Book · ~180 pages

Get Together: How to Build a Community With Your People

Bailey Richardson, Kevin Huynh, Kai Elmer Sotto · Stripe Press Paid Beginner

The three People and Company founders built communities for Nike, Substack, and others, and they organize the whole book around three stages: spark the flame, stoke the fire, and pass the torch. That last stage is exactly your question, the arc from doing everything yourself to enabling members to carry it. Treat it as a starting point for thinking about your own shifting role, not a verdict on how many hours to log.

  • Build the community with people, not for them, so it does not depend on you showing up for everything.
  • The founder's role moves through stages: you spark it, then stoke it, then deliberately pass the torch to members who lead.
  • Backing a few committed people early is what lets you step back later without the energy dropping.

It answers 2 questions

  1. How do I launch in India where there's no single 'Product Hunt moment' that reaches Indian founders and buyers?
  2. How much of my own time should I personally spend in the community before I can step back?

Read with it

  1. From the founder of CMX and author of The Business of Belonging, a practical framework for deciding whether to build community... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~25 min read A Founder's Guide to Community David Spinks
  2. The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read Do Things That Don't Scale Paul Graham
  3. A YC partner and ex-Airbnb growth lead gives a tactical, no-fluff talk on landing early customers for both B2B and B2C. It's... YC Startup Library Video · ~30 min video How to Get Your First Customers Gustaf Alstromer (Y Combinator)
  4. A data-backed teardown of how companies like Figma, Gusto, and Vanta actually sourced their earliest customers. Replaces... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~15 min read How today's fastest-growing B2B startups found their first ten customers Lenny Rachitsky
  5. The definitive talk that reframes launching from a one-shot event into a repeatable tactic, exactly this category's thesis. YC... YC Startup Library Video · ~25 min How to Launch (Again and Again) Kat Manalac (Y Combinator)
  6. A tactical follow-on covering the channels and motions top B2B startups scale after the first ten. Grounds distribution... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~15 min read How to win your first 10 B2B customers Lenny Rachitsky
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →