Community Is the Reward, Not the Product

Every year founders chase the “IRL connection economy” — market of businesses that create and monetize real-world, offline connections and experiences (think premium clubs, event platforms, fitness communities) - a supposed $400B market.

Most fail.

Why?

Community isn’t a product you can sell directly. It’s the high-value byproduct that emerges when you build something else exceptionally well.

Key traps:

•⁠ ⁠Retention Inversion: The better a friendship app works, the faster users leave (they make real friends and stop needing the app).

•⁠ ⁠Density Trough: Local network effects create a brutal mid-growth death zone — too many users to feel intimate, too few to feel vibrant.

What actually works (three durable verticals):

1.⁠ ⁠Activity Businesses (CrossFit, Barry’s, Strava)

2.⁠ ⁠Coordination Infrastructure (Discord, Partiful, Luma)

3.⁠ ⁠Premium Access (Soho House, Tiger 21, Chief)

Strava didn’t sell community — it sold tracking & competition. Community followed.

Pitch “community first” and you almost always fail.

Build the activity, the tool, or the scarce access exceptionally well — and the community becomes the reason people stay.

→ Full thread: https://x.com/i/status/2047116108914970630