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independence3 unconnected · 1 more author in those circles
applies to

b2b and consumer, needs an existing audience

mixed results

confidence

high

evidence

9 claims · 6 articles · 4 receipts

window

2016-02-01 → 2023-10-13

3 builders who never spoke to each other

Run the paid community as its own product

Gate the group behind an invitation or a purchase and point it at a specific outcome, which is what separates it from the free forums covering the same topic. Getting one off the ground is harder than any content channel, so prove the appetite with a cohort or a single course before building a school around it.

The method

  1. 01

    Gate a niche community behind an invitation or a purchase and point it at a specific outcome, which is what separates a micro community from the general free forums in the same topic.

  2. 02

    Run a cohort course first and let it settle into a standing community afterwards.

  3. 03

    Verify that the momentum you spotted in a category is durable rather than a passing moment - and note that getting a paid community off the ground is harder than launching any of the usual content channels.

  4. 04

    Organise the offer around a shared interest instead of a location, so members self-select and the community sells itself.

  5. 05

    Publish through an existing platform when you only want to teach, and let it carry the selling, the distribution and the operations you would otherwise have to build.

What it returned

  • 2021

    Meeps launched into 2021's community boom, when Circle, Clubhouse and Hopin carried huge valuations; by 2023 many of those communities were dormant or gone and early-access conversations showed how much harder community-building was than starting a blog, show or mailing list.

  • Named examples: Small Bets from Daniel Vassallo, plus Andrew McIntosh's community for first generation entrepreneurs

  • Suggested groupings include house music fans, startup founders and tennis players, with niche houses used for mentoring such as retired lawyers advising founders.

  • Teaching online is broken down into four separate functions: selling, distribution, operations and the teaching itself.

Sources

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

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the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

963 corroborated plays to draw from · 3 a week

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.