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https://x.com/gregisenberg/status/1736752893124845967?s=20

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GREG ISENBERG

@gregisenberg

Jan 13

Hey, I'm ex-Reddit advisor and sold a community platform to WeWork.

I noticed something BIG recently if you're looking to build cash-flowing internet businesses:

There are 1.8B active users in Facebook Groups in 2024

But I've noticed 95% of paid communities are dead. RIP. There's something new taking its place.

Memberships are the new internet community.

Let me explain… grab a coffee it's worth understanding

When 2020 hit, the world moved to internet communities.

Facebook Groups skyrocketed to 1B+ active users. Discord hit $15B valuation.

Group chat was the new social network.

Now, most of these communities were free.

But naturally, people wanted to monetize these communities.

"Pay us a monthly fee and you’ll get access to a community."

Every Tom, Dick and Harry were selling paid communities.

Money was flowing. Until it wasn't.

Retention was the major issue. People just weren’t coming back and would rather spend their money on IRL things like going to Coachella or traveling to Europe.

Turns out selling a velvet rope wasn’t the right product for monetizing most of these communities.

Something has shifted over the last 18 months. The communities that are actually working aren’t communities, they’ve become memberships.

What’s the difference? Let's break it down.

A paid community is paying for access to:

1. Community

The team is usually a community manager or a founder + community manager

A membership includes things like:

1. Community
2. Paid newsletter
3. Discounts & deals
4. IRL events
5. Software
6. Job boards
7. Digital assets (templates, resources etc).
8.Etc

The team is usually founder, community manager, content team, product team.

Here's how to think of it:

A membership is a swiss army knife, a paid community is a spoon.

Sometimes a spoon is helpful, especially when you’re trying to eat a hot soup.

But try cutting a rib steak with a spoon. You’ll be there all night. Good luck!

Memberships are 10x more versatile, 10x more value, 10x more word-of-mouth and 10x better retention

The memberships that outperform have 2 things in common:

1) A strong identity (being a part of something, rallying behind a mission)

2) People who are trying to get from point A to point B (a transition needs to occur)

I’m spending a lot of my energy thinking about memberships:

Because I believe that there will be some mega businesses that might look like “silly little memberships” right now that blossom into some mega memberships in the future.

Community is the currency of the new internet and memberships is how you’ll get paid.

And make the most impact.

The future of internet communities are memberships.

You heard it here first.

Are you seeing the same thing I am?

Communities dying, memberships thriving....

Where community is A product, not the product

https://x.com/gregisenberg/status/1745168416724455920?s=20

A couple days ago, Alex Hormozi made the biggest investment of his life into a community platform called Skool.

I wonder if he sees the evolution to membership?

I wrote about it below:

https://x.com/gregisenberg/status/1745168416724455920?s=20

How to get your first 1000 membership members:

1) Decide on a membership worth creating
2) Establish a common goal of that community (learning X, doing Y)
3) Build an audience first
4) Convert audience into membership (Ex: IG account into Subreddit, Skool or IRL events)
5) Use membership ambassadors

Read 6 tweets

GREG ISENBERG

@gregisenberg

Dec 30, 2023

This is my 2024 annual planning guide for entrepreneurs, multipreneurs and creators.

I put this thread together to help you make the most of your year.

It’s 8 questions to ask yourself, with a system to hold you accountable.

Grab a coffee or drink and let’s dive in:

1. What are 2 ridiculous goals for the year?

Set 2 goals for 2024 so big it’ll make you laugh. So big at first blush it feels unrealistic.

But if you slow down, and put pen to paper, maybe it’s more realistic than you think.

Turning your big ridiculous goals into just audacious goals by outlining the mini-steps to get there.

Audacious goals are just ridiculous goals with steps to get there.

System for you:

- Prerequisite is the 2024 mentality: anything is possible. Remind yourself of that. Write it everywhere.

- Break your goals into 5-10 mini goals

- Review your 2 ridiculous goals quarterly.

- If it feels less audacious after a quarter, you’re on the right track. If it feels more audacious after a quarter, you’re off-track.

- Adjust mini goals as you learn

2. What do “style points” look like for you?

Winning your year isn’t just about hitting a dollar number, selling your company or going IPO.

It’s about how you do it.

Maybe it’s 100% creative freedom to build whatever you want.

Maybe it’s working with your brother to build a family business.

Maybe it’s working everyday in your underwear. I don’t know but writing it out helps.

How you earn your money (style points) is just as if not more important than earning your money.

I’m pretty surprised how little attention people give to style points.

Well, that changes today. Let's get it.

System for you:

- At the end of every month, rate your month on style points from 1-10 (no sevens, because that’s a cop out answer).

- If you’re 6 or below, what can you do to make it a 8 or above?

- Write out 2-3 ways.

- By regularly assessing and adjusting how you approach your work, you can change course pretty easily.

3. What are the “uncool” opportunities that everyone is ignoring?

The uncool opportunities are often the most interesting ones.

In 2021, everyone was focused on crypto, very little on AI. Today, the opposite is true.

In 2021, everyone was focused on VC-backed businesses, very little on cash-flowing businesses. Today, the opposite is true.

A steady stream of uncool opportunities coming your way is critical.

Be an opportunity miner in 2024. I call these opportunities "silent giants"

System for you:

- Use software spy tools like GummySearch, Etsyhunt, Jungle Scout etc to find up and coming opportunities

- Twitter DM one new interesting person every week in your industry or adjacent industry. You learn something when you're not a silo.

- Refine your content diet. Listen to podcasts that give you an edge. Listen to them while you workout (health + wealth). Remove content creators that don’t add to your edge. Unfollow old people, follow new people. Spend 10-15 minutes a month refining.

More 2024 questions continued in the next tweet (you got this):

4. What are 4 areas you need to get stronger at?

This is the time of the 2024 planning session where you need to be extra honest with yourself. Think about your 2023 your experiences and challenges.

Where do you feel you struggled? Where could you have performed better? Basically, what areas can you get stronger at?

You know your goals. So write out what needs to succeed in order to get hit your audacious goals. Maybe it's:

- Sell $1M worth of product --> so you need to get stronger at building internet audiences

- Raise $5M of VC --> so you need to get stronger at pitching VCs

- Build an AI startup --> so you need to get stronger at understanding LLMs
- etc etc

This is where you invest in yourself. I think of it like you're in continuing-education, building your real-world MBA that'll actually pay you back in spades.

System for you:

- Pick 1 main thing to learn in 2024, and 1 new thing to learn each quarter

- 30+ minutes of learning everyday for main, 10+ minutes for your quarterly learning goal

5. What business can I buy?

So this might not be for everyone, but it's a worthwhile prompt for your new year

Three truths:

#1 - It’s easier to buy a business than to build a business.

#2 - It’s never been easiest buy a business with platforms like Acquire and QuietLight

#3 - You don't need $1M to buy a business. It's less than you think

You can get creative with financing with seller financing, roll over equity (ie: giving equity in your new entity) etc.

But first, finding an exceptional asset in 2024 that drives lots of income is the goal.

System for you:

- New 2024 mindset: you can buy a business even if you have $5000 in your bank account

- Make a target list of business you want to buy in 2024 and why

- Develop relationships with 2-3 founders per month and let them know you buy businesses

- Start small. You can always do bigger deals once your training wheels are off

- Aim to buy 1 business in 2024

Ok you're doing great and have 3 more questions to answer

Next question in the next tweet (keep going):

6. How can I be building my community?

When a community is behind you, you are fishing with dynamite. It’s leverage.

As Seth Godin says on leverage:

"It’s almost impossible to remove a screw with your bare hands, but easy with a screwdriver.

The handle might only add a little torque, but it’s more than enough.

If someone is succeeding at something you find difficult, it might be because they realized they needed a screwdriver.

Looking for the tool is the first step in finding it.”

The tool is community. Ultimate internet leverage. You'll never have to spend money on ads again if you don't want to.

System for you:

- 30 minutes every day writing content.

- 30 minutes every day replying to content and making virtual connections

- A good amount of time per week doing personal community stuff (religious, health, time with friends)

Next question in the next tweet (it's a good one):

Read 5 tweets

GREG ISENBERG

@gregisenberg

Dec 22, 2023

My 2023 year in review building an 8 figure holding company

Including a net worth update, big wins, productivity unlocks, big losses etc

Read the full thread:

Big wins of 2023:

1. Got married. Had a small wedding with only our immediate families for a small ceremony and dinner at a cute little french restaurant. Highly recommend a small wedding like that over a whole big wedding.

2. We bought 50% of a business which became @boringmarketer. Our first real acquisition. That business will do conservatively ~$2M-$3M of free cash flow next year. Reminds me that you only need a couple good ideas to have a wonderful career (and life).

3. Nice cash flow for the @latecheckoutplz holdco! We continued to grow several cash-flowing businesses at Late Checkout. If this isn’t product/market fit, I don’t know what is…

4. Had someone offer Late Checkout $30M of PE capital. Didn’t take it. Felt good though.

5. My newsletter became a habit! I wrote weekly in 2023 for the first time ever. And I hope you got value out of it. It helps me clarify my ideas. Highly recommend to you. (link in bio to join)

6. Stayed true to myself. Didn’t get very distracted from competition or other founders. Maybe the biggest professional win of all?

See next tweet for big losses

Big losses of 2023

1. We listened to some bad advice for our innovation agency Late Checkout Agency. “Keep your team lean, a recession is coming, your Fortune 500 clients will cut innovation budgets”. We listened and that unnecessarily capped revenue.

The reality is, these big companies need new products that drive revenue and community more than ever during a rough market.

And we’ve been a pretty full utilization of our team the entire year.

We lost out on $3M+ by just not listening to this advice. Damn.

2. Hire one to hire 10. I wish I did more of this in 2023. These are the hires that multiply the business. Focused too much on hiring mid-level.

3. I didn’t do enough 2-3 day IRL masterminds. Did a bunch off-sites with my team, but need to do more industry specific mastermind stuff.

I’ve got some plans for 2024 here. I think quarterly is a good cadence for that dope of inspiration.

4. Didn't buy a company in 2023. 2 deals fell through. Silver lining is now have a better process and thesis for M&A.

See next tweet to learn about my "ah-ha moments of 2023", some epiphanies I'll be doubling down on in 2024

"Ah-ha moments of 2023”

1. Multipreneurship is the future of entrepreneurship. Multipreneurship is this idea of someone who creates multiple products per year, with the aim of creating a company that creates companies.

When I started Late Checkout 3.5 years ago, I considered it a holding company and myself an entrepreneur.

Now, I realize being a multipreneur is a new breed of founder. I believe there’s gonna be a huge of wave of successful multipreneurs over the next 5 years. Maybe you’re one of them? (I recommend following @MultipreneurGuy if multipreneurship is interesting to you)

2. IRL > URL. There’s so much alpha in creating in creating products that drive IRL (in real life) behavior. The internet can go only so far.

3. Premium domains work. Dotcoms matter especially in B2B.

4. Marry the niche, date the product. You can give up on a product, but don’t give up on a niche you believe in.

5. Hiring more Canadians. With 1 USD equaling to $1.35 CAD, hiring in the great white north is 35% off. We hired some exceptional Canadians and I want to do more of it. We will still continue to hire in the US, but only for select high impact roles.

6. Reach out to people weekly should be a habit. DM-ing people on Twitter is probably the highest return of that platform. I met my my heroes like Rivers Cuomo from a random DM. I met one of our new business partners by DMing him. It’s so obvious, but if you aren’t sending a few DMs per week, you are missing out.

7. Buy more companies. I remember Andrew Wilkinson telling me in 2020: “why are you so focused on building? Buying is way easier”. My response to him was it’s way more fun to build. I believe that still today. But I want to buy more in 2024.

If you’re selling your agency, marketplace, email newsletter, vertical SaaS/social network, get in touch with me.

See next tweet for productivity unlocks of 2023

Read 10 tweets

GREG ISENBERG

@gregisenberg

Nov 6, 2023

Today, OpenAI announced they are releasing the ChatGPT Store, an App Store for ChatGPT

Shopify Apps: 33,000 apps, $561M of revenue
App Store: 1.8M apps, $910B of revenue
ChatGPT Store: 0 "agents", $0 revenue

Probably millions of agents, billions revenue soon

I wish I had created an app for Apple App Store in 2009 when App Store came out

I wish I created an app for Shopify App Store in 2009

Tons of opportunity to be building for ChatGPT right now. I wouldn't want to miss it.

These paradigm shifting moments happen once every 15 years

--

Follow me @gregisenberg to follow along me building businesses for different communities.

The average time it takes to create a:

Shopify App: 4 months
Apple App Store App: 6 months
ChatGPT store Agent: 16 minutes (so quick!)

That's a big deal.

The future of apps is agents.

Read 8 tweets

GREG ISENBERG

@gregisenberg

Nov 4, 2023

No one ever tells you that...

1. There is no middle class anymore. You are either rich or trying to stay afloat

2. The best businesses are low status that turn high status later. When everyone zigs, zag

3. Having your phone on Do Not Disturb is the only sane way to live today.

4. Talking slowly will make you sentences sound smarter not dumber.

5. You’ll be a lot less happy (and wealthy) if you do what other people expect of you.

6. You probably won’t get wealthy starting a venture-backed startup or working for one.

7. Happiness isn’t expensive. The expensive lifestyle is usually a trap. Being happy requires less than you think.

8. Just because you are on their IG close friends, doesn’t make them your close friend.

9. A lot can happen in a year.

Read 13 tweets

GREG ISENBERG

@gregisenberg

Nov 1, 2023

The news JUST broke that WeWork is filing for BANKRUPTCY next week

The same WeWork that was valued at $48 billion is now worth ~$48 million

I sold my company to them in 2019. And was briefly the head of Product Strategy of WeWork.

Here's what went wrong and what we can learn:

#1 People can turn on you on a dime

In the WeWork corporate halls, I witnessed folks singing praises of Adam Neumann, almost to the point of worship.

Adam could do no wrong, Adam knew all the answers, Adam could fix this.

But as soon as they realized their stock was tanking, they turned on him.

It happened overnight. Literally.

This taught me a lot about human nature.

Trust can be broken in seconds.

#2 Doing too much in business never works

WeWork was working on like 100 businesses at once, but never really figured out the economics of the core business.

Seems obvious, but get your house in order first, before you go and decide to venture out.

I’m a big believer in the multipreneur movement, owning a portfolio of businesses that cash-flow, not a bunch of businesses that drain cash aka WeWork.

#3 The valuation of your venture-backed business really doesn't mean a whole lot.

I met people at WeWork in summer 2019 that told me they were excited for the IPO so they could buy their house.

They were already house shopping.

"Yeah, I'll probably put $600k into renovations too. I know a good contractor if you need one."

I cringed.

Pretty delusional.

Never count on your stock options.

Consider it gravy.

(Thankfully I had very little stock.)

#4 The community piece was actually on-point.

This one is kinda a hot take.

Probably because the community-adjusted IPO was pretty made fun of.

But that's not what I'm talking about.

The idea of WeWork being a community is a valuable one.

Because when you build a community, you have trust and attention.

And when you have trust and attention, you can build products to support their rituals.

So, here's what would have made WeWork more successful:

I think if WeWork built vertical-specific co-working, that would have worked better.

WeWork for designers, WeWork for artists, etc.

With the ultimate goal of building a portfolio of vertical SaaS.

I think there is a tremendous opportunity to:

Step 1) Build community
Step 2) Build vertical SaaS on top of it

(I'll link an interesting graph on the state of verical SaaS in the next tweet)

If WeWork would have had a smaller portfolio of niche co-working spaces, say in NYC, London, and LA only... and built their enterprise value via vertical software...

Now that could have been not just a $47 billion startup, but a $470 billion business.

What do you think about this whole WeWork bankruptcy?

--

If you want more stories like this, reply to this tweet so I know you liked it.

Follow me at @gregisenberg if you enjoyed, and link in bio for deeper stuff like this. It'll take a few seconds

I don't share stuff that ChatGPT wrote, but real raw stories of my unedited thoughts.

Have a beautiful day!

The state of vertical SaaS

If only WeWork went this route....

WeWork could have been more like Constellation Software

$WE since IPO: -99.7%
$CNSWF since IPO: +9683%

Read 9 tweets

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