2826: From Grassroots to Greatness

[00:00:00] Have you ever wondered why some brands just create a magnetic pull, forming a almost cult-like

[00:00:06] following? And obviously Apple I would say falls into that and others, they just fade

[00:00:12] into the background. Well today, I'm joined by Lloyd Lobo, the author of From Grassroots

[00:00:19] to Greatness, a book that does deep into the heart of community-led growth, and Lloyd's

[00:00:24] journey is nothing short of extraordinary from his childhood in Mumbai to becoming a refugee

[00:00:29] of the Gulf War and eventually bootstrapping a tech company to phenomenal success, and

[00:00:35] his experience underscores the undeniable power of community in overcoming adversity and achieving

[00:00:41] greatness. But how exactly can anyone harness this power to transform a brand from ordinary

[00:00:49] to iconic? Well Lloyd is here to unravel the secrets behind building a community that

[00:00:54] not only supports but elevates a brand or tech company to new highs. So let's explore

[00:01:01] these insights and discover the past from grassroots initiatives to global phenomena,

[00:01:06] but before we get today's guest on, I need to pay the bills, we've got a huge podcast

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[00:02:21] you started today. So book a look and hold on tight as I beam your ears all the way to

[00:02:27] Dubai where Lloyd is waiting to share his story. So a massive warm welcome to the show Lloyd,

[00:02:34] can you tell everyone listening a little about who you are and what you do?

[00:02:38] Definitely, I would say I'm an accidental entrepreneur I think, I'm a family, friends, nobody

[00:02:44] ever expected me to become an entrepreneur in fact, they expected me to be a ball on this

[00:02:49] street. But luck would have it I end up being an entrepreneur and I founded a company

[00:02:57] called Bose AI globally hundreds of billions of dollars are given in funding to businesses

[00:03:02] that develop new technology or improve existing technology but the process is cumbersome

[00:03:09] to frustrating audits from the government and receiving the money takes a long time.

[00:03:13] So Bose AI automates that process so companies can get access to non-delutive capital,

[00:03:20] industry capital from the government to accelerate their R&D and we built a sizable business

[00:03:27] doing this. We bootstrapped the company to 10 million ARR with no marketing team, no

[00:03:33] investment funding and now the company has grown more than double of that. In 2020, we

[00:03:43] sold half the company to a growth equity firm and then me and my co-founder transitioned

[00:03:50] from operating the business day to day and became very active board members and nonetheless

[00:03:56] I think because we bootstrapped and is not talking to talk about after the growth equity

[00:04:03] fund me and my co-founder are the largest shareholders in the company and so now we're

[00:04:09] helping at three active board members. And then after I left the day-to-day of the company,

[00:04:13] I was born of course because for the last 10 years or 12 years, actually more than that

[00:04:19] because ever since I graduated university, I only ever worked at startups so used to working

[00:04:24] for long hours. And so when I left, I'm like, you know what, what do I do? And I ended up

[00:04:29] writing a book from grassroots to greatness, 13 rules to build iconic brands of community

[00:04:34] let growth became a Wall Street general bestseller on the week of launch. So I did that and now

[00:04:40] I just been on a cubatico man for the last little while, I would say over 10 years, I spent

[00:04:47] all my time with a business and my family, my health took a backseat. And so now I'm just

[00:04:53] paying by the death of family debt, the health debt and focused on that while I sit on three boards

[00:05:02] now and advise a few companies and mostly but spending time doing what's fun. Right? You work so

[00:05:11] hard to eventually take some chip off not to go back and slogging in but actually to enjoy it

[00:05:19] for a few until you find the next batch. There's just so much to unpack there before we started

[00:05:26] recording today, you were telling me about your journey that took you from San Francisco to buy

[00:05:30] what you're talking to me from today. Well also you mentioned the phrase you're an accident

[00:05:35] a long trip on earth and your book from grassroots to greatness it feels like there's just so much

[00:05:40] going on there. So can you tell me the story behind the book, the core philosophy behind that book,

[00:05:45] especially that concept of authentic human connections as the foundation for enduring brands,

[00:05:52] because I feel that there's a story in itself there possibly shaped by your journey. Is it fair to

[00:05:58] say that? Yeah definitely shape my my journey and my experiences but then accentuated by some

[00:06:05] of the most iconic enduring brands. So yeah you know what's funny is all my life I had no money

[00:06:13] I was for the last I don't know 15 years or so I was relying on my wife paying the bills for

[00:06:22] the most until of course both end up doing well we sold half the money. But nonetheless all my life

[00:06:29] I didn't have money. I grew up in a very middle class family, my mom didn't work, my dad was an

[00:06:36] executive chef, my parents weren't educated they actually grew up in India my mom grew up in the

[00:06:40] slums of Mumbai and because they weren't educated they couldn't get jobs overseas like in the web.

[00:06:47] So their only option was to go to the Middle East where the currency translates significantly higher

[00:06:52] and my dad actually on himself self-taught chef moved to Kuwait started lowest wrong as a dishwasher

[00:07:00] eventually became a very celebrated shame the rotissier chef when he retired. But nonetheless growing

[00:07:06] up I was born in Kuwait. We couldn't go out of fancy vacations so every summer we had the time

[00:07:15] off and my dad's work gave him return tickets to his home country right and so we would go to

[00:07:22] India and my childhood summers were actually spent in the slums of Mumbai where it's funny because

[00:07:28] you know that was my first experience at say with community where going to bathroom was a communal

[00:07:33] activity because there's no bathroom in the house. The pumping water was a communal activity every

[00:07:39] morning at the pump water because there was no water in the house. Every maybe 15 of those slum

[00:07:47] houses had a TV and my mom was overseas that she could bring a TV so watching TV with a communal

[00:07:52] activity where people are hanging over when you're watching TV eating like you know whatever literally

[00:07:58] had you'd share with your neighbors etc even like you know it would rain a lot in the summer

[00:08:04] months wounds and that and puddles would turn into ponds and would be swimming in there like like a

[00:08:09] pool. And those were my fondest memories man like every time we've had to leave and go back to

[00:08:16] Kuwait I would grab my parents by their feet and cry and be like listen lead me here I don't know

[00:08:22] and then fast forward a few years we got throttled by the Gulf War where the security had

[00:08:30] lapped and you weren't sure you're going to live or die. And I probably experienced one of the greatest

[00:08:36] marvels ever every building became a sub community that day when I went down the building people

[00:08:45] were looking at each other and saying hey you know what I'll organize food supplies

[00:08:51] I have extra room if you have displaced family members. I'll guard the building from ex-tongue to

[00:08:57] why time like in 2024 2023 each we just belabor and belabor on problems and negativity but back then

[00:09:05] we were just like okay there's a problem security has lapsed we don't know what's going to happen

[00:09:10] how we're gonna get it evacuated to safety but unless you solve the problem at hand we need

[00:09:16] safety to guard the buildings we need food and we need shelter for displaced family members

[00:09:21] and so every building became a sub community that communicated with the next building and the next

[00:09:26] building and became this mouth of grassroots movement movement that communicated with embassies

[00:09:33] that cover community in it governments that eventually evacuated us to safety and you know we were

[00:09:40] going on this highway of death on this rickety bus and you can google search highway of death

[00:09:44] where buses are bombed and everything now I was really funny the adults now right they

[00:09:51] they don't know where they're gonna land when they're gonna land if they're gonna even survive

[00:09:56] currency they're invalid they don't know how they're gonna care for their family they should have

[00:10:01] been crying but as like as a nine year old I looked around the bus the one thing was constant

[00:10:07] these adults were seeing and staring each other on and playing the guitars it was insane

[00:10:14] as I reflected back I realized you know a lot of the times in life we say it's the destination

[00:10:23] or we say no it's not the destination is the journey and I say it's neither it's either the

[00:10:27] destination nor the journey it's the companions that matter the most who you surround yourself with

[00:10:33] can make you feel like a rock star and put you in an elevated mood or you know sometimes you

[00:10:38] were surrounded by these energy vampires and it just destroys your mental health and

[00:10:44] and your physical health as a function of it and you just want to leave when you're in a

[00:10:48] conversation with them so it's either the destination or the journey but your companions that matter

[00:10:53] people and then fast-forward a few years we immigrated to Canada I finished engineering got into

[00:10:59] the startup world and the startup world became my community and then fast forward a few more years

[00:11:05] started a Boseday I with my best firm from university had the idea for this product and we didn't

[00:11:12] have money we didn't have money and so we were forced to build a community to grow the company

[00:11:21] and so the community was my family and I we built this community that business I was running

[00:11:26] the community and when we sold off the company and I left the day-to-day finally I came into money

[00:11:34] but I should have been happy right like I came into money for the first time when I left

[00:11:38] though the day-to-day actually the opposite happened I ended up getting depressed I felt like I

[00:11:43] lost my tribe the people I was spending day and day out with I gave everything to the community

[00:11:50] company and then I'm like part of the reflected my times at depression I realized that

[00:11:58] you know all my life I had no money but I was happy and the first time I have money and I'm

[00:12:04] actually unhappy I lost my tribe then I started to research and I found this concept of glues

[00:12:12] zones where which are the five places around the world where people live functionally until 100

[00:12:18] and functionality is important not just longevity for the sake of it right if you're not functional

[00:12:23] and you live under it you miserable nonetheless these people live functionally until the age

[00:12:27] 100 and these communities these blue zones have nine trades and four or five of them have to do with

[00:12:33] human-deshuman connection then I started to peel the onion a little more and I started looking

[00:12:40] at and researching companies and I found something very interesting every obscure idea

[00:12:48] that eventually became an enduring global phenomenon one price to crossfit not the exact same

[00:13:00] for stages people listen to you or buy your product you have an audience one that audience comes

[00:13:10] together to interact with one another on eight items where you're a facilitator not not a driver

[00:13:18] yeah it becomes a community i hear the kicker when the community comes together to create impact

[00:13:24] towards a purpose that's far greater than your profit or your product it becomes a movement

[00:13:31] and eventually when that movement has undying faith in its purpose who sustained rituals over

[00:13:37] time it becomes a cult or religion audience community movement religion and the most sustainable

[00:13:45] brands over time have this theme and that was very fascinating and I said you know what it would be

[00:13:52] a disservice if I come into so much free time that I sit on the bed and switch TV or just do nothing

[00:13:58] with my time i got to write this book and and so that's why I wrote the book and book talking about

[00:14:05] my journey how we bootstrapped both the power of community but nonetheless how companies like

[00:14:11] Harley-Davidson and Apple and Nike and Hubfod and Gainsight and at last enter all these

[00:14:17] iconic brands went from grassroots to greatness on the power of people and the one thing I want to

[00:14:24] add here is in the last couple years was so pixelated over technology at eI but if you look at it

[00:14:36] yesterday's innovation will always become tomorrow's commodity we don't say dot com company anymore

[00:14:44] right like we used to in the 2000 we don't say web 2.0 company anymore we don't say

[00:14:53] mobile company or social company and eventually we will not say AI company anymore either because

[00:15:03] yesterday's innovation always becomes tomorrow's commodity it becomes table stakes in a business

[00:15:11] and that's the way you operate we don't say cloud company anymore i mean you recall we used to

[00:15:16] say cloud companies web based company cloud company we don't say that anymore and so every company

[00:15:22] will have intelligence baked in to survive and thrive if you're going to fight the AI boom

[00:15:29] you're going to be left behind you either have the option to fight it and die

[00:15:34] or embrace it and thrive and and so we will stop saying AI company but what sustains over time

[00:15:44] is human to human pet an action technology comes goes and it's succeeded by better tech

[00:15:53] more advances but human to human an action always stays look at i'll give you one very good

[00:16:01] recent example you know open AI the most valuable AI company on the planet one of the most valuable

[00:16:06] companies period open AI when it exists without the power of people people were giving it

[00:16:13] data and feedback for years when they were building this in style and when the

[00:16:20] board tried to fire the CEO with em Altman the community revolted and brought them back

[00:16:27] that is the power of human to human connection we always think it the answer is technology

[00:16:35] but look at it people buy from people go online and look at any social

[00:16:42] so human to human engagement is far greater than brand to human engagement people engage with

[00:16:50] people people connect with people people people buy from people that is a message I wanted to share

[00:16:57] is that technology will come and go yesterday's innovation will always become more

[00:17:02] more smartity but if you build a community you will never become a commodity 100% with you that's

[00:17:09] one of the reasons I invite you on the podcast I say on every episode technology works best when

[00:17:14] it brings people together and just listening to your powerful story there from the summers in Mumbai

[00:17:19] to becoming a refugee in the Gulf War to experiencing huge success and financial

[00:17:25] well being being comfortable and how those experience shade your understanding and the

[00:17:30] hour of community but it also reminds me of a quote I think it was Jim Carrey said once that I

[00:17:35] think everybody should get rich and famous to do everything they ever dreamed of just so they can

[00:17:39] say that's not the answer it is about people in community isn't exactly exactly now you also

[00:17:45] mentioned a few moments ago the four-step path behind every global phenomenon that originated from

[00:17:51] seemingly obscure ideas can you just walk me through that process perhaps maybe provide a few

[00:17:57] examples just to bring it to life as well definitely right so like a lot of you know what happens is

[00:18:04] you have an idea right look at any religion whether it's Christianity or look at any product like

[00:18:09] a Harley-Davidson or across you have an idea you get that idea out of your head when people engage

[00:18:16] with that idea you start developing an audience when they're repeatedly listening to you they're

[00:18:21] using your product they're using your service they're engaging with your idea it's an audience but

[00:18:26] nonetheless it's one way a great way to explain an audience is all these influencers on Instagram

[00:18:32] on Tik-Kalk on LinkedIn whatever social hanging they have an audience because people are tuning in

[00:18:38] to listen to them right back in the day we're tuned in to listen to the TV and the TV or the show

[00:18:45] had an audience now people have audience right but look at any religion when the Messiah comes about

[00:18:51] and people keep showing up to listen to the Messiah they have an audience now what gets really

[00:19:00] interesting is when that audience keeps coming together and not only comes together to listen

[00:19:09] to the person to the Messiah or the influencer they also start interacting with one another

[00:19:18] around the idea around the purpose they start engaging with or without the Messiah in the room

[00:19:25] or the influencer in the room then it starts to become a community right you're doing things

[00:19:29] together you're interacting with one another you're socializing you're doing it a perfect example is

[00:19:34] look at Harvey Davies right initially you know what one one thing is so interesting like we always

[00:19:40] look at innovation as the last 20 years right the internet and you know Google and whatnot but

[00:19:48] once the innovation in the 80s it was electronics right and in the 80s when the Japanese commoditized

[00:19:54] electronics has started launching these these motorbikes is these super bikes Harley Davies and

[00:20:02] almost went bankrupt they had an audience though because people were buying their bikes and loving

[00:20:08] it they had a fan base now the leadership of Harley came out and said you know what we're going to

[00:20:13] make community the ethos of the company it's not a marketing strategy it's a company strategy it had

[00:20:20] direct oversight from the president of the company and employees went out there and deliberately

[00:20:27] started writing clubs and now from having an audience of Harley fans who were watching Harley

[00:20:34] content or coming together to fix bikes or or just um you know engaging with their brand they

[00:20:42] started coming together to interact with one another around the joys in the camaraderie of writing

[00:20:49] and this weekend warrior clubs started popping up everywhere driven by the Harley employees and they

[00:20:56] would start writing every weekend together right I mean do you see that in in the UK at all yes yes

[00:21:02] see it all the time you see it everywhere now there's a that is a great opportunity and first for

[00:21:07] change going on it it's so I thought it quite inspiring exactly now it wasn't deliberate effort

[00:21:14] because nothing like that happens if it's not supported by the company and so people started coming

[00:21:19] together to started popping up writing clubs employees became writers writers became employees and

[00:21:24] that's how it became a community but then over time what started to happen was these writing clubs

[00:21:30] started donating to causes they started coming together to donate to breast cancer to raise awareness

[00:21:38] autism and all these causes then it turned into a movement and then eventually today if you look

[00:21:46] at it this company went from seemingly going bankrupt in the 80s to now becoming an iconic brand

[00:21:53] where even if you see a dog wearing another jacket you're like oh that's a Harley on or people

[00:21:59] tattoo the brand how powerful is that on their body Harley David's and not many not many people

[00:22:05] had to accompany his logo right and and what's happened is it's become a cuff like brand

[00:22:13] because of the spiritual of coming together every weekend around a specific cause they had

[00:22:20] they have the spiritual like CrossFit has the spiritual which is people come together

[00:22:25] around a place which they call the box right and they do this work out of the day every single day

[00:22:31] and it's become a cult like a brand over time look at any religion you know you start by listening

[00:22:38] to the Messiah then people start coming together in a place and they interact with one another in

[00:22:45] this communal place and then over time through rituals people are connected and it becomes a

[00:22:53] religion or a cult right and so those are three distinct examples one's or religion and one's

[00:23:01] a fitness brand and one's a motorbike company you did mention there the unique power of rituals

[00:23:09] in creating a almost cult like following through a community can you elaborate on how rituals can

[00:23:15] effectively be integrated into the community building strategies that we're talking about here

[00:23:20] look there more about how you bring that to life using those rituals definitely I mean rituals

[00:23:25] play a very powerful role in fostering a sense of belonging and identity within a community right so

[00:23:32] when you integrate it it creates a shared experience it reinforces group cohesion and commitment

[00:23:39] a ritual is nothing but an activity that people do together every time they come together in this

[00:23:46] specific place and now you're associating the activity with the purpose and the place right so it's

[00:23:56] like the consistency of it all creates the participation like it's the combination of consistency

[00:24:04] participation in symbolism right so you've like associated now this activity that you do on a regular

[00:24:11] cadence with the purpose and so it's it's symbolism it's consistency participation

[00:24:19] and and it's it's a combination of those things that lead to creating a cult like brand like for

[00:24:24] example if you look at apple right with their product launches the annual unveiling is consistent in

[00:24:32] timing and format it creates the anticipation and a shared experience among the apple enthusiast

[00:24:39] just the act of unboxing a new apple product becomes a ritual reinforcing a sense of belonging

[00:24:46] to a community that values innovation right and I think I think that is a key element here if you

[00:24:54] look at like allotons for example the bike the virtual high fives and the leaderboards in

[00:24:59] federaltons fitness classes they create a sense of community amongst users the ritual of joining

[00:25:05] life classes and interacting with fellow participants fosters a shared experience and commitment

[00:25:11] to personal fitness goals I think a bigger example of this is CrossFit where they have this place

[00:25:16] which they called the box the gym they called the box and every day they have a specific workout

[00:25:21] of the day and some work out of the days commemorated over legends in the CrossFit community and nonetheless

[00:25:30] people come together to perform that ritual together and that strengthens the bond that other

[00:25:36] element here in creating rituals you know right now we're sound right we're talking on the phone

[00:25:43] anytime you incorporate more than two stances you start to build stronger connections and bonds I

[00:25:49] know the whole waller loves it virtual but think about it now Neil if we were sitting and doing

[00:25:55] this in person at a studio over maybe coffee or your favorite beverage um we would probably

[00:26:04] stick around longer we probably get to know each other and our families more personally now imagine

[00:26:09] doing that ritual on the cadence every week we become like an extension of each other's families

[00:26:16] right yeah and and you got to ask yourself what are some rituals you do either with your friends

[00:26:23] on a regular cadence or as a family on a regular cadence that you feel have strength in your

[00:26:28] bond uh significantly well I should also mention you managed to bootstrap a tech company to 10

[00:26:35] million dollars in revenue probably through community building any strategies that you used to

[00:26:41] accomplish this and how can they apply to other contexts again for anybody listening that I get

[00:26:46] in those light bulb moments listening to our conversation today definitely is that you know when

[00:26:51] we started the company you know you start by saying I'm gonna tell to anyone who's gonna pay me

[00:26:58] so we said okay let's sell too manufacturing and oil and gas and construction but when we started

[00:27:03] picking up the phone and calling them nobody would talk to us so we started hitting up their events

[00:27:07] to beat them in person and we look like two young guys isn't on a suit jacking on top of a hoodie

[00:27:14] and you know and they're the old cigar's club we couldn't resonate with them or they couldn't

[00:27:20] resonate with us and vice versa and so ejected we started hitting up the startup events and it felt

[00:27:26] like we found our tribe right they were starting companies they needed money uh we were having

[00:27:32] the same set of problems we start hanging out with them eating together um partying together

[00:27:38] participating in hack the funds together uh and we're really really understood that market now

[00:27:43] the key inside here because when you are in the fake it things it feels like throwing spaghetti on

[00:27:49] the wall we need to achieve some success and look back and become the framework so the step number one

[00:27:55] is figuring out your ideal customer profile or ideal community profile who is it that you want

[00:28:02] as a part of your audience it can be everyone they got to be around a specific theme a topic

[00:28:08] and and so the best way to figure that is the p is number one do i have the passion for this

[00:28:15] audience or topic if you hate what you're doing you're not going to sustain building a community

[00:28:20] or any business is the wrong slog if you hate your customers or hate the product

[00:28:25] or hate what you're doing you're not going to be able to succeed you burn out so for example

[00:28:31] i worked on two products or three products for the same startup community we build a conference

[00:28:39] around this community and when i left the day-to-day of the business i even wrote a book for this

[00:28:43] community because it's the labor of love i love this audience so one do i have the passion for

[00:28:48] the topic or the audience number two is it a small but growing niche number three do you have

[00:28:56] the ability to access it i mean if you don't have access you'll just be stuck and the last one

[00:29:03] is is there a propensity to pay they can't pay you you'll never build a business

[00:29:08] once you have these four things and you've nailed down your audience like who you want to target

[00:29:13] you got to figure out one where this audience eats,

[00:29:17] preads, drinks and sleeps what are their pains and goals meaning what frustrations they have

[00:29:24] immediately that is not addressed anywhere else what stands in the way and what are their long-term

[00:29:32] aspirations their pains and goals and what stands in the way will give you maybe product one or

[00:29:38] the first few ideas for your community and their long-term aspirations will give you future content

[00:29:44] ideas future product ideas and then the third thing is figuring out this audience circle of

[00:29:53] influence right who do they follow or the influence or that they respect and listen to

[00:30:00] who do they fund what are the tools and products and services they pay for and where do they

[00:30:06] frequent are they on tick-tock are they on instagram are they on LinkedIn what vlogs make these

[00:30:11] series because once you have your ideal customer profile and you have this list of people they

[00:30:17] fund frequent and follow you can say hey you know what if i'm going to create content

[00:30:22] i might collaborate with xyz person the influence i might invite this influencer on my podcast

[00:30:29] i might partner with other service providers that fell to the same audience maybe the host

[00:30:35] partner to meds maybe we host partner podcast or whatever it is partner webinars maybe i

[00:30:43] invite them as a sponsor but you know or we co-promote something so we get access to each

[00:30:49] other's audiences and the last one is where do they frequent if they're hanging out of the rotary

[00:30:56] club then why are you on LinkedIn right if they're hanging out on instagram why are you

[00:31:02] on you know what why are you on LinkedIn kind of thing so keep that in mind then once

[00:31:10] that is the case you have this you understand everything about your ideal audience profile

[00:31:17] like sit at right now like a hundred burning questions they have like think about if i had to write

[00:31:23] the ultimate guide to xyz aspiration or problem or my ideal customer profile what would be the

[00:31:31] chapters sub chapters key topics tactics and takeaways and then start creating content around it

[00:31:41] with the cadence you know one of the things key things is it takes time so keep doing it and the

[00:31:48] compound interest on consistency is what will lead to an overnight success compound interest

[00:31:53] is the thicker ingredient or rather consistency is the thicker ingredient that turns small actions

[00:32:00] into big outcomes so at both what we did was this was 2012 again when we started

[00:32:04] tick talk instagram link thing more than a thing for business content like a tick talk and

[00:32:09] instagram didn't even really like a click talk didn't exist instagram wasn't a thing for business

[00:32:14] content podcasting for business also wasn't very huge the mainstream was just looking at blogs and

[00:32:20] we said to ourselves if we start a creative vlog today it's gonna take forever competing with all

[00:32:25] the big giants like the needle Patels and uh and so on and so we hit up the local newspaper and

[00:32:33] convinces them to give us a regular weekly column and uh and to build the audience

[00:32:40] and we thought that if we get that column we'll get a backlink from the newspaper to our website

[00:32:47] and our website is new obscure um a high domain authority like the newspaper linking back to our

[00:32:53] website would be huge and we'll get the social proof as calmness for the newspaper and people will

[00:32:59] build trusts and and we'll have credibility right trust is the cornerstone of all relationships

[00:33:05] and when you're nobody you got to associate with people who are more influential than you and

[00:33:09] be seen with them so you get their brand rub now it was a hard process convincing the newspaper but

[00:33:15] nonetheless the gaming against blog post eventually and I drove so much traffic to it that the editor

[00:33:22] called me instead if you commit to writing it every week i'll give you a print column wow that was

[00:33:28] what i was after it became we call we called the blog uh we called the column startup of the week

[00:33:34] so every week we'd cover a new startup which gave me an opportunity to add value to a startup that

[00:33:42] is a potential customer's mind and you know in the natural course of asking them or they're

[00:33:48] asking us hey what do you do? it would transition to a business conversation but not push it all right

[00:33:53] the new who we were and if they needed our service they'll do business with us but nonetheless every

[00:33:58] week we were in the newspapers and uh when i did three things one we got the SEO from the backlink of

[00:34:05] of the biggest or largest domain authority in the country who we got immense social proof and what

[00:34:12] was happening was these entrepreneurs would be covered as startup of the week would socialize it

[00:34:17] and share it everywhere that even go to the newspaper stands at six seven in the morning on Mondays

[00:34:23] and take the clipping and share it on their socials three we put a form in there saying

[00:34:28] if you want to be featured please apply so we started building our list of email addresses

[00:34:33] and now what we did was we had a free core king space i mean we had a core king space with free

[00:34:39] meeting space anyone who'd apply and people would know we'd invite them to weekly meetups

[00:34:44] because what we found is that in 2012 in the community we were doing business in

[00:34:49] in all the content for startups was not tactical it was very high levels the op latitude and man if

[00:34:57] you're starting a business you need to know how do i get my first ten customers how do i get my

[00:35:02] first investor how do i hire my first employee how do i launch there's only so much inspiration you

[00:35:07] can listen to right you need tactics and we knew all the conferences were putting big names speakers

[00:35:13] and gave sharing inspirational talks and that's not helping after a while so we started bringing

[00:35:20] hosting small meetups in our court with the first one like seven or ten people showed up

[00:35:24] and we brought in a speaker now again the speaker we picked was a person of influence from that list of

[00:35:29] who do they follow who do they want to do the frequent and they shared on a very specific

[00:35:33] tactical topic of how i got my first hundred king drumming which was relevant and uh

[00:35:39] the key thing here now was never stop we wrote that startup of the week for two three years

[00:35:45] and we did this meetup every week one day two hundred people showed up to a meetup in the

[00:35:50] corking space in the corking space then you can't do this ever again and that eventually evolved

[00:35:55] to a thousand person conference we do a really air called traction and that was the you know

[00:36:01] the start small add value don't stop be consistent and over time it grows through compound interest

[00:36:11] that was our strategy to bootstrap you love it now but

[00:36:16] taken into account your experience and background in the AI industry and

[00:36:21] did that influence your perspective on the importance of human to human connection in branding

[00:36:26] and community building and and also if we look a little bit further into the future how do you

[00:36:30] see the role of technology and fostering or maybe even hindering community growth especially as

[00:36:35] brands of the future are expected to be built on what the community says about them

[00:36:40] are you up to mistake pessimistic how do you say all this on revenue i'm always optimistic man

[00:36:45] like last is always half full there's always going to be naysayers and if you think negative I

[00:36:51] firmly believe you attract the negative here if the collective of the human race ink were doomed

[00:36:57] we will be doomed yeah that's the reality right and so you got to be positive technology will always

[00:37:04] be an enabler but ultimately technology exists just third humans and as long as you realize

[00:37:14] and then whatever you do is rooted in first principle meaning we need to serve human we need to build

[00:37:19] better relationships and make it need to make it easier better faster technology will always be

[00:37:25] an enabler right and I think the vast majority of the people in the world are well intention

[00:37:30] versus the small few so i'm optimistic I think in the short term it'll create a lot of chaos AI will

[00:37:38] with anything right with any technology we see oh AI is getting a lot of bad name for

[00:37:44] creating deep fakes and and scams and all of this but look at every technology that came

[00:37:49] didn't Bitcoin and blockchain create a lot of scams didn't the the cloud industry or the

[00:37:55] fintech industry lead to a lot of scams didn't the internet lead to a lot of scams so why are we

[00:38:01] so fixated on an AI leading to a lot of scams and forms this arms at every turn of technology

[00:38:06] but the vast majority of the people want to do good and so with technological advances and awareness

[00:38:14] there'll be enough rules regulations and counter amidotes see the scams and it'll be a way of

[00:38:25] doing business but ultimately technology exists to enable people until the day we live in a world

[00:38:32] where robots are doing business with robots the world will be driven and furthered by only human

[00:38:41] to human connection and technology will always be and i think that's a beautiful moment to end

[00:38:48] no but before I let you go i always like to have a little bit of fun with my guess so i'm going to

[00:38:53] ask you now to leave one final gift to everyone listening and that is either a song that we can add

[00:38:59] to our Spotify playlist or a book that means something to you all that you'd recommend that we can

[00:39:04] add to our Amazon wish list i don't mind which it is but all i ask is what would you recommend to

[00:39:10] everybody listening what you're going to leave them with and why yeah i'll give you both

[00:39:13] the my favorite book is also based on human to human connection is how to win friends

[00:39:18] and let's people yeah if you get a chance read it read it a couple times you know maybe every

[00:39:26] couple months read it i think it was one of the first books i read immensely valuable in generating

[00:39:32] influence building relationships how to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie

[00:39:38] it's it's the first principle of human to human connection my favorite favorite book

[00:39:43] and my favorite song honestly i wake up now you know i had a huge transformation from being overweight

[00:39:48] and depressed to being like now nearly 10% body fat being the best shape of my life

[00:39:55] and what i do when i wake up is i start by giving thanks for something good that happened

[00:40:01] my life the previous day a thing a person an event an activity and then after that i play

[00:40:08] i have the tiger from the rocking movie and i bang out as many pushups as i can so that is that

[00:40:14] that is the song at the top of my my playlist everyone absolutely love it as a fellow rocky fan

[00:40:22] i absolutely can't beat a rocky montage on the sand tracks are always killer as well and such

[00:40:27] motivational movies so many great lines from that and before i let you go one of the great lines from

[00:40:32] you there is i think yesterday's innovation becomes tomorrow's commodity and you need to build a

[00:40:37] community we won't become a commodities so many great lines and for anyone listening

[00:40:42] they want to find out more information about you about your book connect with you and your

[00:40:46] community and listen to your podcast of course as well which we've not mentioned yet where do

[00:40:51] you like to point everyone listening yeah just go to Lloyd Lobo com double o i e d l o b y dot com or

[00:40:58] the book on Spotify or Apple just search traction by Lloyd Lobo and i've been doing a linked

[00:41:06] in sabbatical still follow me on instagram it's more personal it's a more human sided me double l o i

[00:41:12] e d l o b o on instagram i share my fitness i share business i share intentional living or kinds of

[00:41:19] things about life in general also will i get those links added and in a world increasingly influenced by

[00:41:26] ai your book from grassroots to greatness what i love about it just reignite that conversation

[00:41:32] around the unique power of authentic human connections in molding and drawing brands so much

[00:41:38] gold in your answers today and i love everything that you stand for so just a big thank you for

[00:41:43] sharing your story today thank you man truly truly appreciate you and the one thing you

[00:41:48] ought to remember you always generate the energy you give out so you've been a great host positive

[00:41:56] energy very um lovable very kind and and that's the energy you give out the quickest way to make a

[00:42:06] conversation go south is to show up in a bad light because that's the energy you can track right so

[00:42:14] throw positivity out there think positive you'll attract the positive i'm only like in my life every

[00:42:20] time something that happens is because there's negativity rolling in my mind i think it's evident

[00:42:26] having listened to Lloyd there that the essence of enduring brands lies not just in their

[00:42:31] products but in the strength of their communities Lloyd's journey and the principles he outlines

[00:42:36] in from grassroots to greatness also provide a compelling blueprint for building a brand that

[00:42:41] resonates deeply with his audience and i think Lloyd's unique approach to community led growth

[00:42:47] transforming customers into passionate evangelists and turning brands into unforgettable experiences

[00:42:54] is a powerful reminder of the human element in business success and in the world of tech

[00:43:00] but this leads me to ponder in an age where digital interfaces dominate everything how do we maintain

[00:43:06] and nurture these authentic human connection and yes this is where i put the microphone in front of you

[00:43:12] i invite you to join this conversation share your thoughts on how communities continue to shape

[00:43:17] brands of the future maybe give a few good and bad examples i'd love to hear them so email me

[00:43:24] tech blog writer outlook.com twitter linked in instagram just at neo cq's we'll keep this conversation

[00:43:30] going and i will join you bright and early tomorrow morning but that's it for today so thank

[00:43:36] you for listening as always and until next time don't be a stranger