The Cold Start: Building a Minimum Viable Community

I used to have this really shit lawn mower. The spark plug was ancient, the air filter clogged with crap — somehow right after I cleaned it. It took me longer to get it running than it did to mow the lawn. It sputtered, spat, sparked, and blew out the fossilized remains of a hundred dinosaurs in a cloud of blue smoke. And when it finally spun up? It’d shut down again in protest unless I hit the grass at just the right angle.

Now, I’m slightly better at starting and maintaining communities than I am at wrangling ancient lawn mowers. But having done both a few times, I can tell you this: it still takes some elbow grease.

The trick is knowing when you’ve got something worth pushing forward — or when, like my lawn mower, it’s time to let it join its dinosaur brethren in extinction.

Here’s how to go from 0 to 1 — how to build a Minimum Viable Community (MVC). Where one member has done one thing that’s valuable to them and valuable to your business’s bottom line.

What Makes a Community Viable?

We’re looking for one cycle of community-led growth—here’s more on that. That means one member has done one thing that either helps you make more money or save some money.

No Bribes, Just Vibes

We’re talking about voluntary participation. The motivation has to connect to something deeper — like a sense of belonging, mastery, or purpose. If you’re doing it right, the act of participating is the reward. Bribing them with swag or awards? That’s a short-term fix that doesn’t scale. Eventually, you’re either paying them as employees or watching them churn out.

My Top Three MVCs

I’ve been thinking about this, and I reckon there are three types of Minimum Viable Communities (MVCs)— with a few subtypes and different ways to go about them. Here’s my breakdown, using quick examples from my favorite brand in the whole wide world: IKEA.

MVC 1: Help Me Help You

This is where members help each other get more value out of your product.Example:Imagine a space where IKEA customers swap tips on assembling flat-packs, sharing hacks to make the process smoother. They learn from each other, and in the process, they get the value —actually usable furniture— faster. It’s all about making life easier, together.

MVC 2: Hold My Beer

Sometimes, customers think they can build your product better than you can. And guess what? Some brands let them try — and it works.Example:IKEA could create a community where members submit their own designs for future flat-packs or suggest ways to make those infamous instructions a little clearer. It’s co-creation at its finest — building with your customers, not just for them.

MVC 3: The Pseudo-Community

This one’s all about telling the world how great your product is. But here’s the catch: it’s often mistaken for a community when it’s really just a killer marketing play.Example:If IKEA superfans are raving about your products, you don’t need them talking to each other — you need them out there telling everyone else who doesn’t know about you. So, if you’ve got this, congrats! You don’t have an MVC, but you do have an army of brand advocates. Make it easy for them to share their experiences, and let the community come later.

Pick Your MVC or Pause

Ask yourself: Do my people want to help each other? Or, do they want to help improve our product? If the answer is yes to either, congrats — you’ve got the makings of a community. If not, you might need to pump the brakes. No shame in that. Communities thrive on real need, not wishful thinking.

Pick Your Environment

Now, where’s your crew hanging out? Slack? Discord? Facebook? Pick a platform they’re already using. You want your community to be just a click away when they’re bored or looking for something to do. Don’t make them download some new app or jump through hoops. Keep it easy.

Create Compression

Here’s the deal: Less is more. Don’t go wild with 20 channels, categories, or threads. Start small. One or two places for people to talk. Keep it focused. Keep it simple. You want it to feel alive, not like a ghost town.

Start the Cycle: Rituals and Habits

Communities run on rituals. People love predictability. They want to know what’s happening and when.

The Habit Formula

James Clear (Atomic Habits) says habits are built on cues, routines, and rewards. So, give your community a rhythm. Create a space where they can:

• Do the thing (whatever your community is about).
• Celebrate the thing (shout out members who are crushing it).
• Get something back (share updates, resources, or just show them their contributions matter).

Dance Badly

Picture it: an empty dance floor. Everyone’s standing around, waiting for someone to make the first move. There’s no FOMO because, well, there’s nothing to miss out on.That’s your community right now.And guess who needs to get on the dance floor first?

You

Do the things you want your members to do. Ask questions. Answer questions. Start chats. Don’t worry about being perfect—in fact, be a little off. When people see you doing something almost right, it’s impossible for them to resist jumping in to correct or clarify. Why it works:

• It shows vulnerability and makes you relatable.
• It gives people an easy way to step in and contribute.
• It signals that it’s totally okay to be less than perfect.

Begin the Gentle Bulldozing

Once you’ve got a few people moving, it’s time to gently bulldoze the rest in. Constantly encourage participation. Hand people everything they need to get involved. Ask them questions. Give them the tools to answer someone else’s.And for every little thing they do?Thank them.Profusely. Frequently. Celebrate their contributions, but keep it light—just enough to show you appreciate them without scaring them off.

Keep Going: This Is Your Rain Dance

This whole process? It’s your Rain Dance. The cycle of regular rituals, awkward dancing, and gentle social bulldozing. If you’ve got around 100 people in your space and you keep this up for about a month, odds are you’ll get at least one person to give back without you having to bulldoze them first. And when that happens? Congrats—you’ve cracked it.

If it can happen once, it can happen again you have the basic ingredients for success now you need to add in the ingredients for scale.

You’ve just sparked the beginning of organic community growth, now, it’s time for the next phase of the community life cycle. But that’s a story for another day. Stay tuned.

Prompt and generation data for the image at the start of this article:

Photorealistic and beautifully framed landscape of a dense, green forest at dawn. The rusted remains of an old, rusty, wheeled lawn mower sits, surrounded by overgrown grass, with intricate details showing weathered metal and worn parts. Large, moss covered dinosaur bones of a t-rex fossil including a skull are scattered about it, now partially buried and caked in moss, as if there was once a great battle between dinosaur and mower, with both perishing to decay in this now still and beautiful glade. Sunlight filters through the towering trees, casting soft shadows and highlighting the textures of the dinosaur bones and the surrounding foliage. A misty atmosphere adds depth and a sense of ancient mystery to the serene natural setting.

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