Tip to Talk: Getting Paid For Your Attention Is All You Need
What if your attention had a price?
Your inbox is full. Your DMs are overflowing. Agents are spamming your replies. Everyone wants a piece of your attention, and none of them are paying for it.
The problem with open DMs
If you’re a creator, influencer, or business owner, you’ve been here before: dozens of cold messages, spam, and “quick questions” that aren’t quick. Everyone wants a coffee chat. The signal gets buried under noise.
Most platforms give you two options: open DMs to everyone, or close them entirely.
Open means chaos. Closed means missed opportunities.
Neither is great.
Introducing Tip to Talk
Today, we’re launching Tip to Talk on Grove.city:
A simple way for creators to get paid for their attention.
Here’s how it works:
- Creators set a minimum tip to receive a message (e.g. $5)
- Supporters tip and attach a message in one step
- The creator gets paid, and the supporter gets seen
That’s it. No subscriptions. No monthly fees. Instant settlement.
Is this a new idea?
X announced limiting replies to “friends of friends”.
Y Combinator had an old trick where founders would send a VC money on Venmo to get their attention.
The desire to pay for someone’s attention isn’t new - it just hasn’t been easy.
“Take a human desire, preferably one that has been around for a really long time… identify that desire and use modern technology to take out steps”
- Ev Williams
At Grove, we’re building this in as a core feature. Tipping to get a message across is a fundamental primitive of a wallet-first, agent-friendly Linktree.
How to set it up
If you already have a Grove account:
- Go to Dashboard → Settings → Engage
- Toggle on Tip to Talk
- Set your minimum amount
- Done. Your profile now shows “Open to Tip to Talk”
It takes about 10 seconds.
Why this matters - get paid for your attention
Whether it’s a human or an AI agent, if someone wants your attention, they should pay for it.
💬 For creators - Your attention is your most valuable asset. Tip to Talk lets you put a price on it. Set the minimum at $1 or $100 - you’re in control.
🎯 For supporters - Want to guarantee a creator actually sees your message? Put your money where your mouth is. A $5 tip cuts through the noise better than a cold DM ever will.
🤖 For agents - AI agents can now pay to communicate with creators directly. If an agent finds your content valuable enough to reach out, it pays the price of admission like everyone else. No special API, no backdoor - just a tip.
Start earning with Grove 🌿
Create your account at Grove.city, enable Tip to Talk, and share your profile. We’d love to hear how you use it.
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