As the co-founder of fintech platform Boast.Al, he leveraged the Community-Led Growth model to bootstrap the company to $10 million in annual recurring revenue while also co-founding Traction, a community empowering more than 100k innovators through connections, content, and capital.
Lloyed is also the author of the Wall Street Journal Bestselling book, ‘From Grassroots To Greatness: 13 Rules to Build Iconic Brands with Community Led Growth’, which covers tactical advice from community-led businesses, both big and small, such as Apple, Harley Davidson, Nike, Crossfit, HubSpot, and many more to help readers attract passionate and devoted fans of their own. (Get Lloyed’s new book at FromGrassrootstoGreatness.com or TractionConf.io)
Lloyed has been covered in Fox Business, Techcrunch, SF Business Journals, Forbes, and several other publications. He has also been a speaker at more than 100 conferences and podcasts including SaaStr, Entrepreneurs on Fire, Marketing School, Mixergy, and more.
Listen to the Podcast Episode on Your Favorite Platform
.svg.png)
Beyond Unicorn Obsession: How Community Powers a 10 Million ARR Business
.png)
If you want to build a massive, high-scale company, you want to hypergrow, to blitz scale. Unfortunately, that is the only path. It's like making a Steven Spielberg movie. There's only one way to make that movie – by raising a lot of money.
(00:05-09:12)
Alex and Lloyed dive into Lloyed's entrepreneurial journey. They share a laugh about their Silicon Valley meetup in 2012 and marvel at Lloyed's consistent energy combined with a decade's worth of wisdom.
The chat explores Lloyed's unique approach to building a 10 million ARR business without leaning on investors. Lloyed spills the beans on a LinkedIn post challenging the norm: starting off by selling services—a tactic that often makes VCs roll their eyes.
They banter about the startup world's obsession with huge outcomes, pointing out successful companies like UiPath and Basecamp that kickstarted with service sales. The duo pokes fun at the excessive focus on perfecting pitches in startup guides and the blurred lines between B2B and B2C advice.
Lloyed stresses the need for entrepreneurs to find strategies that fit their business model instead of blindly following the herd. Throughout, they challenge the belief that fundraising is the sole route to success, promoting community-led growth and practical approaches.
.png)
Rethinking Success in Entrepreneurship
.png)
We glorify a lot of successes. But aside every major success that you hear about in the press, there's 99% failure in the venture backspace. Failure meaning founder burnout, fallout, replacement, company shutdowns.
(09:13-16:01)
Lloyed shares the often overlooked failures alongside the successes of venture-backed businesses. He advises founders to align personal values with business aspirations before diving into startups, urging them to consider what success truly means. Lloyed prompts critical questions: What's my version of success? How much money do I need? What company culture do I want to avoid?
Drawing from Boast AI's experience, he stresses starting small and understanding niche markets, emphasizing the role of personal values in shaping a purposeful entrepreneurial journey.
Entrepreneurial Tribes: Navigating Startup Love & Niches
.png)
Day one we start, you have an idea for a business. And now, looking back, everything looks like a framework when you have some success. But when you earn it, it's spaghetti on the wall. So day one you start, you have an idea as a bootstrapper. What do you do? Step number one is figuring out your ideal customer profile.
(16:02-24:46)
Lloyed and Alex challenge the typical startup storyline, sharing insights from both failed hypergrowth ventures and success tales at major companies like Salesforce and SuccessFactors.
The conversation homes in on a crucial aspect: the need to genuinely connect with the audience or problem you're solving. Lloyed stresses the importance of having a real passion for customers, highlighting that sustaining a business demands an authentic bond with the audience.
Drawing from their early Boast AI days, they explore the art of spotting untapped markets within larger industries. Lloyed emphasizes the value of finding niche spaces, citing their success in meeting the specific needs of startups when mainstream platforms fell short.
Lloyed's journey illustrates the power of community and niche targeting. It's a testament to how discovering your tribe and responding to their unique needs can pave the way for sustainable growth in the entrepreneurial world.
Niche, Learn, Sell: Decoding Startup Success Secrets
.png)
You might love a market and it may be small and growing. But if you can't sign on 5-10 of your first paying customers, you'll not get off the ground either. But once you have that, honestly, it's a matter of understanding the ICP.
(24:47-29:57)
Alex and Lloyed unwrap the process of carving a niche and putting customers at the core of startup strategies. They share the importance of not rushing into a narrow niche without understanding the ideal customer first. Alex highlights the risk of diving deep too quickly and stresses the value of learning before committing. Lloyed chips in with key pointers: adoring the audience, a growing market, paying potential, and ease of access.
Lloyed reminisces about immersing himself in the startup world, learning about aspirations beyond immediate pains. He discovered circles of influence, influencers, and preferred platforms, shaping his marketing and partnerships.
The conversation ends with a forward-looking perspective. Lloyed predicts a shift towards outcome-focused services, challenging the conventional software-centered approach. This hints at a future where customers seek results over software tools.
Building Brands: From Audience to Community Power
.png)
Every small little idea that eventually became a global, enduring phenomena, from Christ and Christianity to CrossFit, had the exact same four stages. Number one: people listen to you or buy your product or service. You have an audience. When you bring that audience together to interact with one another on a cadence, it goes from being a one-way communication to a two-way communication.
(29:58-37:36)
Alex and Lloyed dive into the dynamics between content output and meaningful outcomes, spurred by the era of generative AI. They chat about the significance of standing out amidst the noise by offering real value rather than just producing content for the sake of it.
The talk leads to the importance of "propensity to pay", where Lloyed shares how they navigated a high price point by introducing a contingency fee model, enabling startups to access services without upfront costs. Shifting gears, they discuss the profound impact of communities in the B2B world. Lloyed unwraps the evolution from an audience to a thriving community, emphasizing the role of shared purpose in community formation.
They draw distinctions between having an audience and fostering a community, citing examples like CrossFit and Harley Davidson, where a united purpose fuels robust community bonds.
From Follower Flocks to Unbreakable Bonds
To really build a true community, you have to do physical things. You may start with users, start digital. But eventually, it's when people come together and make those human-to-human connections. That's when the magic happens.
(37:37-44:07)
Alex and Laura discussed the current trends in the space of sustainability and compliance. Laura mentioned that global companies need consistency in their approach and, thus, are following the regulations set by the European market, which are similar to California's. She added that these regulations are pushing for advanced commitments and expectations, not just transparency, but also due diligence on various components. Alex highlighted that compliance is driving communications and actions, and Laura agreed, stating that companies can no longer escape these requirements.
.png)
Giving Digital Superpowers to Communities
The idea is that the more senses you get involved, the better. If we go to the early stages of B2B journey, let's say, “I wanna learn about something or read like a top of the funnel research document.” It's like black & white paper style. Maybe, if you're lucky, we'll have some images in there. So there is at least a visual thing. But it feels the opposite of interaction.
(44:08-47:32)
Alex and Lloyed explore the power of engaging multiple senses in content, making it interactive, diverse, and adaptable to different learning styles. They discuss the challenge of inaccessible events for many decision-makers and offer solutions like "event books" to extend the event experience digitally. They delve into how digitizing content can replicate the community magic, creating adaptive digital experiences that resonate with diverse preferences.
Insights for Empowering Communities Post-COVID
.png)
Digital is great and it's phenomenal. Digital should be your strategy year-round. But the way to 10x your digital output is give people a way to meet at some cadence.
(47:33-51:09)
Lloyed shares the story of their subscriber surge during COVID, a journey that began with the dread of a canceled major conference and the fear of a conventional two-day virtual summit.
However, they flipped the script by switching to live webinars, featuring different speakers and topics every week. This pivot led to fantastic audience engagement, showcasing the allure of variety and timely content. The conversation delves deeper into the current digital engagement landscape, spotlighting innovative approaches employed by various companies, including Atlassian and Notion. These companies bridged digital experiences with real-life interactions, unlocking fresh avenues for engagement.
.png)
Expert Insights for Thriving in the Digital Age
Figure out who your 1% of super fans are, create a community for them and provide value to them. Then let them bring more people in and grow from there in the early days.
(51:10-57:08)
Lloyed shares golden nuggets of wisdom on how to evolve from simply addressing an audience to nurturing a robust community. The speakers highlight the power of consistent content creation across various platforms that resonate with different audience preferences, whether it's TikTok, LinkedIn, or YouTube.
Throughout the discussion, Lloyed emphasizes the value of handpicking the initial community members, those 1% super fans, to set the tone and pace for community growth. They share success stories like Justin Welsh's journey, underlining the potential of turning an audience into a passionate community.
The Power of Super Users in Building Iconic Brands
.png)
Definitely start with your customer, provide value to them, focus on a select few. It's better to do things that don't scale much. And then expand the cohorts from there and expand, and expand, and expand.
(57:09-1:00)
Alex and Lloyed dig into community-building strategies, focusing on the influential role of super users. They explore how these passionate advocates elevate brands like Alteryx and Eloqua by championing the product and transforming communities.Lloyed highlights the importance of starting small, focusing on select customers, and gradually expanding the community.
Closing the episode, Lloyed shares ways to connect with his work, highlighting his book "13 Rules to Build Iconic Brands with Community-Led Growth".
Check the the episode's Transcript (AI-generated) HERE.
Other Episodes
Godard Abel | CEO of G2
S 01 | Ep 6 Where You Go for Software: Reach Your Peak
Dean Stocker | CEO of Alteryx
S 01 | Ep 8 Turning Your Customers Into Your Biggest Champions
Peter Fader | Co-Founder of ThetaCLV
S 01 | Ep 10 Turning Your Marketing Into Dollars
Author
Experience-focused Leaders is the #1 Multimedia Podcast! We talk to senior business & tech leaders about the experiences that move forward organizations, customers and society at large. True to form, we mix audio, video, web and eBook formats to turn these authentic conversations into personalized nuggets you'll remember & use.
.png)
