Founding Publisher
The first 100 Studio Pro subscribers keep 100% of their marketplace revenue, forever. Here's how it works.
While we grow the marketplace, the first 100 Studio Pro subscribers are admitted into a founding cohort with the best revenue share we offer. The deal is simple: we want our earliest publishers to do well, and we want our marketplace to have great content from day one.
The economics
- Founding share: you keep 100% of what buyers pay for your lessons; Berdee takes nothing.
- Standard share (everyone else): publishers keep 85% while they're on Studio Pro; Berdee takes 15%. A standard publisher who leaves Studio Pro keeps 50% of new sales until they subscribe again (see If you leave Studio Pro).
- Either way, the share is of what the buyer actually paid for the credits they spent, which can be less than the listing price when they bought a discounted bundle or used free promotional credits. See How your earnings are calculated.
- No cap, no expiry: the 100/0 share is permanent. There is no lifetime earnings ceiling and no date when it reverts — you keep 100% forever, even if you later change plans.
How admission works
When you first subscribe to Studio Pro, we admit you to the cohort atomically. The first 100 admissions land as founding; everyone after that lands as standard. The cohort cap is admin-configurable but never retroactive — if we raise it, the next eligible publishers get the founding share; existing standard publishers don't get re-admitted.
Re-subscribing after a lapse keeps your original program — we don't re-admit you.
Pre-launch waitlist: if you signed up in the first 100 positions on the waitlist, your founding publisher seat is guaranteed. When you create your account and subscribe to Studio Pro, you'll be matched by email and admitted automatically.
What you'll see
- Publisher dashboard: a _Founding Publisher #N_ badge showing your founding ordinal.
- Per-sale view: the share that actually settled on each sale, so you can confirm what hit your account.
Frequently asked
Why 100% — how does that work for Berdee? We earn $0 marketplace fee on founding-creator sales. That's intentional: seeding 100 motivated, financially-aligned publishers is how we build a catalog that attracts buyers. It's a cold-start investment, and it's the promise we made publicly. Standard and partner publishers (the rest of the marketplace) generate the platform's revenue.
What if I need a different deal — say, I'm a partner or organization? Reach out. The partner program supports negotiated shares between 88% and 90%, and we can apply admin overrides for specific situations. None of that changes by accident — every override has an audit log entry with the operator and reason.