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Community in a day?
Why community without strategy is a recipe for regret
Candice Grobler
June 18, 2025
Last week, I hit send on the newsletter… and only afterwards realised it went out on Candid Collab’s second birthday. 🎂
I wish I could say this was a one-off, but truthfully? I’m that founder. The one who forgets to celebrate milestones because I’m too deep in the day-to-day.
But forgetting a birthday is forgivable. Forgetting to build a community with strategy?
That’s expensive.
In today’s essay, I’m breaking down five failure patterns I see again and again with communities that were built fast, but not built to last.
What’s the secret stress behind your current brand? |
Community in a day?
Why community without strategy is a recipe for regret
A few months ago, a massive brand reached out to me. Their community had 20k+ members onboarded.
Big name. Big presence. But here’s the kicker:
They had no idea who their ideal audience was. Their member engagement rate was under 20%. And they had no strategy. None.
They had built their community in a single day, outsourced it to someone who "knew the tool" but never asked the hard questions. When I sat down with them and asked how it connected to their business goals or what value it offered to members, they couldn’t look me in the eye.
Because the truth is, they didn’t know.
And that is terrifying. Because now they’d spent months pouring time, energy, and money into something that wasn’t going anywhere. They were running a community that had no direction.
Not to mention how hard it is to pivot once you’re in the thick of it. (Okay yes, I had to mention it)
The illusion of momentum
Let me say this plainly:
Building fast does not mean building well.
There’s this myth in the online space that if you can spin up a Circle, Discord, or Slack in a weekend, you’re good to go. But launching a tool isn’t the same as being able to deliver a real transformation.
This is the danger of the cowboy approach, thinking speed equals success. Or maybe it’s actually the ostrich approach, because it’s sometimes easier to shift responsibility than to take ownership ourselves.
What I see constantly is people rushing to build the tech before they map the journey. Before they know what the hell they're even solving. Before they understand the humans they’re claiming to serve.
Scrappy isn’t sloppy. Fast isn’t repeatable.
Community is NOT a platform
Circle is not your community. Neither is Slack. Neither is a Notion folder, a newsletter list, or a podcast. Those are containers.
Community is the value that happens between your members. It’s the reason they come back. It’s the rituals they trust, the clarity of direction, the identity they feel reflected back at them.
You can onboard 10,000 people and still be shouting into the void if you skipped strategy.
This is why I drill this into every founder I work with:
You’re not building a tool, you’re building an ecosystem. And ecosystems need care plans.
The real first step is user research
Back to that client. The moment that stuck with me most?
When I asked who their community was for, what value they promised, and how it connected back to their business. They literally looked away.
Because they knew. They knew they hadn’t done the groundwork. They’d skipped the uncomfortable but crucial work of user research.
If you don’t know your audience’s language, pain points, transformation goals, you’re building blind. And worse, you’re burning time and energy on something that might never click.
I always recommend The Mom Test here. It’s a brilliant framework for asking better questions that get honest, useful answers. Use it to uncover the real needs behind the noise.
(I also have a free Notion template for User Research for the uber-nerds.)
The five failure patterns I see over and over
Here are the most common mistakes I see from community-led founders, and what to do instead:
1. No one's showing up You built it, they didn’t come. Or they came once and ghosted.
Fix: Audit your acquisition. Does your outside messaging match your inside promise? Are you showing up where your people already hang out? Is your CTA actually connected to their current need?
2. High churn, no progress People join, bounce, or worse, stay quiet and get nothing done. They’re not transforming.
Fix: Re-express your promise. Then audit your systems. Are you actually helping people get wins with your engagement strategy? Are your rituals and resources aligned with the journey you sold?
3. Low engagement Your members aren’t engaging because they don’t know how. There’s no rhythm, no ritual, no entry point. They log in, lurk, and leave.
Fix: Build an onboarding flow that welcomes them into a habit. Use rituals like "Monday Wins" or "First Friday Intros" to create stickiness. Make it stupid-easy to participate.
4. Engagement from the wrong people You’ve got chatter, but it doesn’t convert. That’s a positioning problem. The loudest voices in your space aren’t aligned with your actual offer.
Fix: Revisit user research. What are the people you want to attract really saying? Use their language. Make the offer magnetic to them, not just anyone who happens to stumble in.
5. Founder burnout You’re running the show. Every post. Every event. Every reply. No backup. No rest.
Fix: Invite co-creation. Build a contributor or ambassador program. Reward power users. Share ownership. Don’t be the bottleneck.
What a sustainable community strategy looks like
Forget the vague blueprints. Here’s what a real, functional, founder-proof community strategy looks like:
You’ve talked to your people. Not just sent a survey. You’ve had real convos. You know their language, their pain points, and what transformation they actually want.
Your offer and your community match. If someone joins your space, they know why. They know what they’ll get out of it and how it fits into your product or service.
Your onboarding doesn’t just welcome, it activates. Your welcome flow does more than say "hi". It shows them how to get wins, fast. You’ve mapped their first 7 days to a habit-forming journey.
You’ve installed rituals and routines. Weekly threads, co-working calls, community wins. Stuff that gives members a reason to come back.
You aren’t doing it all yourself. You’ve got a contributor model, an ambassador, or at least a plan to hand off some community caretaking. You’re not the engine. You’re the architect.
These are the systems that actually work. They’re how fixed their stunted conversion funnel. How another saw a $50K launch once we mapped their onboarding.
Not because of a hack. Because we slowed down and matched their systems to their strategy.
The real work isn’t sexy, but it works
I get why "Community in a Day" sells. It sounds like a shortcut.
But community is a commitment. It reflects you. And if you’re building it without strategy, you’re not building connection.
You’re building a monster that will only become your problem to manage, maintain and harder still - to market!
Seen one of these patterns in your own space?
Drop me a reply or forward this to a founder friend who needs the reminder.
Better yet, book a discovery call and and let’s see how we can fix it together.
It’s a crazy week, as I’m speaking at the Developer User Group tonight!
If you’re free and you were keen for my talk from DevConf: Side-hustle AND keep your day job, then you’re welcome to RSVP to join in-person or online.
Otherwise, here’s what’s up in the community:
Jomiro is looking for beta testers for his new 3-step brand solidification framework. Learn more here - only one spot left as of publishing!
The Lazy Marketer’s 7-Day challenge is a new offering from Nik - and who doesn’t like an easy challenge to pick up your marketing efforts at 25% off?
REMINDER: Members can join this week’s asynchronous Office Hours in the Candid Collab and get unstuck with any blockers, questions or introductions you may need.
Not a member yet? Learn about becoming a member here.
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