I don't start beef with Substack and Patreon for publicity
I feel like itβs my obligation to be vocal when platforms make decisions that are so completely misaligned with the people they claim to serve
beehiivβs revenue would be way higher if we taxed 10-15% of your earnings and locked you in forever. but we donβt do that bc being creator-first is a principle this company will live and die by
hereβs what it means to NOT be creator-first:
1/ algorithmic feeds
in 2018, facebook decided to deprioritize publisher content. Just like that, a single decision destroyed VICE, Mic, BuzzFeed, and hundreds of others. if you depend on one closed platform for distribution, you're not in control of your own success. full stop
2/ take rates
the model is predatory. taxing 10% for simply passing dollars through its pipes is penalizing creators for their success. and rates only ever climb: Patreon went 5% to 12%, Gumroad 3.5% to 10%
3/ platform lock-in
this is the most egregious & dangerous of them all. Substack now requires Apple's in-app purchase so, if writers leave, they can't port their paid subscriptions like they could before
4/ closed platforms
without APIs and webhooks, what happens on Substack stays on Substack. the only thing you learn about your own audience is whatever they decide to give you
//
so we did the opposite.
ppen APIs, webhooks, and an MCP. We don't take a cut of revenue. and there's zero lock-in. if we ever disappoint: you can export your subscribers, data, and content whenever you want
we launched much later than Patreon and Substack, but I'm convinced a truly "creator-first" platform will ultimately prevail
plus, weβre announcing something huge on July 16th during the
@beehiiv Summer Release Event. weβre going to take creator-first to a whole new level..