Building Community as a Revenue Stream
Timeline
10-11 months
Team
Product Managers (1)
Product Designer (1)
Developers (4)
QA (2)
My Role
Product Designer
Product Manager
Overview
In 2023, the creator economy was evolving fast. The most successful creators weren’t just delivering content—they were building ecosystems. Meanwhile, our top-tier users were relying on third-party platforms to manage their communities, pulling engagement and revenue outside Exly. We saw this not just as a missing feature, but as a business opportunity. What followed was a strategic deep-dive, an MVP rollout, and rapid iterations based on creator feedback. In just 6 months, we turned this vision into one of our highest-performing SKUs—boosting retention by 30% and premium adoption by 25%.
This is the story of how Exly Communities came to life—a feature born from insight, validated through action, and scaled into a core revenue stream.
The Market Shift: Why Community Became a Necessity
In mid-2023, our product team was tasked with exploring new revenue streams as part of our Product-Led Growth (PLG) strategy. We had a solid base of creators using Exly, but we knew there were untapped opportunities to increase engagement, retention, and monetization.
While we were at it, these were the things that We Already Knew:
The Core Question: Could we identify a part of their business that aligned with our vision and incentivize them to consolidate their operations within Exly?
The answer wasn’t obvious. Simply adding more features wasn’t the goal—integrating into an existing business model was. To figure out how, we took a deep dive into our most successful creators’ workflows.
Identifying the Opportunity: The Missing Link in the Funnel
We set out to study the business funnels of high-GMV creators across India. The goal was to identify parts of the funnel that could be established on our product with highest ROI.
A part of this study was to be a user. Attend webinars, analyze each lead nurturing campaigns you become a part of, and asking critical questions:
While different creators had slightly varied setups, the core structure of their funnel was the same:
Demonstration of the most common funnel
This was our moment of clarity—while Exly supported courses and monetization, we were missing the critical engagement layer. Creators needed an integrated community space to retain and upsell their audience.
Crafting an MVP That Solved Immediate Needs
Identifying Core Features
Rather than building a fully-fledged community tool from the start, we focused on an MVP that delivered immediate value:
✔ A Content & Discussion Feed – Allowing creators to share updates, videos, PDFs, and insights.
✔ Member Management – Enabling access control and segmentation.
✔ Engagement Tools – Likes and notifications to drive participation.
Rolling Out the Feature & Early Adoption
Our MVP was released to a select group of 50 beta users, and within the first month, we saw instant traction:
80% of beta users actively engaged within the first month.
Creators started monetizing communities, integrating them into sales funnels.
Sales teams successfully pitched it as a game-changer, increasing creator sign-ups.
The First Challenge: High-GMV Creators Needed More
While our MVP worked well for smaller creators, our top-tier users had more advanced needs:
This wasn’t a setback—it was validation. Community had the potential to be one of our highest-value features. Armed with user feedback, we refined our roadmap and doubled down on monetization.
Scaling Community: Unlocking Monetization & Advanced Features
Phase 2 Enhancements (6-Month Plan):
✔ Custom Branding & Theming – Creators could personalize their communities.
✔ Paid Memberships & Subscription Models – Monetization built-in.
✔ Direct Messaging & Group Chats – More engagement between members & creators.
✔ Push Notifications & Smart Alerts – Increased retention & participation.
Impact & Results
Key Takeaways
✅ Community = Creator Retention – Engagement tools create long-term users.
✅ Monetization = Stickiness – Paid memberships drive recurring revenue for creators and Exly.
✅ Sales Strategy + Product Wins – A full-suite offering makes for a stronger sales pitch.
Final Thoughts
What started as a research-driven revenue expansion turned into a business-defining product. Community wasn’t just an add-on—it became a core growth engine.
Thanks for reading!