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AMA
p/amaOfficial ask-me-anything conversations with notable guests
Greg Isenberg

I’m Greg Isenberg, CEO of Late Checkout. AMA 🔥

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I spend all my time thinking about community-based products and web3. Ask me anything about what I mean by that, where the world is going, which products I love, or whatever else is on your mind. Literally, ask me anything!

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David Sawyer
1. Most underhyped thing of this decade? 2. Opinion you hold that most would disagree with?
Greg Isenberg
@davidsawyer1 1. avoiding venture capital 2. service businesses are a good time and a good business if you structure correctly
Ste
@greg_isenberg ☝️☝️☝️ Controversial but god damn, so true. Especially #1 - got the same feeling after watching so many YC videos and seeing products like Pipe thrive
Josh Weinstein (韦恩）
Are you single?
Hoda Mehr
@joshrweinstein Is there a backstory here that I don't know? Sounds like a strange question to ask. Why would 6 people upvote this?!!!
Josh Weinstein (韦恩）
@hodamehr1 uh, he's hot duh?
Jessie
@joshrweinstein @greg_isenberg so much love here adding more <3 and btw well thought question gotta say it stands out hehe 🙌
Hoda Mehr
Hi Greg, community monetization beyond newsletters and ads/sponsorships is not very common. What are some of the community monetization models you have seen that are interesting/higher margin/scalable? We have been thinking of monetization through launching a public fund where community members are investors in the fund. Have you seen successful examples of monetization via launching a fund (public or private)?
Greg Isenberg
@hodamehr1 1. Events 2. NFTs 3. Cohort based courses 4. Ask your audience what they would pay for. What are their pains? Build a prototype and charge for it monthly 5. Funds (ie: so many newsletters have funds now like Not Boring with Packy which is a great newsletter/great fund)
Hoda Mehr
@greg_isenberg Thanks! We already have subscription, and that's been growing with a good pace. Wonderfing if you have seen examples of community-based funds that have succeeded? Thanks
Sat Panesar
As a Community Manager for several successful NFT projects, I'm seeing most of these communities adding the same channels, roles, engagement activities where they all end up looking alike -- are we waiting on a newer alternative to Discord and Twitter (Spaces) to break this behaviour or is the end result of homogeneity basically baked in?
Yaroslaw Bagriy
@sat2 We're solving this problem with Playgroup. Let me know your thoughts https://playgroup.community/
Greg Isenberg
@sat2 I'm so happy you asked this. Twitter is pretty good at broadcast (getting your message out there) and Discord is pretty good at intimacy (having small group conversations). That being said, both are far from perfect and I expect many startups to compete over the next 6-12 months. Example: Metalink.com (disclosure: Late Checkout invested) is an NFT-native Discord. More will come out.
Bryson M.
Hi Greg! Do you think that the Metaverse is going to take off? And how do you think it is going to effect socialization between others?
Greg Isenberg
@bryson_m_ The "metaverse" has been taking off since 1995 IMHO
Philipp Meder
Over the last few years, Reddit has added functions that slowly make it look like a social network, turning away from the almost completely anonymous site it once was. Do you reckon there will one day be Reddit influencers like there are Instagram or TikTok influencers? Obviously there always have been "celebrities" like /u/ShittyWaterColour or /u/GallowBoob, but I'm talking about a much higher level of celebrity like we see on Instagram and TikTok.
Greg Isenberg
@phimema I cant comment on Reddit's strategy unfortunately. All opinions here my own!
Vulture Capitalist
What advising do you do for Reddit?
Jessie
@vulturecaptlist @greg_isenberg Do you think we should gather feedback from users monthly or quarterly? Our current strategy: we do monthly changes to serve our users better. Would like to hear your thoughts on what is the most effective product strategy technique for an app.
Greg Isenberg
@vulturecaptlist @jessie_m Have a group chat and speak to them often. Monthly doesnt sound like enough!
Jessie
@vulturecaptlist @greg_isenberg Oh I like the idea, thank you so much for sharing your perspective, much appreciated!
Rucha Joshi
@vulturecaptlist @greg_isenberg @jessie_m Yea I have a. background in user research. and I'd say talk/listen to 3-4 users at least once a week.
Dawid Zamkowski
1. Why you don't focus on one product to grow it to unicorn but make few ones under studio? 2. How did you start studio? Did you get funding? How do you pay your employees at the beginning? Please expand. 3. How long did you think about your studio name? Do you think this is important? Same for domain. 4. What are you the best products and why? 5. What your communities are you the most proud of? 6. If you could pick one project to focus on as first time founder - maker, what would you make and why? 7. What cryptos do you hodl? 8. What question would you like to get but nobody asked before? 9. Top 3 newsletters, blogs, YT channels and people on Twitter to follow. PS. If you're looking for the best startup generalist for consulting - here I am!
Greg Isenberg
@dawidzamkowski 1. Why you don't focus on one product to grow it to unicorn but make few ones under studio? More fun/creative to work on multiple products 2. How did you start studio? Did you get funding? How do you pay your employees at the beginning? Please expand. Self-funded it. 3. How long did you think about your studio name? Do you think this is important? Same for domain. I keep an iOS note of words/phrases I like. I launched an event series in Brooklyn called Late Checkout. I took it from note to event and really liked it. It just stuck 4. What are you the best products and why? That's like choosing a favorite child! 5. What your communities are you the most proud of? Crypto College. So cool that people have been learning, building and collaborating which each other and I brought them together. Warms my heart! https://cryptocollege.latechecko... 6. If you could pick one project to focus on as first time founder - maker, what would you make and why? One that you can stop thinking about and that will can set you financially free 7. What cryptos do you hodl? Lots but I'm mostly ETH with some BTC/SOL/LINK/MATIC (not financial advice) 8. What question would you like to get but nobody asked before? Are you having fun? No one asks that and more people should. (the answer is hell yes!) 9. Top 3 newsletters, blogs, YT channels and people on Twitter to follow. 1. Andrei Jikh (demystifies finance and that's crucial) https://www.youtube.com/c/Andrei... 2. Jack Butcher (understands the power of design + memes and that's crucial) https://twitter.com/jackbutcher 3. The Late Checkout Newsletter we just launched called Room Service (biased) https://www.getrevue.co/profile/...
Dawid Zamkowski
@greg_isenberg Thanks! I see that your products are still coming. So, you don't have any revenue from them beside community? What are your streams of income? I think running studio like that costs a lot of money.
Greg Isenberg
@dawidzamkowski Some of our products make money so we reinvest in the studio
Dawid Zamkowski
@greg_isenberg which ones? Do you have "open startup"? Where can I find your portfolio? I'd love to study them a bit. Do you get an investors for your products? If yes, on which stages? How do you build a relationships with investors?
Greg Isenberg
@dawidzamkowski We keep it low key. 2022 we'll come out a bit more public with what we're behind. We haven't raised external capital for any of our studio products.
Daeshawn Ballard
GM, Greg! In your opinion, what are the characteristics of a quality web3 community and how would you go about acquiring and engaging with those first 10-100 members?
Greg Isenberg
@imdaeshawn Metrics to track: 1. Daily active users (DAU)/total users = 50%+ 2. DMs/group chat messages = I call this the friendship index. How many people are talking in the main channels and moving to DMs to build friendships 3. A health metric of your choosing. iI's important that your community isnt toxic. How I'd go about acquisition/engaging: Build rituals and create channels around milestones. Give people reasons to come back! If you do this, word of mouth will generate and that solves your acquisiton problem. I might also start by making it invite-only at first to build buzz.
Greg Mushen
What are the areas of web3 that excite you the most?
Greg Isenberg
@gregmushen NFT communities that actually add something new/cool to the ecosytem/world and how do DAOs play a role in coordinating people/communities/capital
Tyrel Johnson
I've been loving the pod with you and Sahil! It's in my Top 3. Two questions for you: 1. What white spaces do you see in NFTs? 2. Name your top 3 favorite web3-related events you'd recommend to someone who wants to get deep into this space.
Greg Isenberg
@tyreljohnson 1. Hard to give one-size-fits-all answer to that but as a framework think about creating NFT projects that are not cookie-cutter at all. What's new and interesting about your project? And focus it on a particular community (ie: WoodiesNFT focused on outdoor community) 2. Tbh, I dont know. I've only ever been to 1 web3 event. I just hang out online on Discord and Twitter.
Eric Dyck
Would you come on the DTC Podcast to chat it out? What's the killer app in the DTC/ Ecommerce space that helps everyone get it. So much of what I see looks like Pets.com from the late 90's...as in not quite ready for primetime.
Greg Isenberg
@dtc_dyck Focusing on me and Sahil Bloom's podcast right now. Focus is everything otherwise I'd be there! https://whereithappens.trwih.com/ I feel like people get DTC/ecommerce. What am I missing?
xquad
Hey Greg, I’m involved with a community-managed digital currency project (that is all distributed without premines/ICOs etc), which is now going to collaborate with a small game studio. There is an MMORPG game being built by the game studio which is planned to go live in phases and with this collaboration, both projects will be looking to build an ecosystem for cloud gaming platform/infrastructure along the way as their common goals, and there will be a limited amount of NFTs which will be used for fundraising purposes (modest amounts if I may say to keep the progress going + for marketing), on the crypto side the team is working and looking to build all voluntary basis to achieve mentioned vision/goals. The game itself will target to create artificial intelligence with emotion through collaboration from people around the world. Not really focused on the Play-To-Earn trend as creators are caring/concerned about the quality of the game itself, might say maybe something closer to the Play-And-Earn concept could apply. The NFTs referred above will not only provide an early access key to the game but also provide mini companions for additional in-game activities, along with staking components etc. Coming to my questions; - Do you believe such a way to raise funds is a viable tool? - From a marketing perspective, what would you do to increase awareness of such a raise? What kind of collaborations would you seek to make this raise successful? - I know you believe in community power, I do too, but do you think a community can form/grow/sustain without enough funds for marketing? Nowadays all of these NFT projects/minting days seem similar, repetitive and as some of the other people mentioned here, the chat mediums / engagement etc are becoming all the same. Surely there will be quality projects which will not have enough reach and vice versa. I wanted to hear from someone who's been in the field for some time, thanks for your feedback; appreciate it if you've made it till here :)
Greg Isenberg
@xquadcolx Yes you could totally raise funds that way. Lots of folks are using NFTs for fundraising/marketing/retention. Bring in aspirational/cool influencers for your target community. Make them apart of the NFT drop. Attach a social cause to get people excited. A community must be a sustainable community so there needs to be a small amount of funds to keep it going. But that number is small.
Yaroslaw Bagriy
Hey Greg, I'm building a community platform. What are your thoughts? Where can I improve? https://www.producthunt.com/upco...
Greg Isenberg
@yarobagriy I like the concept. A working prototype is worth 1000 Figma Slides ;) though!
Yaroslaw Bagriy
@greg_isenberg Thanks! Version 1 is out and fully working with customers already :) playgroup.community This new version should drop in a month or so!
Fajar Siddiq
I remember your tweets! Just wanna say thank you & is inspiring
Greg Isenberg
@fajarsiddiq thanks for the kind words!
Alberto Cabas Vidani
What did you learn from your crypto college experiment?
Greg Isenberg
@dr_acv People have a thirst for web3 knowledge and community. I want to do more of this in '22
Alberto Cabas Vidani
@greg_isenberg Thank you. From what I remember the price of the NFT was higher than the "usual" course price. How did it affect sales and the quality of the participants?
Greg Isenberg
@dr_acv It was a bonding curve starting at .15e that ended at 1.5e. We wanted to keep course smaller than 150. If I did another one, I probably would allow more students and make it more accessible
sulyman moyo
I'm currently building in the web3 space, How do you get the first 100 users and discord members
Greg Isenberg
@repreneur Make a mission worth talking about a design a Discord worth hanging out in.
Shahram Rezasade
Hi Greg, Do you know any Web3 projects where people can own partial assets and benefit from it everytime the asset is being used. Example: A contract lets 100 people buy a BIRD scooter, that is operated and rented by BIRD and the community (partial owners) receives monthly passive income because of their partial ownership?
Greg Isenberg
@srezasade This to me fits into the community enhances the product bucket of a community based products. Most great web3 projects follow this rule. Big trend for '22.
Shahram Rezasade
@greg_isenberg True. Have you heard of a similar project? I am very interested in partial ownership projects. And yes - the community itself enhances the product AND is incentivised to use the product. e.g. there are projects where you receive partial ownership of shares whenever you buy the products of the company (Sweetgreen shares for all your Sweetgreen orders)
Michael Silber
Do you think the GME x NFT play is going to 🚀 or 🔥
Greg Isenberg
@product_at_producthunt I got faith. They've recruited some top folks in the space.
Stefan
What are the main characteristics of a community-based web3 product?
Greg Isenberg
@stef3 1. the product is the community (ex: clubhouse app) 2. the product enhances the community (ex: bored ape yacht club)