“The next generation of consumers are living their best lives in online worlds like Roblox, Fortnite and Discord.” That's what he says Jason YehCo-Founder and General Partner of early stage venture firm Protector. “We are all around investing in early-stage consumer companies that will shape the way this native gaming generation learns, buys, socializes, plays, invests and, let's be honest, crawls online,” he explained entrepreneur.
Patron launched in fall 2021. After starting their careers in venture capital, Yeh and Patron co-founded Brian Cho went on to hold leadership positions at Riot Games, which Yeh helped launch and scale League of Legends over the next nine years. Their third partner, Amber Athertonbuilt a YC and Forerunner-backed community platform that was acquired by Discord, where she helped the company expand into non-gaming audiences.
We caught up with Yeh to see what his company looks for in founders and what he learned at Riot Games about the difference maker in a product that's “good” versus one that's transformative.
What inspired you to create Patron?
Watching my daughters experience the Internet for the first time made me realize that I had some preconceived notions about how it works and how people behave and connect online. They are getting older ChatGPT and I expect the internet to answer questions with answers, not the links or sponsored content I'm used to through Google. They expect Spotify and YouTube to know what they want to listen to or watch without giving away too much data. And they love the songs and videos that magically appear in their playlists.
It made me realize that I needed to stop judging how something should work based on my past experiences and instead consider the best way to experience something from first principles. I began to feel like there was a gap in products and services to serve my daughter's generation of consumers.
Please share a “holy @#$!” business momentum.
We started working for Patron during the pandemic, a time of chaos for many. For me, that meant juggling everything—moving my family from Berlin to Los Angeles, rushing from school dropouts to fundraising pitches, and squeezing in Zoom calls from my parents' house while we searched. a new house.
Then, in the midst of our initial push for Fund I, we got an unexpected opportunity to join a larger firm. It was a golden opportunity—an easier path to fundraising, much better short-term compensation, and a chance to stabilize my work-life balance. It felt like a smart choice, the predictable path that few would have had the chance to consider. But with so much change and uncertainty in the world, I wanted more control over what I was working on, how I was working and who I was working with. So we chose to bet with ourselves. It was a leap of faith and I hoped it wouldn't hinder our new fundraising.
What happened next was nothing short of miraculous. In just six months, we achieved an oversubscribed debut fund. Sometimes, the hardest choices lead to the most extraordinary results. Believing in our vision was the risk that changed everything.
Related: I turned down a major retailer that wanted to carry my product. Here's why.
What advice would you give to entrepreneurs looking for funding?
Many entrepreneurs will lead with their product and strategize how to push it to consumers. However, when we built League of Legends at Riot Games, we didn't start with, “What great game can we make?” We started with, “How can we make something that our core audience will love and can spend 1000+ hours playing”
I would advise entrepreneurs to make sure they have a deep understanding of their core audience. We like to see founders with a unique advantage in identifying and serving an audience that they can organically reach into an interesting audience DEGREES. Building this community should be an early focus and part of the company's DNA.
Can you share details of your fundraising success?
I am proud that we have successfully and efficiently grown the size of our target funds in two different markets. First, in 2021, we raised our $90 million fund in less than six months, despite Patron being a completely new entity and not an existing one. VC firm. Then, despite a more challenging capital market in 2024, we raised our $100 million Fund in about nine months, bringing in commitments from new institutional investors, including a large university endowment, a sovereign wealth fund and several new single institutional families. the offices.
What does the word “entrepreneur” mean to you?
To me, an “entrepreneur” represents someone who wants to create something where nothing existed before. It is taking an idea and opportunity and, through thought and action, producing something out of nothing. Entrepreneurs, by nature, must be risk-averse as it will always be easier not to do the new thing. As founders of Patron, we consider ourselves entrepreneurs, allowing us to empathize with the founders we serve.
What is something that many aspiring business owners think they need that they really don't?
People often mistake external validation from well-known personalities as a sign of product quality or product-market fit. They try to get a celebrity to use their product through some inorganic or paid means and point to it as a reason why their product is great. This is especially evident in the gaming space.
However, paying people to use your product is a trap that rarely lasts. Instead, focus on truly understanding your target user's motivations. Build something they love to use and play again and again. Then, the trick is to build bridges to that core audience to share your product with others.
Is there a particular quote or saying that you use as personal motivation?
For me, it's the words of Rick Rubin: “Look for what you notice, but no one else sees.” As investors, our role is not just to discern what is visible, but to look for those undercurrents that are invisible to others but signal transformative potential. Our firm is dedicated to funding innovation and envisioning how people will interact with the Internet of tomorrow.
If you're a founder or entrepreneur reading this, here's my question for you: What future do you see that others might not?