Why I’m Joining Circle
For as long as I can remember, I have been a connector. Someone who loves bringing people together. From the clubs I ran as a kid, to the online forums I created as a teenager, and the product conferences I’ve organized as an adult, community building has always felt like second nature.
Today, this passion turns into a new role! As of this week, I’m joining Circle: the modern community platform for creators. Think Shopify for creator-led communities. This role came as a surprise gift at the end of a challenging year. (In fact, I received the offer on Christmas Eve!). It marks a new chapter in my career, but in a way, it’s also the continuation of the previous one.
I wanted to take a moment to share this piece of personal news with you, and tell you a bit about why I’m so excited to join the Circle team.
The craft of community building
The past five years have been an unexpected ride. It has given me the opportunity to create my own role, the freedom to work remotely, and a space to better know myself and my strengths. But beyond skills and self-knowledge, it’s given something invaluable: a community.
When I started JAM back in 2015, it was a side project, a small conference I had created in my first role as a product manager to learn from others. Little did I know it would become the source of my most meaningful friendships, many of which turned out to be pillars in my personal and professional life. (Hello Maria, Sunil, Kosta and Francesca!)
Year after year, JAM acted as a magnet for the most growth-minded product people. From the flagship London conference to small gatherings like the Product Leaders Weekend, people joined us from all over the world. We heard inspiring stories from the makers behind the likes of Intercom, Strava, Bumble, Memrise, Ness Labs, and many more. While the pandemic precipitated the end of our real-life events, I know the friendships and opportunities that we have created amongst our community will live on.
In retrospect, I realize that community building is a craft. It takes more than a single event or a Slack channel to create a community. It requires constant practice. You need to cultivate a sense of belonging amongst a group of people. Help them authentically connect around a shared purpose.
While community management as a field has been around for a while, the practices of entrepreneurial community builders have yet to be codified. What made communities such as Nomadlist or Indie Hackers so successful? How about product-focused communities? For companies such as Notion or Invision, community building has become a competitive advantage. Customers sign up to get a job done using their product (become more productive; improve their prototypes), but then find themselves staying for the people and resources within the community. The other way around is also true. That’s the virtuous circle of community building.
No matter their shape and size, what makes communities thrive isn’t crystal clear. As a craft, community building is still in its infancy. There is no “get started” playbook. That’s what makes it so exciting. The space is rapidly expanding, and in many respects, not dissimilar to where product management was 20 years ago. It’s a craft in search of a shared language.
Building the #1 community for community builders
We are now in the middle of a massive shift in the way people create and run communities. For creators specifically (think indie makers, bloggers, and course creators), building with and not for people has never been so important.
There’s just one problem: it requires stitching together various tools to make things work. A newsletter on one side, a discussion board on the other. How about a Slack channel or a Telegram group, too? And a Zoom webinar to top it all off? I’ve been there with JAM. It’s not particularly fun.
Creators need better tools to build, grow and engage their community in meaningful ways. They also need inspiration, examples and support. In short, aspiring community builders need their own community to thrive. (How very meta!)
At Circle, a big part of my role will be to help spark that supportive community with people at the forefront of the movement. I’ll be curating engaging content and events, help people make meaningful connections within Circle, and empower them to create their own thriving community.
It’s everything I love, and more!
A product-led team with a clear purpose
Do you remember the first time you used Slack? Or your first steps on Notion? That “wow” moment you had was exactly what I experienced when I first joined Circle, in private Beta at the time. It’s no surprise that just under a year, the product became the #1 choice for those who care and contribute to this growing community movement, with over a thousand paying customers (myself included!) and a growth curve fueled by word of mouth.
What contributed to this tremendous growth is, of course, the team behind it. The origin story behind Circle is nothing short of inspiring. It’s rare to meet founders with such genuine passion for the space they’re in and such complementary experience. As co-founders, Sid, Andy and Rudy are industry insiders with a track-record in building and growing consumer products. They’ve been there and done it.
As an enthusiastic member turned customer and advocate of Circle, the decision to apply to join the team was a no-brainer. My first interview with Andy (Former VP of Growth at Teachable) got me so energized that I couldn't sleep. So I put together a short document outlining my ideas for the Circle community. It hit home, and a week later, I was interviewing with the rest of the team. The offer landed in my inbox on Christmas Eve, and as I write these words on my first day, I’m about to celebrate my 29th birthday. Talking about perfect timing!
I’m incredibly excited and grateful for the chance to be joining a team of 13 bright and purpose-driven individuals. Not only have they built a beautiful product, gained traction incredibly quickly, but they also crafted a vidid and inspiring vision for the future of community building.
It’s only the beginning.
Want to join a fully remote team building the future of online community building? Check out our Careers page and say hi! 👋
