The gap between theory and practice in what nobody tells you about community building is enormous. I've lived on both sides.
After burning through \$43,000 in ad spend with zero results, I discovered this counterintuitive strategy that led to 10x growth in just 10 months. Here's the full story and how you can replicate it.
What I've Learned From 50 Companies
After investing in 200+ startups and running two companies to successful exits, I've developed a pretty clear picture of what works with what nobody tells you about community building.
The biggest misconception is that you need to timing is everything in this game. That's backwards. The companies that win are the ones that the best solutions are often the simplest ones.
I remember sitting with the Anthropic team early on and discussing how they thought about what nobody tells you about community building. Their approach was counterintuitive but brilliant.
The Counterintuitive Truth
Here's what surprised me most about what nobody tells you about community building: the best practitioners do less, not more.
When I was building MovieLaLa, we tried to do everything at once. We had the best technology, the smartest team, and we still almost failed because we spread ourselves too thin.
The lesson I took from that experience, and from watching hundreds of other companies, is that timing is everything in this game. It sounds simple. It's incredibly hard to execute.
The Reality Nobody Talks About
Most people approach what nobody tells you about community building with assumptions that made sense five years ago. The world has moved on. When I look at my portfolio companies, the ones that succeed are doing something fundamentally different.
The first thing to understand is that timing is everything in this game. I've seen this play out across dozens of companies. The pattern is unmistakable.
At RemoteTeam, we learned this the hard way. We spent months going down the wrong path before realizing that customer feedback is the only metric that matters. Once we made the switch, everything changed.
Lessons From the Trenches
I want to share a few specific lessons I've picked up over the years. These aren't theoretical. They come from real companies, real failures, and real successes.
Lesson 1: The best time to start thinking about what nobody tells you about community building was yesterday. The second best time is now. Don't wait until you have the perfect plan.
Lesson 2: Hire for attitude, train for skill. The best what nobody tells you about community building practitioners I've met weren't the most technically gifted. They were the most curious and persistent.
Lesson 3: Your competitors are probably getting this wrong too. That's your opportunity. While everyone else is following the same playbook, you can zig when they zag.
This connects to broader themes around product-led growth, community-led growth, content marketing, growth hacking, referral programs that I've been thinking about a lot lately.
The Bottom Line
Look, what nobody tells you about community building isn't rocket science. But it does require intentionality, consistency, and a willingness to learn from mistakes.
If you take one thing from this article, let it be this: start now, start small, and iterate. The founders who win at what nobody tells you about community building aren't the ones with the best strategy on paper. They're the ones who execute, learn, and adapt faster than everyone else.
I've been doing this for over a decade. The patterns are clear. The companies that take what nobody tells you about community building seriously outperform the ones that don't. Every single time.
If you're working on something interesting in this space, I'd love to hear about it. Drop me a line.
Frequently Asked Questions
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 can I apply this thinking to my own situation?
Start by identifying the core principle behind the opinion, not the specific example. Then ask yourself: does this principle apply to my context? If yes, test it in a small, low-risk way before going all in.
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.