Li Jin and the Passion Economy: The Architect of an Ownership-Driven Internet

The internet was supposed to democratize opportunity, but for years it mostly democratized attention. Li Jin saw something different coming: a world where individuals don’t just gather audiences – they build businesses around what they love, and eventually, own the systems they participate in. This is the story of how she helped name, shape, and fund the “passion economy” – and why her work has since expanded into something even more ambitious: rebuilding the economic foundations of the internet itself.

Table of Contents

Key Takeaways

The passion economy prioritizes ownership over influence, shifting economic value toward individuals rather than intermediaries.
Digital platforms now enable individuals to build real businesses around skills, knowledge, and trust-based audiences.
Direct relationships are becoming more economically powerful than algorithmic reach.
Platforms are increasingly becoming tools, not gatekeepers – and networks are becoming shared assets.
The future of work is more fragmented, more independent, and increasingly ownership-driven.

The Moment the Internet Stopped Being Just a Platform

For most of the social media era, the internet had a simple promise: if you could gather enough attention, someone else would figure out how to monetize it. Li Jin, a venture capitalist and now a co-founder of Variant (and previously the founder of Atelier Ventures), noticed a new pattern emerging: individuals turning their unique skills and interests into sustainable livelihoods through direct monetization platforms – what she would later call the “passion economy.”

While working in product and investment roles – including at venture firm Andreessen Horowitz – she observed that platforms like Substack, Patreon, and Gumroad were enabling people to build real businesses out of what they enjoyed doing, without being dependent on traditional intermediaries like big media companies or labels.

Over time, her thinking evolved even further: if individuals should own their work, why shouldn’t they also own the platforms, networks, and economic systems they participate in?

Li Jin – From Product Builder to Economic Cartographer

Li Jin’s career did not start in abstract theory. She began in product roles and later as an investor at Andreessen Horowitz, focusing on marketplaces and consumer technologies. Her breakthrough was not a single deal but rather the recognition of a broader trend – a shift from gig work toward monetizable individuality.

She described this trend in her influential 2019 essay, The Passion Economy and the Future of Work, where she argued that new platforms enable people to earn a living by leveraging their unique skills rather than commoditized labor.

She defined the passion economy as one where users not only build audiences but cultivate direct relationships that let them monetize their expertise, knowledge, and creative outputs. This stands in contrast to gig marketplaces that often homogenize labor and extract value from interchangeable work.

That line of thinking would eventually lead her beyond just tools for creators and toward a deeper question: who should own the platforms, networks, and economic rails of the internet itself?

The Big Idea: Ownership Is the New Career

At the heart of Li Jin’s philosophy is a shift from attention accumulation to economic ownership. In her work and writing, she emphasizes that individuals should own their audiences, monetization channels, and business models – rather than letting platforms control distribution and revenue share.

By coining the phrase “passion economy,” Jin crystallized a concept that reframed careers not as ladders inside institutions but as portfolios of assets – audiences, products, and communities that creators control and capitalize on.

Atelier Ventures was the first expression of this thesis. Variant would become its expansion.

Founding Atelier Ventures: The First Expression of the Thesis

In 2021, Li Jin left Andreessen Horowitz to launch her own firm, Atelier Ventures, with a clear mission: invest in platforms that enable individuals to build businesses from their passions. Her fund targeted early-stage startups powering creator monetization, community tools, and new forms of independent work.

The firm’s portfolio included companies like Substack, Stir, and other products that empower creators and independent entrepreneurs. The name “Atelier” was chosen intentionally – an atelier is a workshop where artisans create – symbolic of Jin’s belief that individuals should have the tools and infrastructure to turn passion into profession.

But as the ecosystem matured, Jin began to see that tooling alone was not the final layer. The deeper leverage point was ownership – not just of audiences and revenue streams, but of the networks and platforms themselves.

Variant: From Creator Tools to Owning the Internet Itself

In October 2021, Li Jin co-founded Variant, a venture firm focused on investing in crypto networks and ownership-driven platforms. If Atelier was about giving individuals better tools, Variant is about giving them better economic foundations.

The shift was not a rejection of the passion economy – it was its logical continuation. Where the first wave focused on monetization and independence, the next wave focuses on ownership, governance, and participation in the upside of networks themselves.

At Variant, Jin and her partners invest in protocols, platforms, and ecosystems where users are not just customers, but stakeholders. This reflects a deeper version of the same belief she has championed for years: that durable digital economies should reward the people who create the value, not just the intermediaries who sit in the middle.

In this sense, Variant is not a pivot away from her earlier work. It is the same thesis, pushed one layer deeper into the stack.

The Deeper Philosophy: Platforms vs People

Much of Li Jin’s work is a critique of the modern platform model. Traditional platforms aggregate users and monetize through intermediated networks, often extracting the most value from attention flows.

From the passion economy to crypto networks, Jin’s work consistently points toward the same goal: turning users from tenants into owners.

This shift represents a psychological and economic reorientation: from being nodes inside someone else’s system to becoming sovereign economic agents who control how they work, earn, and participate in upside.

Why This Matters More Than It Seems

On the surface, the passion economy seems like a buzzword tied to influencers and online fame. But underneath, it signals a deeper realignment of how economic value is created and distributed online.

It challenges the traditional employment model and creates opportunities for individuals to build businesses on their own terms – and increasingly, to own the systems those businesses depend on.

Naming the Shift Changed the Shift

Very few people get to name an economic movement. By articulating the “passion economy,” Li Jin did just that – first through ideas, then through capital, and now through infrastructure.

Her frameworks helped investors redirect capital into creator-centric tools, and later into ownership-centric networks. What once seemed niche is now part of mainstream business thinking.

Naming the shift didn’t just describe reality – it coordinated it.

The Quiet Power of Intellectual Infrastructure

Li Jin’s real contribution isn’t just a catchy phrase – it’s a framework that has reshaped how we think about careers, ownership, and digital business.

Atelier proved the model. Variant is scaling it to the level of networks and protocols.

In that sense, Li Jin operates less like a traditional founder and more like an architect of economic possibility – building the conceptual roads before others build the cities on top of them.

FAQs

Who is Li Jin?

Li Jin is the co-founder of Variant, the founder of Atelier Ventures, and one of the most influential thinkers behind the concept of the passion economy. She previously worked as an investor at Andreessen Horowitz and has shaped how the tech industry thinks about creators, ownership, and the future of work.

What is the passion economy?

The passion economy is the shift toward individuals monetizing their skills, knowledge, and creativity through direct relationships with their audiences. It emphasizes building sustainable, independent businesses rather than relying on platforms that control distribution and revenue.

How is this different from the creator economy?

The passion economy is broader, emphasizing ownership and business-building beyond just content creation. It includes educators, consultants, developers, and niche experts who build durable businesses, not just media brands.

What is Variant?

Variant is a venture firm that invests in crypto networks and ownership-driven platforms where users participate as stakeholders, not just customers. Its thesis extends the passion economy into infrastructure, focusing on protocols and platforms where users share in governance and economic upside.

What does Atelier Ventures invest in?

Atelier backs early-stage companies building tools for creators, independent workers, and passion-driven businesses. The firm focuses on products that help individuals monetize, own their audiences, and operate sustainably outside traditional institutions.

Why does the passion economy matter?

Because it shifts careers away from institutional dependence and toward individual ownership, independence, and long-term leverage. Over time, this model could reshape how people think about work, entrepreneurship, and economic security.

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