By Lenny Rachitsky · lennysnewsletter.com · @lennysan on X · YouTube · LinkedIn
Lenny Rachitsky announces Atelier Ventures, the debut $13 million fund of Li Jin, who coined the 'passion economy' term in a 2019 essay. The fund backs platforms that broaden access to new forms of work, lower barriers to entrepreneurship, and democratize production and distribution, with checks of $100K to $300K. Li frames the fund as a mission to rebuild the middle class and push value toward long-tail creators rather than institutions. The interview covers raising a fund entirely over Zoom during COVID, her investment criteria (founder-market fit, access-expanding businesses, markets that look small but can grow), and her predictions for creator-led education, income models, and hybrid employee-creator structures. It matters to product builders because it maps where new consumer platforms and creator tools are heading.
01Key takeaways
- Look for founders with deep market knowledge and firsthand customer empathy, since early users often come through trusted relationships.
- Treat TAM estimates skeptically in emerging markets, since disruptive models often reach non-consumers beyond current spending.
- Favor businesses that make previously gatekept work accessible, because productized skills can open entirely new monetization paths.
- Test a passion-based livelihood through side hustles before committing fully, to validate both interest and skill.
- Expect platforms to compete on total creator compensation packages, including financial incentives, as creator recruitment intensifies.
02Key sections
- Origins of the passion economy thesis
- Li's 2019 essay defined the passion economy as people building audiences and turning passions into livelihoods, and the author describes his own newsletter income as evidence of the trend.
- Fund launch and investment focus
- Atelier Ventures is a $13M fund with a human-centered view of work, oversubscribed beyond its $10M target, with early investments in companies like Substack, Stir, and Descript.
- Raising during COVID
- Li describes repeated rejections amid market caution, persisting on conviction, and how the experience deepened her empathy for founders facing long odds.
- What she looks for in startups
- She prioritizes founder grit and market understanding, companies that productize previously gatekept skills, and markets that seem small but can expand as non-consumers are served.
- Predictions for the next few years
- She forecasts education shifting toward creators, universal creative income across platforms, new financing for creators, and hybrid models offering more ownership than employment.
03From the post
“In 2019, while still working at a16z, Li Jin wrote a provocative essay titled “The Passion Economy and the Future of Work.” In it, she defined and highlighted an emerging trend she called the “passion economy” wherein people “build audiences at scale and turn their passions into livelihoods.” Her claim was that new digital platforms and marketplaces will have a profound impact in enabling people to connect to consumers and monetize their skills and interests, and would in turn open up entirely new types of jobs in the future. I, along with a growing contingent of people, am living proof of this trend coming to fruition. The first sentence in her 2019 essay included what, at the time, was a shocking stat: The top-earning writer on the paid newsletter platform Substack earns more than $500,000 a year from reader subscriptions. Just over one and a half years in, I now earn more than this with my humble newsletter. I didn’t realize it at the time, but Li predicted and paved the way for my new career. Over the past year,…”
04Frameworks mentioned
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.