Is Community-Led Growth Right For Your Startup?
Featuring insights from Emily Hollender, founder of Next Wave Marketing
Your ads are getting more expensive. Email engagement is flat. How do you keep customers engaged and growing organically?
For many consumer startups, the answer isn’t just better marketing—it’s community-led growth.
Community is having a moment. As digital ad costs rise and traditional growth levers become less effective, startups are looking for more sustainable ways to build relationships and differentiate their brands.
But this is much more than hiring a “community manager”, launching a Discord, and hoping for the best.
To dig into what community-led growth actually means and how early-stage startups should approach it, I spoke with Emily Hollender, founder of Next Wave Marketing.
Emily has spent over a decade leading organic marketing strategies at high-growth startups like Rent the Runway, The Wing, and Tia. Today, she helps early and mid-stage consumer brands unlock scalable growth through organic and community-driven channels.
In this post, we break down:
What community-led growth actually is
How to determine if it’s the right strategy for your startup
Where and when to invest in community efforts
Common mistakes to avoid
A real-world example of how Rent the Runway used community in the early days
What Does "Community-led Growth" Even Mean?
One of the biggest challenges in marketing is that terms like “community” are used loosely, often meaning different things to different teams.
Emily’s take?
“Community is about building a two-way relationship with your customers and thinking of them as active participants in your brand’s growth.”
Unlike traditional one-way marketing channels (ads, email, SEO), community-led growth involves co-creating the brand experience with customers. But what does co-creation actually look like in practice?
Customer Research & Listening – Before launching any community initiative, Emily recommends deeply engaging with your target audience. “Actually talk to customers and understand what they want. I hear a lot of brands say, ‘Oh, we need an ambassador program, or we need influencers,’ but they don’t take the time to validate whether that’s what their customers actually need.” She suggests using surveys, focus groups, and casual conversations to uncover motivations and unmet needs.
Testing Lightweight Community Interactions – Instead of launching a full-scale program, Emily advises starting with small, organic interactions. “A low-tech referral program, for example, could be a great way to test if customers want to engage with your brand in that way.” The goal is to see if users naturally engage before investing heavily.
Developing Value-First Engagement – “Give before you take when it comes to community,” Emily stresses. Brands often rush to extract value from a community before they’ve built real relationships. She suggests educational content, exclusive access, or surprise perks as ways to foster early engagement without expecting immediate returns.
Iterating Based on Customer Behavior – Rather than setting a rigid strategy from the start, she encourages brands to adapt based on early signals. “The best programs are built with community members, not just for them,” she explains.
Is a Community-led Approach Right for Your Startup?
Not every startup should invest in community early. Emily shared three key signals that community might be a strong growth lever for your brand:
✅ Your product has strong word-of-mouth potential. If customers naturally recommend your product, community can amplify that momentum.
✅ You have an engaged, repeat-user base. Subscription models, high-LTV products, or services that require ongoing engagement tend to benefit the most.
✅ Your customers want to connect. If customers are already discussing your category or product online, there’s an opportunity to build on that.
On the other hand, community-led growth may not be the best fit if:
Your product is one-and-done (e.g., high-end mattresses).
You don’t see organic conversation happening about your brand.
Your company isn’t willing to invest in long-term relationship building.
How to Invest in Community-led Growth
If community makes sense for your business, where do you start? Emily emphasizes that early investments in community don’t have to be massive—they just need to be intentional.
Step 1: Start by Listening
“Don’t assume you know what your community wants—ask them.”
Conduct customer interviews, analyze organic conversations on social & Reddit, and identify where customers already engage with each other.
Example: The Wing shaped its community strategy around qualitative insights from members who wanted more peer-to-peer connection.
Step 2: Integrate Community Into Existing Channels
Community doesn’t have to mean building something new—it can start by making small shifts in how you engage customers today.
Highlight real customers in social content, emails, and campaigns.
Incorporate UGC (user-generated content) into your marketing.
Set up lightweight customer feedback loops—polls, focus groups, advisory boards.
Step 3: Layer in Higher-Touch Community Initiatives
Once you have momentum, consider higher-investment programs:
Ambassador & Referral Programs → Drive acquisition
Great for turning superfans into evangelists.
Example: Rent the Runway’s ambassador program fueled word-of-mouth growth.
In-Person Gatherings & Events → Strengthen retention & loyalty
Exclusive events make community members feel valued and deepen engagement.
Example: Tia used IRL events to turn members into brand advocates.
Private Online Communities (Slack, Discord) → Foster peer-to-peer engagement
Best for brands with strong repeat usage and customers who benefit from connecting with each other.
Example: Topicals’ private brand community on Try Your Best (TYB).
Timing Tip: When Should You Invest?
Look for these engagement signals before scaling community efforts:
High repeat engagement (return visits, product usage frequency).
Organic brand mentions & referrals are happening naturally.
Strong social engagement (comments, shares, DMs) rather than passive likes.
Customers are asking for more opportunities to connect (event requests, DMs about meetups, etc.).
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Even well-intentioned community efforts can backfire. Emily highlights a few mistakes she sees frequently:
❌ Building a community that customers don’t actually want
Make sure your community strategy aligns with customer behavior. "Don't just start a Slack community or a brand forum because you feel like you should. Understand the community’s ‘why’ and purpose first. Too many teams copy and paste tactics from competitors without really making it authentic to their own brand and business."
❌ Measuring vanity metrics over real impact
It’s easy to fixate on how many people join your community, but engagement matters more than size. Emily says, "Just looking at the size of a community as an indicator of success is a mistake. Engagement is the name of the game. I'd much rather have 10 extremely engaged ambassadors versus a hundred who are just not participating or active. Quality over quantity.."
❌ Over-promising engagement before proving value
"Give before you take when it comes to community. Think about ways to just add value to customers. Education is a really great way, or surprising and delighting customers with different things. That's how you start creating those rumblings of community and brand love—without expecting anything in return from customers. Too many brands try to ‘sell’ their community before giving people a reason to show up."
❌ Not giving programs enough time to work
“Sometimes, it’s not that the tactic isn’t working—it’s that we didn’t give it enough time,” Emily explains. Many bigger community initiatives need at least 6-12 months to yield measurable business impact, but companies often give up too soon
A Case Study: Rent the Runway’s College Ambassador Program
In 2017, Rent the Runway shifted from special occasion rentals to a subscription model, and Gen Z was a key target audience. But traditional marketing channels weren’t working.
“Traditional marketing channels weren't resonating with this audience. They relied on word-of-mouth and peer recommendations,” Emily explained. To reach them, she built a college ambassador program from scratch.
With no budget, she cold-called college-age customers, recruited 50 ambassadors, and let them shape the program. “I gave them overarching goals, but asked them how to make it work.”
At first, she focused on driving sales—but quickly realized most students weren’t motivated by cash incentives. They wanted internship experience and to be part of the brand.
She and her team shifted gears from sales-focused tactics like trunk shows to organizing on-campus events that laddered back to RTR’s mission and added value, such as clothing drives and professional headshot events. This made it easy for students to engage without feeling like they were being marketed to. Emily also connected Ambassadors to one-another via a private Slack community to share learnings and motivation.
Over two years, this program grew college student orders from less than 2% of the business to 10%, demonstrating how long-term community investment can lead to real business impact.
Final Thought: Community as a Long-Term Moat
What can other startups learn from Emily’s experience?
Community takes time—but pays off. Commit to 6-12 months before judging success.
Let customers take ownership. The best programs aren’t built for customers—they’re built with them.
Know your customers’ motivations. Ambassadors didn’t want to sell—they wanted to participate.
Start small, iterate fast. Emily launched with 50 students, no budget, and a willingness to test.
🚀 Thinking about investing in community for your startup? Drop a comment with your biggest challenge—or DM me and Emily with your questions. We’d love to hear what’s working (or not working) for you!