The Four Community Types Grid
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- —
Jordan Godbey argues that "community" is as vague as "online business" — the real decision is which of four distinct models you are building. Two value drivers sit on one axis: connection (value comes from members being brought together) and curriculum (value comes from taking someone through a process to a specific outcome). Price tier sits on the other: low-ticket (roughly under $100/month or under $1,000) and high-ticket (above that). That produces peer communities, proximity communities (masterminds), community-powered courses, and transformational communities. Each has a different prerequisite: peer communities need an existing audience, proximity communities need trust and demonstrated expertise, and the curriculum side needs a repeatable process you have already run. Choosing the type before knowing your driver and your asset is what makes most community launches fail.
Origin
Extracted from Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal
How to run it
- 1
Name the problem that already exists
Start from a problem people already have and already try to solve, not from an idea you want to monetise. Godbey's opening warning is that people arrive with an idea in search of someone's dollars, which makes pricing and selling far harder later.
Pro tip Ask what shortcut people want, not what information they lack.
Watch out Community is a vehicle for value you already have, not a substitute for having it.
- 2
Pick your value driver: connection or curriculum
Decide whether value comes from bringing disconnected people together, or from teaching a process toward a specific outcome. Connection communities are unstructured by design; curriculum communities have a defined journey and finish line.
Pro tip If you can turn something you have done into a roadmap, curriculum will usually monetise higher.
- 3
Audit which asset you actually own
Peer communities work when you already have a large audience. Proximity communities work when you have expertise and accumulated trust. Curriculum models require a process you have run for yourself and at least one other person.
Pro tip No audience and no expertise means the honest answer is 'not yet' — go get a result first.
Watch out Proximity is the hardest to sell cold because the outcome is unknown and trust must pre-exist.
- 4
Set the ticket tier
Low-ticket sits under roughly $100/month or $1,000; high-ticket sits above. Peer communities run at $9–$30/month, proximity masterminds at ~$1,000/month, community-powered courses low, transformational programs $3,000–$10,000.
Watch out Do not price low-ticket while designing a high-ticket delivery experience — the maths stops working.
- 5
Match facilitation to the quadrant
The type dictates how you run it. Peer communities need only a private space and light expectations. Proximity needs frequent small-group meetings and vetting. Transformational needs coaches, accountability partners, community managers and proactive follow-up.
Pro tip Use the community as connective tissue between live calls so momentum does not die when Zoom ends.
- 6
Sequence the offers as a ladder
A clear-outcome curriculum program earns trust and demonstrates value; a proximity community is then a natural continuation for graduates who want ongoing access. Jordan bought a 90-day podcast program, then joined the mastermind afterwards.
Pro tip Graduation is a natural, non-pushy moment to invite people into the higher-touch tier.
Watch out Selling the proximity tier first, to strangers, is the hardest possible route.
In the wild
Dave Gerhardt spent years building an audience in B2B marketing, then opened a private paid space where members discuss cutting-edge B2B marketing and AI off LinkedIn. There is no expectation that he teaches or that members complete courses. The value comes from the members and from the conversations being more niche, more sensitive and higher quality than public social feeds. Because expectations are low and clearly set, the community is comparatively easy to set up and run, and it monetises an audience that already existed.
→ A low-ticket (~$30/month) peer community that works because the audience preceded it.
Jordan pays roughly $1,000 a month to be in Dustin Riechmann's mastermind, which has twenty members split into an AM and PM group of ten, meeting every Thursday. The leader is the expert and mentor, but much of the value comes from the other vetted members. Each week the group focuses on whatever the next problem in someone's business is; some weeks you show up for others rather than for yourself. Between calls, the community keeps momentum alive — a post can attract two helpful responses within twenty-four hours instead of seven days of silence.
→ High-ticket revenue from twenty members without needing a large audience.
Dickie Bush and Nicolas Cole's program has one outcome: you become a premium ghostwriter, able to sell an educational email course at a price point and find clients. Because there is a single defined finish line, the team can be aggressive about follow-up — if a member goes quiet, they email and DM until they re-engage. Godbey notes that over ninety percent of the time members are grateful someone noticed, and the higher price means members are psychologically more bought in and more likely to show up for the result.
→ High completion and testimonial rates at a $3,000–$10,000 price point.
Common mistakes
Calling an audience a community
Followers on LinkedIn or YouTube are an audience, not a community. Community requires people to opt in, sign up or purchase — to be bought in to a private, dedicated space designed for member-to-member interaction. Treating reach as community leads founders to assume demand that has not actually been expressed.
Launching a peer community with no audience
Peer communities at $9–$30/month only work at volume, which requires an existing following. A beginner launching one is doing the hardest version of the easiest-looking model, and will end up with an empty room that gives members no reason to renew.
Expecting the platform to create the value
Signing up for a community platform does not generate value on its own. Godbey stresses there is no silver bullet — community is transparent, so if you have nothing genuinely useful to offer, members discover that very quickly and leave.
From the transcript
“So, inside of community, there are two main value drivers.”
“So within each of those two buckets, there is a low-ticket option and a high-ticket option.”
“Proximity communities are one of the hardest to sell because you need to have a lot of trust first.”
From the episode
How to make $10k/month from a community - Jordan Godbey
Jordan Godbey