I’m going to say something that might make a few VCs choke on their kombucha: product-led growth (PLG) is dead.
For years, we’ve been told that if you build a great product, users will come, they’ll swipe their credit cards, and you’ll all ride off into the sunset on a unicorn. It’s a beautiful story. And for a while, it even worked. But the game has changed. What worked for Slack and Dropbox in the 2010s isn’t going to work for you today. The market is too crowded, the noise is too loud, and your customers are tired of self-serve funnels that lead to nowhere.
I learned this the hard way. At RemoteTeam, we had a solid product. We were helping companies hire and pay their international teams, a real pain point. We followed the PLG playbook to the letter. We had a free trial, a slick onboarding flow, and a pricing page that was optimized to the pixel. We saw some initial traction, but we hit a wall. Our growth stalled. We were burning cash, and I was starting to have flashbacks to my early days as an entrepreneur, eating ramen and coding for 18 hours straight.
We spent thousands on retention strategies that were supposed to be “best practice.” We sent out personalized email sequences, we offered discounts, we even built a “community forum” that turned into a ghost town. Nothing moved the needle. The problem wasn’t the product; it was the model. We were trying to sell a B2B solution with a B2C playbook. It was like trying to sell a car by leaving it in a parking lot with the keys in the ignition.
It wasn’t until we started talking to our customers—really talking to them—that we had our “aha” moment. They didn’t want a self-serve tool; they wanted a partner. They wanted to know that we had their back, that we understood the complexities of international compliance, and that we could help them navigate the legal minefield of global hiring. They wanted a relationship, not just a subscription.
That’s when we shifted our focus from product-led growth to community-led growth.
The Future is Community-Led
Community-led growth isn’t about building a forum or a Slack channel. It’s a fundamental shift in how you think about your business. It’s about building a movement, a tribe of loyal fans who are so passionate about your product that they become your best salespeople.
Think about it. Who are the most successful companies in the world right now? They’re not just selling products; they’re building communities.
- OpenAI: They didn’t just build a powerful AI model; they built a community of developers and researchers who are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with AI. I’ve invested in them, and I’ve seen firsthand how their community is their biggest asset.
- Hugging Face: They’re not just a library of NLP models; they’re a community of data scientists and engineers who are collaborating to solve some of the world’s most challenging problems. I’m an investor in Hugging Face as well, and their community is the reason they’re the go-to platform for AI.
- Scale AI: They’re not just a data labeling platform; they’re a community of data labelers and machine learning engineers who are building the future of AI. I’m proud to be an investor in Scale AI and to be a part of their community.
These companies understand that the future of growth isn’t about funnels and conversion rates; it’s about people and relationships. It’s about building a community of evangelists who will spread the word about your product far and wide.
How to Build a Community-Led Growth Engine
So, how do you build a community-led growth engine? It’s not about throwing up a Discord server and calling it a day. It’s about a fundamental shift in your company’s culture and priorities. Here’s how we did it at RemoteTeam, and how you can do it too:
1. Stop Selling, Start Helping
Your community is not a sales channel. It’s a place for your customers to connect with each other, to learn from each other, and to get help from you. Your job is not to sell them on your product; it’s to help them solve their problems.
At RemoteTeam, we started a weekly “office hours” where our customers could ask us anything. We didn’t pitch them on our product; we just answered their questions. We helped them with everything from visa applications to international tax law. We became their trusted advisors, and as a result, they became our biggest advocates.
2. Give Away Your Best Stuff for Free
Most companies are afraid to give away their best stuff for free. They think that if they give away too much, no one will pay for their product. But the opposite is true. When you give away your best stuff for free, you build trust and credibility. You show your customers that you’re not just in it for the money; you’re in it to help them succeed.
At RemoteTeam, we created a comprehensive guide to international hiring that we gave away for free. It was a massive resource that covered everything from legal compliance to cultural differences. It cost us a lot of time and money to create, but it was the best marketing investment we ever made. It drove thousands of qualified leads to our website, and it established us as the go-to experts in our industry.
3. Celebrate Your Superfans
Your superfans are your most valuable asset. They’re the ones who are spreading the word about your product, who are answering questions in your community, and who are giving you feedback on how to make your product better. You need to treat them like gold.
At RemoteTeam, we created a “RemoteTeam Champions” program to recognize and reward our most active community members. We gave them exclusive access to new features, we invited them to private events, and we even flew them out to our headquarters for a special retreat. These were the people who were on the front lines of our community, and we wanted to show them how much we appreciated them.
The Takeaway
Product-led growth is a relic of the past. The future is community-led. If you want to build a successful business in today’s crowded market, you need to stop thinking about funnels and start thinking about people. You need to build a community of loyal fans who will be your biggest advocates.
It’s not easy. It takes time, it takes effort, and it takes a fundamental shift in your company’s culture. But it’s worth it. Because when you build a community, you’re not just building a business; you’re building a movement. And that’s something that no amount of marketing spend can buy.
I’ve seen this playbook work time and time again, both in my own companies and in the 200+ startups I’ve invested in. It’s the secret to sustainable, long-term growth. So, stop wasting your time on outdated strategies and start building your community today. Your future self will thank you for it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What experience informs this perspective?
This perspective comes from over a decade of building companies in Silicon Valley, two successful exits (RemoteTeam to Gusto, MovieLaLa to Gfycat), and investing in 200+ startups including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Scale AI. I write about what I've lived.
Do all experts agree with this view?
No, and that's fine. The best ideas in business are often contrarian. I share my perspective based on my experience and data, but I encourage you to seek out opposing viewpoints and form your own conclusions.
What's the most common pushback you get on this?
People often push back by citing exceptions or edge cases. And they're usually right that exceptions exist. But building a strategy around exceptions rather than patterns is a losing game for most founders.
How has this view evolved over time?
My thinking on most topics has changed significantly over the years. Early in my career, I held many conventional views that experience proved wrong. I try to update my beliefs when the evidence changes.