Community Inc.

Daybreaker is a global phenomenon. A community built around dance and joy with some 800,000 members. It has been going for over 10 years—they're coming up to a thousand events. How have they sustained this movement for so long? By taking a holistic approach to community event design known as the D.O.S.E method. Co-founder Radha Agrawal explains how and why it works. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.community.inc

Atlassian is a fascinating business. They innovate on how they do business almost as much as the products they create.* In 2023, Atlassian had paid training offering, generating millions in revenue each year.* In 2024, they made it all free and moved learning under community.I spoke to VP of Community and Learning, Stephanie Grice, about why they made the change, how they've incorporated learning into community, and what the impact has been.📖 Learn more about Community at Atlassian This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.community.inc

Hampton is a highly-vetted, peer-membership community for founders. Created by Sam Parr, known for The Hustle newsletter and host of the My First Million podcast, he started working on it with partner Joe Speiser in June 2022.It has since grown to over 1,000 members, generating ~$8M ARR.In this deep dive, we uncover how Sam Parr and team built a million-dollar community in a matter of months, even before it had officially launched.Here’s what to expect:✔️ Origin Story: How the Hampton community got started✔️ The Offer: The value it offers its members✔️ Revenue: How Hampton makes money✔️ Growth: The tactics used to grow its membership✔️ Tools: The tool stack it uses to power its community and businessOr read it online This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.community.inc

How do you build a community program for the long haul? I spoke with Corina Gheonea, Global Community Director at UiPath, to find out.UiPath is one of the fastest-growing SaaS businesses of all time, and community has been a strategic advantage from its earliest days.UiPath's MVP program has become a cornerstone of their community. Some five years in, it still has members who have been involved from the beginning.In this episode, we dive deep into how they run the program and how it has evolved over the years to maintain member motivation and keep delivering value to the business.🤓 Read it online, or 🎧 listen along in your fave podcast app This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.community.inc

Canva is the master of scale. 185M people use Canva each month. But how do you build community programs that can work at that scale?I spoke with Monica Silvestre, Global Head of Community at Canva, to find out.🤯 Plus, Monica and Sara Vilas (Canva’s Global Community Operations Lead) have put together this amazing set of resources for you. It’s the exact templates they use to organize meetings, propose projects, and report on impact - you don't want to miss them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.community.inc

Joshua Zerkel just wrapped a 7-year spell as Head of Global Engagement and Community at Asana.Starting from zero, he led the development of a program that has grown a forum to over 600,000 members, recruited 26,000 ambassadors, and run over 900 community events–influencing almost $100 million in pipeline along the way.Underpinning this success has been his unrelenting commitment to internal reporting and PR.In this episode, he lays out his blueprint for getting buy-in for your community program from execs and other teams.▶️ Watch on YouTube, 🤓 read it online, or 🎧 listen along in your fave podcast app.Want to learn more about Community at Asana? Read the deep dive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.community.inc

Gong pioneered the revenue intelligence category. It went from $0 to a $7.3 billion valuation in 5 years. Now with over 4,000 customers, including the likes of ADT, Indeed, LinkedIn, Snowflake, and Zillow, they've turned to community to scale their go-to-market efforts.In this deep dive, we take a look at how Gong kickstarted its community in 90 days and how its program has evolved as its impact has spread.Here’s what to expect:✔️ Origin Story: How Gong and its Visioneers community got started.✔️ Cross-functional Impact: How its program delivers impact across the business.✔️ Showing ROI: The frameworks they use to track and report on ROI.✔️ Return on Community: The value it creates for members and derives for its own business.Read the article and check out the sources at: https://community.inc/deep-dives/community-growth-gong This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.community.inc

Asana is one of the pioneers of work management, creating a tool to give teams clarity on their plans, processes, and projects. As it has grown it has layered in a community program, Asana Together, which has unleashed over 21,000 ambassadors to spread the word about Asana, both online and within their own companies.In this deep dive, we dig into how through smart reporting and internal PR its community program became a strategic imperative that drives massive business impact.Here’s what to expect✔️ Origin Story: How Asana and the Asana Together community got started.✔️ Cross-functional Impact: How its multi-faceted program delivers impact across the business.✔️ Showing ROI: How they track and report to prove the ROI of its community program.✔️ Return on Community: The value it creates for members and derives for its own business.Read the article and check out the sources at: https://community.inc/deep-dives/community-growth-asana This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.community.inc

Substack is a subscription network for independent writers and creators. It's home to some of the world’s most beloved writers like Margaret Atwood, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Roxane Gay, Michael Moore, and Patti Smith. Launched in October 2017, there are now more than 17,000 writers earning money on the platform.Community has been an important part of the network’s success, helping to make it the go-to platform for writers striking out on their own. In this deep dive, we look at how Substack kickstarted a community of writers that powers its growth, and how it has enabled thousands of micro-communities to form around publications on the platform.Here’s what to expect:✅ Origin Story: How Substack and its community programs got started.✅ Sparking the Flame: The initial programs that ignited its community growth.✅ Stoking the Fire: How it has evolved community activities as it has scaled.✅ Return on Community: The value it creates for members and derives for its own business.Read the article and check out the sources at: https://community.inc/deep-dives/community-growth-substack This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.community.inc

LEGO is the largest toy manufacturer in the world by sales. But back 2004, it was on the verge of bankruptcy. What followed has been described as the greatest turnaround in corporate history.A key part of its revival came from its embrace of community. In this deep dive, we explore how community helped LEGO co-create new products, drive awareness, and revive its fortunes.Here’s what to expect:✅ Origin Story: How LEGO and its community programs got started.✅ LEGO's Mindstorms Moment: How hacking led it to reconsider its relationship with customers.✅ Co-creation and Connection: The programs that enable community growth.✅ Return on Community: The value it creates for members and derives for its own business.Read the article and check out the sources at: https://community.inc/deep-dives/community-growth-lego This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.community.inc

dbt Labs created the industry standard solution for data transformation, pioneered the field of analytics engineering, and earned a valuation of over $4 billion along the way.At the heart of it all is its 100,000 member-strong community - one of the largest communities in the data analytics space. That community generates a massive 80% of its inbound leads and its customers include the likes of JetBlue, Hubspot, Vodafone, and Dunelm.In this deep dive, we take a look at the pivotal role played by community in crowning dbt Labs category kings.Here’s what to expect:✅ Origin Story: How dbt Labs and its community got started.✅ Category Creation: How they have leveraged community to create a category.✅ Growing Pains: Why its strategy has had to evolve as it has grown.✅ Return on Community: What value it creates for members and the value it derives for its own business.Read the article and check out the sources at: https://community.inc/deep-dives/community-growth-dbt-labs This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.community.inc

Community has been part of the Figma founding team's ethos from day one.Just over 10 years later, they've amassed some 4 million+ users, including teams at Microsoft, Uber, and the New York Times.They’ve done so well, the design software behemoth Adobe is now trying to buy it for $20 billion.In this deep dive, we take a look at how its community-led strategy has evolved as the organization has grown and the pivotal role played by the Designer Advocate.Here’s what to expect:✅ Origin Story: How Figma and its Friends of Figma community got started.✅ Community Everywhere: How they tapped into existing design communities to kickstart growth.✅ Community-driven Sales: The programs they use to power self-serve and enterprise sales.✅ Return on Community: The value created for members and it derives for its own business.Read the article and check out the sources at: https://community.inc/deep-dives/community-growth-figma This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.community.inc

Sephora is a beauty empire. It has bucked retail downturn trends by opening over 1,000 new stores and expanded into 12 new countries over the last decade.Its success lies in its mastery of bringing offline and online customer journeys together into a holistic shopping experience. A key part of that is its Beauty Insider community.In this deep dive, we break down how it has achieved omnichannel success while its many high street competitors have failed, and the role played by community.Here’s what to expect:✅ Origin Story: How Sephora and its Beauty Insider community got started.✅ Omnichannel Alignment: How community is used as part of its Any Time, Anywhere on Any Device strategy.✅ Key Growth Programs: What made its community site the go-to destination for beauty enthusiasts and how this delivers business growth.✅ Return on Community: The value created for members and it derives from its community efforts.Read the article and check out the sources at: https://community.inc/deep-dives/community-growth-sephora This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.community.inc

GitLab is a company built around community principles from its first commit. A champion of openness and transparency, it has become a leader in the DevSecOps space with an estimated 30M users.Thanks to its open-source community, more than 3,000 people have contributed code to GitLab. Community contribution is a core growth driver, forming part of its Dual Flywheel growth model. This deep dive takes a look at the programs that enable this flywheel and how it delivers business results.Here’s what to expect:✅ Origin Story: How GitLab and its community got started.✅ Dual Flywheel: How community enables product development and adoption.✅ Key Programs: The programs that keep the flywheel going and get results.✅ Return on Community: Value GitLab creates for members and its business.Read the article and check out the sources at: https://community.inc/deep-dives/contribution-gitlab This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit newsletter.community.inc