Mike Bifulco: This is Tiny Improvements.

I'm Mike by ko.

There have been lots of
interesting announcements from

creators and startups this month.

Many apps and services that
once felt like they were here

to stay are now shutting down.

Similarly, many creators are announcing
big changes to their strategy or even

stepping down from their roles entirely.

I.

It seems like it's all
happening at once, right?

Well, in a sense it is, and there are a
few reasons why this might be the case

for creators.

December and January are the
slowest months of the year.

Advertisers budgets are spent and people
are spending time with their families.

As a result.

Many creators use this time to reflect on
the past year and to plan for next year.

For startups, the new year is often
tied to intense budgeting and planning.

The new year is a time when they
need to show their investors that

they're on track to meet their goals.

If they're not, they may need
to pivot or even shut down.

Have you felt it?

I've certainly seen a good number
of surprising announcements.

Here's an incomplete list of companies
and creators who have announced big

changes since the start of the new year.

A few days ago, artifact, the news
aggregator app created by the founders

of Instagram shared that they're
shutting down their services after

failing to find product Market Fit

mint, the personal finance app
is shutting down completely.

Their orphaned users have been
desperately searching for alternatives.

Similarly Prism, . A finance app used
for automating bill payments is also

shutting down in the creator world.

Matt Pat hosted the YouTube channel.

The game theorists announced that he's
stepping down as the face of the channel.

The game theorist has 18.7
million subscribers on YouTube

YouTuber.

Tom Scott posted a video explaining
that after 10 years of videos every

single week, he's taking a break
for an undetermined amount of time.

Tom currently has 6.4 million
subscribers on YouTube

and filed under sort of both and kind
of neither you may have seen recently

that newsletter platforms Substack is
bleeding creators left and right over

their spineless content moderation,
policy decisions, or lack thereof.

Newsletter creators are jumping ship
to other platforms left and right.

Patreon announced a major change
to their business model, which will

affect creators and patrons alike.

Patreon has been the place
where fans can support creators.

They love by pledging a
monthly amount to them.

Patreon takes a cut of the pledge, though
a much smaller cut than YouTube might, for

example, and the rest goes to the creator.

With their new pivot, they're now
hoping to become the place where fans

can go to see what creators are making
without being subject to the algorithm.

In short, Patreon itself is
trying to become a social network.

Will it work?

Who knows?

But it's a big change.

And while this announcement happened
back in October, Patreon has steadily

been rolling out changes to align
with their new vision since then.

And it's really starting to feel real now.

These changes create opportunities.

This dear listener, is where you come
in as the market shifts with these

changes, there are opportunities
for you to make your mark if

you're looking for inspiration.

Here's a couple examples

over on Threads.

Derek Gaston is an indie hacker
who has been building a personal

finance app called Splurge Budget.

He's been building it out in the
open and sharing his progress

and learnings on threads.

Developer focused email platform.

Resend just announced a
feature called broadcasts.

It suddenly allows them to compete
with existing newsletter platforms

and other email marketing tools
like MailChimp and ConvertKit.

I'm planning to give Resends newsletter
feature shot and hopefully will live

stream my experience building with it
on my YouTube channel at Mike by Foco.

As ever.

If you've been working on
building something, now is

the time to step on the gas.

Particularly if you're building
something that suddenly fills a

void, which once felt permanent.

Use the momentum of these changes
to your advantage and find places

where you can make your mark.