
. . . deliver what’s easiest or most convenient

16. © Patreon 2018
CULTIVATE INCLUSION
3

17. © Patreon 2018
Patreon creator, Strangely Bikes
3 - CULTIVATE INCLUSION
We want an environment that retains and engages the diverse teams
we’re building.


It is:
●Building diverse teams that incorporate the
ideas of folks from different walks of life
●Showing empathy for others and expressing
curiosity about the way others see the world
●Creating opportunities for your teammates
to grow and succeed













It isn’t:
●Requiring consensus to make every decision
●Limited to interests of specific groups of
people
●Building solely for underrepresented
communities






Trade-offs:
We’d rather folks cultivate inclusion than
. . . do everything in a uniform way
. . . please the most impassioned or outspoken teammates
. . . avoid uncomfortable conversations

18. © Patreon 2018
ADD VALUE QUICKLY
4

19. © Patreon 2018
Patreon creator, Strangely Bikes
4 - ADD VALUE QUICKLY
Add value quickly.

It is:
●Moving forward with urgency
●Continuously seeking ways to add value
●Structuring work to delivers value early in
project lifecycle














It isn’t:
●A justification for low quality work
●An excuse to exclude key stakeholders







Trade-offs:
We’d rather folks add value quickly than
. . . get bogged down in processes and rules
. . . wait for the perfect solution

20. © Patreon 2018
Build for the chart on the bottom.





4 - ADD VALUE QUICKLY

21. © Patreon 2018
BE CANDID AND KIND

5

22. © Patreon 2018
Patreon creator, Strangely Bikes
5 - BE CANDID AND KIND
Be extremely caring and extremely direct in all you do at Patreon,
especially when it comes to giving positive and constructive
feedback.


It is:
●Providing constructive feedback in a way
that helps folks improve
●Receiving feedback with curiosity and
openness













It isn’t:
●Sharing potentially hurtful feedback in public
settings
●Being candid behind someone’s back







Trade-offs:
We’d rather folks be candid than
. . . align faster on decisions
. . . have better group cohesion
. . . have more comfortable and low friction interactions

23. © Patreon 2018
We like Carole Robin’s guiding principles for candid feedback:
1.Do it early
2.Avoid shaming
3.Focus on behavior
4.Stay on your side of the net
5.Be generous - assume good intent
6.Speak to the other person’s interests and state your intent
7.Practice



5 - BE CANDID AND KIND

24. © Patreon 2018
Kim Scott’s radical candor framework reminds us how
important it is to be kind and direct when giving feedback.



5 - BE CANDID AND KIND

25. © Patreon 2018
SEEK LEARNING
6

26. © Patreon 2018
Patreon creator, Strangely Bikes
6 - SEEK LEARNING
We surround ourselves with people who are obsessed with learning
and development.


It is:
●Actively seeking to improve your
understanding of important issues
●Being humble about your ideas and open
to changing them in the face of evidence
●Taking on projects that would require you
to stretch, learn, and grow.













It isn’t:
●Analysis paralysis - endlessly seeking
data before taking action
●Taking on work that spurs personal
growth but is misaligned with our
company goals and priorities








Trade-offs:
We’d rather folks seek learning than
. . . make misinformed decisions faster
. . . stick to tradition or past processes

27. © Patreon 2018
Patreon supports your pursuit of this core behavior with our
learning and development offerings.

Patreon encourages our employees to seek learning opportunities, including external opportunities like
professional coaching, mentorship, training programs, seminars, and conferences.

Each teammate is given a yearly $3,000 learning stipend to use towards their development, and can receive one
book credit per quarter through TeamReads.

Our quarterly organizational reviews make sure that managers are paying attention to, and have a career
development plan for, each individual on their team.

Our biannual 360 reviews ensure that everyone gets the feedback they need to understand their development.

We host bi-monthly manager training to help our leaders continue to develop their coaching, strategic thinking,
and feedback skills, among others.

6 - SEEK LEARNING

28. © Patreon 2018
RECAP

29. © Patreon 2018
RECAP
We don’t like the term “culture fit” at Patreon.
We look for “culture add” and “core behavior
fit”.

We hire people that bring new experiences,
backgrounds and perspectives to the table,
but you must demonstrate these behaviors to
succeed at Patreon.





1.Put creators first
2.Achieve ambitious outcomes
3.Cultivate inclusion
4.Add value quickly
5.Be candid and kind
6.Seek learning

30. © Patreon 2018
We operate with complete transparency to give our team the context needed to
make great decisions.

TRANSPARENCY

31. © Patreon 2018
Patreon chooses transparency. However, we should be
aware of the potential downsides:

1.Key information could leak and damage the company.

2.The team could feel information overload via too much oversharing.

3.Information could be consumed without proper context.

4.Folks might share problems before having solutions and too much of that could
shake confidence in leadership.

Despite these costs, we operate with complete transparency to give our team the
context they need to make great decisions. And we’ll continue to monitor our
transparency to ensure that the benefits outweigh the downsides.




TRANSPARENCY

32. © Patreon 2018
Here are some of the things we do to disseminate
important information:

1.We hold open Q&A at all hands meetings. We expect you to ask hard questions.
2.The executive team weekly agenda is public in Asana.
3.All team weekly meetings have public agendas viewable in Asana.
4.Board meeting notes and takeaways will be shared with the company after each
meeting.
5.All metrics for the business are available in Tableau dashboards.
6.Data science presents on company growth every month.
7.Each time we do a company-wide employee engagement survey, we share
results and our actionable next steps.




TRANSPARENCY

33. © Patreon 2018
Managers at Patreon are expected to invest in their team by helping prioritize,
coaching instead of telling, and providing visibility on their team’s impact.

MANAGER EXPECTATIONS

34. © Patreon 2018
To be a manager at Patreon:

Care deeply about your teammates. Invest in their success, growth, and productivity. Our beliefs and manager
expectations are influenced heavily by Google’s Project Oxygen

Recruit and retain only top talent that deliver outstanding results on ambitious goals. While we see value in
appreciating and praising effort, we make our decisions based on impact individuals have to the business

Build a diverse and inclusive environment. This is so important that it has its own section later in the deck

Ensure your team is working on only the highest impact projects. Every hour at Patreon is important. Time not
spent on the most impactful work is time wasted. Build a system to make sure individuals on your team have the
right context to set the right priorities

Measure and provide visibility into the team’s progress. Include your most impactful objectives in your team’s
scorecards.

MANAGER EXPECTATIONS

35. © Patreon 2018
If you feel you are not receiving strong coaching or guidance from your manager,
give them that feedback.

Help Patreon hold your manager to a high standard and tell them if you would like
more or less direction in your work.

MANAGER EXPECTATIONS

36. © Patreon 2018
Patreon turns good communicators into expert communicators. We care about communication
because world-class communication helps us solve problems faster.

COMMUNICATION

37. © Patreon 2018
At Patreon, we commit to communicating with C.A.R.E
Clear
Bottom-line your answers and documents.
Set expectations.
Facilitate easy reading.
Aware
Consider dynamics.
Respect time by sharing with context.
Listening > Loud.
Real
Put the moose on the table.
Take responsibility.
Accept feedback gracefully.
Empathetic
Be kind.
Be willing to change your view.
Assume best intent.
Use playbacks.
COMMUNICATION

38. © Patreon 2018
We don’t want to sit in boring meetings. Below are our meeting expectations:

Ask yourself if a meeting is the best way to solve your problem before calling one. Is it possible to solve your
problem or gather the info you need over Asana, Slack, or email?

Each meeting should have an owner and that owner should arrive with a set agenda, keep the group on track, and
help the group progress quickly towards the goal of the meeting.

Default your meetings to 25 or 50 minutes.

Attendees can and should leave during a meeting if they are not receiving or adding significant value. This is not
seen as "rude" at Patreon. It's seen as valuing time and aiming to be maximally productive.

Aim to have as few attendees as possible in your meeting. If there are additional stakeholders that could have
been included in the meeting, take notes in the meeting and send them out to stakeholders afterward.

Give each other feedback. Because each meeting is unique, it's tough to have guidelines that work for every
situation. The best thing we can do is give each other feedback if meetings don't feel as productive as you would
want.


6 - RESPECT TEAMMATES TIME

39. © Patreon 2018
We do our best work when we’re together. We prioritize togetherness so that we create an engaging
and productive environment.


OFFICE ENERGY

40. © Patreon 2018
Below are reasons we care about cross-functional
teammates being in our office:

Teams that work together in the same office learn each other’s work styles and preferences faster. We can
become more efficient at building things together.

Teammates need to know when others are available. A consistent schedule helps with that, and is essential
to the success of some teams, like recruiting. When teammates wait for other teammates to arrive, it costs
Patreon unnecessary time and money.

We need to maintain our office energy to attract the right employees, candidates, and creators. These
stakeholders have reasonable expectations of what they expect from our office.

Most people at Patreon want to work in a place that is humming with creative energy, collaboration, and
productivity. We create areas of our office to accommodate different styles and needs, including heads-down
focus, lively interactions, and private conversations.

More face-time will help us build relationships and collaborate better. We are growing team size quickly,
and facetime together gives us the best chance at maintaining our culture and building effective relationships.

Each team sets their own work hours. Please discuss your team’s hours with your manager.





OFFICE ENERGY

41. © Patreon 2018
We expect cross functional roles, hiring managers, and
leaders to arrive by 9am.

Not every company operates this way. In fact, some companies are entirely remote.

While we don’t set standard hours for every person and every team, the policy above is right
for us, and gives us the best chance at scaling our team, building effective operations, and
accomplishing our ambitious goals.


OFFICE ENERGY

42. © Patreon 2018
We build an inclusive environment because we believe that will give us the best
chance at funding the creative class.



DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

43. © Patreon 2018
At Patreon, we feel safe to express our authentic selves and
respect each other’s experiences. We challenge ourselves to
grow and thrive by embracing our differences and diverse
perspectives.

Dozens of analyses (like the one here) show that diverse and inclusive teams outperform teams
that lack diversity and inclusivity.

We must be a team that is as diverse as the community of creators and patrons we seek to serve.
It’s the right thing to do.


DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

44. © Patreon 2018
We set ambitious goals to help us realize our vision.

Diversity goals
By EOY 2020 our VPs should be:
●50/50 - Men / Gender Minorities
●50/50 - White / People Of Color
By EOY 2020 we should be:
●50/50 - Men / Gender Minorities
●50/50 - White / People Of Color
With similar ratios in Ops/Tech, Managers/non-Managers, and among the full team/high-level team
members (5&6)

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

45. © Patreon 2018
We set ambitious goals to help us realize our vision.

Inclusion goals
●Underrepresented group members are promoted at parity with majority group members.
●Belongingness (as measured through a biannual engagement survey) reaches 95%.
●We’d like to see active ERGs for each of the primary protected classes by 2020 EOY.


DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

46. © Patreon 2018
We are committed to achieving these outcomes. Here are some
programs and policies we are working on to achieve our goals:
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION



Diversity Inclusion
●70/30 underrepresented minority (URM) candidates
top of funnel for VP roles

●+ 3 URM focused Sourcers

●Launching a University Recruiting and Internship
program in 2019

●Leveraging a 3rd party firm and relationships with
organizations (Code 20/40, Lesbians Who Tech,
etc.)

●Leveraging Atipica + reporting on pipeline diversity

●Public Demographic Release + D&I Blogs
●Analyzing promotion parity and reporting to
the team

●Analyzing compensation & equity parity and
reporting to the team

●Empowering Employee Resource Groups
(ERGs) for URM groups

●Improving Belonging through work on
a.Decision making
b.D&I learning
c.Immersive events

47. © Patreon 2018
Language is crucial to fostering a diverse and
inclusive environment.

There is no such thing as a diverse “candidate” or “person.” Please do not use
that language. “Teams” can be diverse or lack diversity, not individuals.

Also, some teammates use gender neutral pronouns. You can find your
teammates’ pronouns in their Slack bios.

If someone slips up and uses un-inclusive or offensive language, speak up and
correct them with compassion. Remember, all feedback at Patreon is KIND and
DIRECT.


DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

48. © Patreon 2018
We have a formal spending philosophy: effective, not fancy
SPENDING

49. © Patreon 2018
Our spending aligns us with our creators.

A company’s spending philosophy should align with its customers. Our customers
are creators, and our creators don’t work in offices with marble floors and golden
toilets. Creators are resourceful and effective, so we must be resourceful and
effective.

When a creator visits Patreon, we want to feel proud to show them our office. We
wouldn’t want a creator to come into our office and feel like we’re building
opulence off the backs of their paychecks. That’s why you won’t see things like
ball-pits or pinball machines at Patreon.





SPENDING

50. © Patreon 2018
If you think of a range of spending, we don’t want to spend
so little that it’s insulting or ridiculous.

We also don’t want to spend in a way that prevents us from
being effective.

There’s a sweet spot that’s just the right amount of
spending to be effective, and we don’t want to spend
beyond that to the point that it becomes fancy.


SPENDING
Excessive



Just right



Not effective



Insulting/Ridiculous

51. © Patreon 2018
Here are some examples to help guide your decisions.

1x1s with your manager: If you go off-site for a 1x1, it’s OK to occasionally grab a coffee or a light snack - that’s fine. Wine and
cheese at a wine bar - that’s too fancy. Food and drinks should not be the norm for 1x1s - we have food and drinks available
here at the office.

Business meals: If it’s important to your productivity to have a meeting off-site, then please consider whether a snack or meal
is necessary. If it seems appropriate for the situation, then we keep it light and frugal. We aren’t a law firm, so we don’t go out
for martinis with colleagues. If your team reaches a major milestone and you decide to celebrate with cheap champagne and
sparkling cider from Costco, that’s totally fine. If you and a colleague unwind after work, discuss a project at a bar, and then
expense the ten-dollar cocktails? That crosses our line.

Hotels: When you stay in hotels for work-related travel, we want you to be safe and get a good night’s sleep. Three-star hotels
are generally sufficient. If it smells bad in your hotel or you feel unsafe in a rough part of town, then you probably haven’t
spent enough to be effective. If you see marble floors in the lobby or a chandelier in your room, then you’re in a place that is
too fancy.
SPENDING

52. © Patreon 2018
We negotiate with vendors every single time.

Now that Patreon has closed its Series C, many vendors out there might think, “I bet I can just tack on
another 20% to this bill and Patreon won’t even notice or care.” We must prevent this from
happening so that we can invest that money instead in things that will fund the creative class.

How? By negotiating every time. Vendors should walk away from negotiations with Patreon thinking
that we are TOUGH negotiators who are also also friendly and respectful.

We celebrate our negotiation wins in the Slack channel #negotations.







SPENDING

53. © Patreon 2018
We raised significant amounts of venture capital for 3 reasons:
1.It allows us to focus on our work rather than continual fundraising
2.It allows us to make decisions that benefit us in the long term vs. short term
3.It allows us to take big bets when we see a promising opportunity
We did not raise money so that we could spend lavishly.









SPENDING

54. © Patreon 2018
We hire and retain high-performing and highly compassionate people. You cannot
be just one of those things.

PEOPLE

55. © Patreon 2018
When thinking about whom to hire or keep on a team,
we ask each other “Is this person world-class at what
they do?”

We phrase it like that to remind each other how high we should hold our bar.

We can have an ridiculously high bar because there are so many people that want to
work at Patreon. Our mission is one that many people would happily devote their careers
to. We don’t settle when it comes to people-related decisions, and that’s what makes this
place special.


PEOPLE

56. © Patreon 2018
If you fall short of these high expectations, you will know about it because we give
and receive candid feedback constantly.

We help our teammates through tough times, just as we expect our teammates to
stick with Patreon through tough times - to the extent that it serves our mission.

We don’t expect anyone to stay with Patreon if we aren’t the best way to fund the
creative class. And Patreon won’t retain someone if having them on our team is not
the best way to achieve our mission.

PEOPLE

57. © Patreon 2018
In our most recent company-wide survey, 100% of our teammates answered “Yes”
when asked the question “Is the work that your company does important?”

95% of the company responded that they understand how their individual work
directly contributes to the company mission.

We are also externally recognized for our team. San Francisco Business Times
named Patreon one of the top places to work in 2017 and 2018, and we were
named to similar lists in 2016.

People stay at Patreon because they love their teammates and our mission. Our
employee attrition rate is ~1/3rd the national average.



PEOPLE

58. © Patreon 2018
This is why we partner with our people when deciding what to
build each quarter.

Because we hire people who genuinely care about our mission, we can give more autonomy and
trust.

During company planning, the executive team shares a vision, strategy, and strategic objectives
based on insights and feedback from the company. From there, our teams decide what they want
to build to support the strategy.


PEOPLE

59. © Patreon 2018
We expect our teammates to make mistakes and learn quickly.

You are free to fail at Patreon. We want to build a company of people who crave making
meaningful impact on our mission, and those folks must be willing to take risks.

We don’t want to avoid mistakes. We want to correct mistakes quickly, and then incorporate what
we learn from them so that we don’t make the same mistake again.




PEOPLE

60. © Patreon 2018
Patreon pays fair salaries that are competitive externally and fair internally.

COMPENSATION

61. © Patreon 2018
Our compensation philosophy is based on the idea of value for
value.

The goal of our compensation policy is to attract, engage, and retain employees.

We look at several factors when determining level and compensation, but we put more weight on an
individual’s impact on the mission than something like years of experience. We want you to be given
value commensurate with the value you’re giving to Patreon.

Also, our management track is not compensated higher than our individual contributor track. Both
types of work are valued and you can have success here on either track.



COMPENSATION

62. © Patreon 2018
Our compensation philosophy has 3 key tenets.

Fair and unbiased. Everyone is paid at the 60th percentile of market, and we audit compensation yearly for fairness
externally with market data and fairness internally across teams and demographics. We also use ongoing feedback
from recruiting to calibrate our bands as market rates shift.

Motivating and energizing. When you grow, so should your compensation. We want to help inspire our teammates to
go above and beyond, knowing that we’ll reward their growth. Because of this, we have systems in place for
promotions, pay increases, spot bonuses, and meaningful equity grants.

Simple and clear. We want every member of our team to understand how they’re paid and why. Having a simple
policy is also important because complexity in a system can hide bias. When considering changes to our
compensation policy, we weigh the benefit of change against operational overhead, cultural impact, and added
complexity.




COMPENSATION

63. © Patreon 2018
You receive equity four ways at Patreon:

1.When you are hired

2.When you are promoted

3.When you are deemed a top performer

4.When you hit 2.5 years and every year thereafter. This is the Wealthfront equity plan, which is
one of the most employee friendly plans available in the market.






COMPENSATION

64. © Patreon 2018
Promotions at Patreon

Promotions happen when a significant shift in responsibility occurs, as soon as a candidate deserves
it. We do not wait for a certain “time of the year.”

All teams have compensation bands and levels to properly tie skills and experience to
compensation. You are encouraged to talk to your manager about where you currently stand and
where you would need to develop to reach the next step in your career.






COMPENSATION

65. THANK YOU!
© Patreon 2018
Thank you for taking the time to read through this deck.
If our mission and culture seem like something you want to be a part of, please visit our careers page at Patreon.com/careers

If you have feedback, questions, or thoughts, feel free to reach out to us at:
Maura Church, Head of Date Science, [email protected]
Tyler Palmer, VP of Operations, [email protected]

May 2018