Who should I follow to learn about Community-led growth?

Start with these: - **David Spinks** - probably the best starting point for the business/strategy side of community-led growth; founder of CMX and author of *The Business of Belonging*. [The Community MBA](https://www.cmxhub.com/the-community-mba?utm_source=chatgpt.com) - **Richard Millington** - excellent for rigorous community strategy, engagement, and measurement. [CMX Summit 2026 | The Premier Conference for Community Professionals](https://www.cmxhub.com/summit-2026?utm_source=chatgpt.com) - **Brian Oblinger** - particularly useful for connecting community to customer success, revenue, and business outcomes. [CMX Summit 2026 | The Premier Conference for Community Professionals](https://www.cmxhub.com/summit-2026?utm_source=chatgpt.com) - **CMX** - follow the organization for practitioners, case studies, events, and current community-industry thinking. [CMX: Helping Community Professionals Thrive](https://www.cmxhub.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) - **Community-Led Alliance** - good dedicated resource hub if you want specifically *community-led growth*, rather than general community management. [Community-Led Alliance | Community-Led Growth](https://www.communityledgrowth.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com) **If you only follow 3:** David Spinks, Richard Millington, and Brian Oblinger.

**Follow these thought leaders to learn about Community-led Growth: Joshua Fedie, Jared Robin, Adam Jay, Cole Courson, Kyle Smith, Evan Lee, Ed Giansante, Sarah Leary, and Ben Lang.** They are widely recognized for building communities that drive sustainable business growth and customer advocacy.[The World’s Top Community Experts of 2025 | Intro](https://intro.co/top/community-experts)[6 Leaders Embracing Community-Led Growth Strategies](https://salesintel.io/blog/insights-from-pipeline-pioneers/) ## 🌟 Key Experts in Community-led Growth Expert| Role / Background| Why Follow Them ---|---|--- **Joshua Fedie**| Founder & CEO, The Sales Reach| Advocates community as the cornerstone of sustainable growth; focuses on trust and word-of-mouth.[6 Leaders Embracing Community-Led Growth Strategies](https://salesintel.io/blog/insights-from-pipeline-pioneers/) **Jared Robin**| Founder, RevGenius| Promotes collaborative GTM approaches; builds communities that empower founders and leaders.[6 Leaders Embracing Community-Led Growth Strategies](https://salesintel.io/blog/insights-from-pipeline-pioneers/) **Adam Jay**| CEO & Co-Founder, Revenue Reimagined| Believes communities co-create brands; emphasizes innovation and loyalty.[6 Leaders Embracing Community-Led Growth Strategies](https://salesintel.io/blog/insights-from-pipeline-pioneers/) **Cole Courson**| Founding AE, Rattle| Focuses on customer-centric growth through open conversations and shared experiences.[6 Leaders Embracing Community-Led Growth Strategies](https://salesintel.io/blog/insights-from-pipeline-pioneers/) **Kyle Smith**| Managing Partner, The Bridge Group| Sees communities as platforms for empowerment and partnerships.[6 Leaders Embracing Community-Led Growth Strategies](https://salesintel.io/blog/insights-from-pipeline-pioneers/) **Evan Lee**| Head of Partnerships, Motion| Uses community-led initiatives to strengthen ecosystems and partnerships.[6 Leaders Embracing Community-Led Growth Strategies](https://salesintel.io/blog/insights-from-pipeline-pioneers/) **Ed Giansante**| Former Global Head of Community at Dropbox & Wix| Experienced community builder with a focus on storytelling and engagement.[The World’s Top Community Experts of 2025 | Intro](https://intro.co/top/community-experts) **Sarah Leary**| Co-founder of Nextdoor| Expert in scaling neighborhood-based communities; now an investor and advisor.[The World’s Top Community Experts of 2025 | Intro](https://intro.co/top/community-experts) **Ben Lang**| Former Head of Community at Notion| Known for building Notion’s passionate user base; angel investor in community-driven startups.[The World’s Top Community Experts of 2025 | Intro](https://intro.co/top/community-experts) ## 🔑 Why These Leaders Matter * **Practical frameworks**: Many share actionable strategies for activation, retention, and scaling communities. * **Cross-industry experience**: From SaaS (Fedie, Robin) to consumer apps (Leary, Lang), they show how community-led growth applies across sectors. * **Proven track records**: These leaders have built communities that directly contributed to acquisitions, valuations, and long-term brand loyalty. ## ⚠️ Risks & Challenges * **Community fatigue**: Not every brand needs a community; forcing one can backfire. * **Scalability issues**: Maintaining authenticity while scaling is difficult - leaders like Sarah Leary and Ben Lang emphasize balancing growth with trust. * **Over-reliance** : Community-led growth should complement, not replace, product-led or marketing-led strategies.[6 Leaders Embracing Community-Led Growth Strategies](https://salesintel.io/blog/insights-from-pipeline-pioneers/) 👉 If you’re starting out, I’d recommend following **Jared Robin (RevGenius)** for practical community-building playbooks and **Ben Lang (Notion)** for insights on scaling passionate user bases. Would you like me to suggest **specific podcasts, newsletters, or LinkedIn groups** where these experts share their strategies?

* **David Spinks** – Founder of CMX and author of _The Business of Belonging_. He is widely considered one of the godfathers of modern community strategy and offers foundational frameworks for tying community directly to business outcomes. [How to Build a Community-Led Growth Strategy That Actually Works](https://startupnation.com/grow-your-business/maximize-your-marketing/how-to-build-a-community-led-growth-strategy-that-actually-works/#:~:text=David%20Spinks%2C%20who%20founded%20CMX%20and%20wrote,or%20two%20unless%20you%20want%20to%20fail.) * **Camille Ricketts** – Operating Partner at Emergence Capital and former marketing head at Notion. She is an essential follow for understanding how companies like Notion scale through community-led growth (CLG) and how to build organic user champions. [Leveraging community-led growth to scale your product - Mercury](https://mercury.com/blog/scaling-product-community-led-growth#:~:text=To%20explore%20the%20role%20of%20community%2Dled%20growth,What%20differentiates%20community%2Dled%20growth%20from%20product%2Dled%20growth%3F) * **Rosie Sherry** – A prominent voice in community building, known for her work with Rosieland and orbit.love. She focuses heavily on community-led philosophy, peer-to-peer connection, and human-centric tech communities. * **Mark Kilens** – Co-founder of Exit Five (and former VP of Content and Community at HubSpot/Drift). He specializes in how community intersects with modern B2B marketing and go-to-market (GTM) strategies. * **Logan Mallory** – Vice President of Marketing at Motivosity and a frequent writer/speaker on employee and customer community building as a growth driver. * **Priya Parker** – Author of _The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters_. While not strictly a B2B SaaS growth marketer, her principles are the absolute gold standard for designing meaningful, high-retention community interactions. Where are you looking to apply community-led growth - are you building a B2B SaaS community, a creator brand, or something else?

Learning about **Community-Led Growth (CLG)** - where customer connection, trust, and belonging become a company's main growth engine - is best done by following practitioners who build these flywheels in the wild. [How To Turn Customers Into Your Growth Engine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHndzaaDvJc&t=9)[The Book On Community-Led Strategy: How The Most Resilient Brands Grow Through Belonging by Sabir Chatte (Paperback)](https://www.google.com/search?q=product&prds=pvt:hg,productid:9837344733990867835,catalogid:4663569022053317274,gpcid:16184923670962884951,mid:576462833105452657&ibp=oshop) A curated list of top voices, strategists, and builders to follow includes: * ** _Mallory Contois_** - A veteran software exec and community builder (formerly at Mercury, Cameo, Pinterest, and LinkedIn) who famously scaled _The Old Girls Club_ into a thriving business using pure CLG principles. She writes deeply tactical insights on the mechanics of human incentives and community flywheels. You can explore her work via her [Mallory Contois LinkedIn Profile](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorycontois). [Growing a passion project to $300k ARR with a $0 CAC](https://www.growthunhinged.com/p/community-led-growth) * **Laís de Oliveira** - A global CLG strategist and author of _Hacking Communities: Cracking the Code to Vibrant Communities_. She documents real-world, boots-on-the-ground community building across startup ecosystems and enterprise go-to-market strategies. Follow her field notes on [Laís's Substack Newsletter](https://laisdeoliveira.substack.com/p/field-notes-community-led-growth). [Field notes: community-led growth in the wild - Laís's Newsletter](https://laisdeoliveira.substack.com/p/field-notes-community-led-growth) * ** _Kyle Poyar_** - While broadly known for product-led growth (PLG) insights via his _Growth Unhinged_ newsletter, he regularly breaks down the exact revenue and acquisition playbooks of companies leveraging community-driven motions. Subscribe or read his deep-dives on the [Growth Unhinged Substack](https://www.growthunhinged.com/p/community-led-growth). * **Sabir Chatte** - Author of _The Book On Community-Led Strategy_ , Chatte focuses heavily on why trust and community are structural business moats rather than just "nice-to-have" marketing tactics, highlighting case studies from giants like Notion, Figma, and Stripe. * **Olivia O'Sullivan** - Writer and strategist behind the _Community Led Growth_ publication, focusing strictly on the intersection of brand belonging, tactical frameworks, and measurable business impact. You can check out her publication via the [Community Blueprint Substack](https://thecommunityblueprint.substack.com/p/welcome-to-community-led-growth). [Welcome to Community Led Growth - by Olivia O'Sullivan](https://thecommunityblueprint.substack.com/p/welcome-to-community-led-growth) Are you looking to apply community-led growth to a **B2B SaaS product** , a **consumer brand** , or an **early-stage startup**? Let me know, and I can tailor specific case studies or frameworks for you.