2 builders who never spoke to each other

Launch into a community that already exists

Day one users can be inherited rather than found. Giving the members of an existing group privileged first access, or arriving somewhere the community extends new entrants the benefit of the doubt, substitutes for distribution you have not built. The relationships you already hold decide which doors open in the first year, from early access to a platform to the first hundred customers.

The method

1. 01

   Launch on top of a community that already exists by giving its members privileged first access, so your day one users are inherited rather than found.

2. 02

   Count the goodwill of an existing community as part of your distribution: being given the benefit of the doubt early on is what lets a small entrant get started at all.

3. 03

   Treat your existing network as the launch asset it is, because who knows you determines which doors open in the first year.

What it returned

• Realms was built for the Loot community and handed mint passes to existing Loot holders.

• Cohen credits WP Engine's start to the WordPress community extending trust and later actively supporting them, plus serious competitors taking ten years to grasp how large the market was.

• For Transistor, relationships got the founders in front of Spotify at its headquarters, won early entry to that company's podcast directory, solved CDN and database problems, produced good hires, and delivered the first hundred customers.

Sources

• Older founders do this betterJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Older founders do this better · undated
• How much of success is luck?Jason Cohen · longform.asmartbear.com · How much of success is luck? · 2009-03-30
• Play-and-Earn: Digital Scarcity, Economies, Learn-to-EarnDru Riley · trends.vc · ☁️ Opportunities · 2021-12-18