Jono Bacon

Runs Stateshift, the accelerator for reliable community engagement & growth every quarter.

Wrote 'People Powered' (@harpercollins).

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

Building communities is HARD. 😬

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Go forth and build your movement: https://t.co/D2djuukQ12

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

You can dominate LinkedIn, podcasts, and YouTube, but traffic isn't the problem. Activation is. Here's the system we use to turn visitors into customers 👇

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

So, our approach to agent evals is (1) one or more eval criteria ranking agent output from 1-10 (LLM as a judge), (2) each eval criteria is weighted to calculate a final score. How are you doing evals?

[Erica Brescia @ericabrescia]

https://t.co/Vv3s3jIHhe

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

I wrote 'People Powered', and published it with @HarperCollins Leadership in 2019. Want the behind-the-scenes data on how it has performed?

Well, let's benchmark this. According to NPD BookScan data:
~66% of titles sell fewer than 1,000 copies in their first year
~88% sell fewer than 5,000 copies
~93% sell fewer than 10,000 copies

So, how is 'People Powered' doing so far?

Here's how many of them I have shifted at the end of my last royalty statement (EOY 2025):
* Hardcover: 8,836 units
* Ebook: 4,329 units
* Audiobook: 2,950 units
* Paperback: 486 gross

This clocks in at 16,500+ copies, and I don't believe this includes licensed translations and sales of those copies.

Now, the BookScan data above tends to refer to first-year sales, but mapping out the typical lifespan of books, it seems like 'People Powered' is roughly in the top 5–7% of traditionally published business books.

I am pretty stoked about this, especially as I had 60+ rejections from agents, one of whom specifically booked a call with me to tell me how shit my idea for 'People Powered' was. :-)

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

Nobody actually buys your product. They buy what it makes them *feel*.

@Dell made MP3 players. Solid hardware, competitive price, decent storage. A perfectly reasonable product that absolutely nobody gave one iota of a shit about.

@Apple launched the iPod at roughly the same time with the silhouette campaign...dancing figures, white earbuds, pure joy. Zero specs mentioned. Not a single gigabyte referenced.

Dell sold a spec sheet. Apple sold a feeling. Well...you know how that ended...

Features are the least interesting thing you can say about what you've built.

@simonsinek calls this the Golden Circle - that most companies communicate outside-in...here's what we made, here's how it works, here's a feature list that'll bore you into a coma.

The companies we actually remember flip it completely. Belief first. Method second. Product third. @github, @stripe, @figma, @Shopify, and @vercel all did this.

▶️ I just put out a new video where I walk through this, complete with 4 steps for how to apply this to your own company. Check it out: https://t.co/fGELkwOGn5

#Marketing #ProductStrategy #Branding #GoldenCircle #Startups

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

Link to the full video here: https://t.co/oUxyclKoAX

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

The "average user" doesn't exist...and when you design for the middle, you *massively* limit what you build and how you differentiate.

@Nintendo didn't chase hardcore gamers when building the Wii. They asked: what about people who hate controllers? What about grandparents who think gaming is too complicated? The result outsold both competitors combined in 2007 and expanded the entire gaming market.

These weirdo, unusual use cases force you to question every assumption...which leads to more interesting questions...which lead to more creative, interesting products for your audience.

▶️ I just created a BRAND NEW video digging into this, with examples of @OXO , @Nintendo , @SlackHQ , and others...and a simple framework to put this into action. See the link in the first comment below 👇

Do you take this approach at your company?

#ProductDesign #UserExperience #Innovation #InclusiveDesign #ProductStrategy

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

Here is the story of how Linux and Open Source flipped @Microsoft from open source antagonist to one of the most significant contributors to open source today. Credit to Microsoft for making the shift.

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

Link to the full video is here: https://t.co/zvF80io5Qz

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

Did you know @redbull's first focus groups said their drink tasted like shit?

They launched anyway...charged three times more than Coke...put it in a ridiculously tiny can...and now sell 12 billion cans a year.

What is fascinating is that the companies breaking through weirdly aren't building longer feature lists...

...they're finding dimensions where being OPPOSITe creates a category they can own. It creates a whole new area to stand out.

Companies like @basecamp, @stripe, @figma, @kit, and @attio are doing the same and getting great results.

▶️ Well, I just put out a BRAND NEW VIDEO where I dig into how being the opposite can enable you to compete in new and different ways...baked into a 4 step framework you can apply today.

You can find the link to the full video in the first comment. 👇

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

Want to know @MrBeast 's blueprint that you can use for growing an audience of raving fans around your biz/product/project?

Well, I put together a video with the 3 key triggers in his blueprint:

Trigger 1 - Vicarious Heroism (Making Sharing Feel Moral)
Trigger 2 - Predictable Unpredictability (Gambling Psychology)
Trigger 3 - Community Participation Theater (Co-Creator Illusion)

Check it out 👇

Are you using any of these in your work? If so, what has worked and not worked?

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

Link to the full video: https://t.co/H4gOw9Y1LX

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

Stewart Butterfield, who founded Slack bet $17 million on a game where you don't fight...you just make imaginary giants' dreams bigger.

It was absolutely magnificent...and it failed spectacularly. They needed 200,000 players to break even. They didn't even get close.

After 3.5 years of dumping money into this fantastical dream, Butterfield shut it down.

While building this doomed game, his team had cobbled together an internal chat tool because email was driving them mad. Just scripts, cron jobs, and ugly SQL queries holding it together.

When Butterfield announced the game shutdown, he had a bonkers idea: keep a small team and turn their janky internal tool into a product...which eventually became Slack.

I just put out a NEW VIDEO where I well the story of how Slack emerged from the ashes of this game...it is an incredible story...

▶️ Find the link to the full video in the first comment below 👇

#ProductDevelopment #Startups #Innovation #ProductMarketFit #Leadership

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

Here you can watch the full video: https://t.co/W5lng02hHu

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

So, Obsidian's (@obsdmd) founding engineers got bored during lockdown and built a note-taking app that now has 1 million rabid users.

Meanwhile, @NotionHQ raised hundreds of millions, employs nearly 1,000 people, and is worth $10 billion...yet somehow doesn't inspire the same cult-like devotion.

What fresh madness is this?

Well, I've been obsessing over Obsidian's story because it violates *every* Silicon Valley commandment.

No venture capital. No "growth hacking." Just Shida Lee and @_ericaxu building something they actually wanted to use.

Their (not so) secret ingredient? Philosophy over features.

While everyone else was playing feature bingo, Obsidian built an ideology called "file over app"...your notes are plain markdown files on YOUR computer. No cloud prison. No proprietary lock-in. You own your data forever.

The result? Over 2,600 community-built plugins and users who don't just stay...they evangelize Obsidian like they've found religion.

In my brand new video, I break down the story and share what lessons you can take from it and apply to your own business or project.

▶️ Link to the full video in the first comment below 👇

#ProductStrategy #CommunityBuilding #SaaS #StartupLessons #ProductManagement

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

Close…

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

If you "hate AI" and are avoiding using it, you are ignoring the reality of where the world is going...and it is going to bite you in the ass.

Sure, AI has a lot of problems with it. It hallucinates. It only tells you what you want to hear. It can be used in unethical ways by unethical people. It is hilariously overhyped by many people.

I get all that...but the future of "success" is going to be people with agency using AI to make cool things.

...and this isn't new. It is the same enabler open source was when it first came out.

Let me give you an example: when I was 19 I discovered Linux. It was 1998 and open source was in the early stages of evolution...and it quite literally changed my life.

I was shit at school - I mainly got Cs and Ds and I had very few options for going to University...but open source changed everything. No longer were academics a prerequisite for learning and having an impact.

Now *I*, as a 19-year-old kid with long hair and an Iron Maiden t-shirt, had an environment where I could make an impact...so I started a website called Linux UK and started learning how to build a community. This was the first stepping stone in my career...

...and it changed my life. I wouldn't have the family and life I have today if it wasn't for open source...but *why* did it change my life?

Because I was a kid with agency and a technology that enabled that agency to thrive.

AI is the same, but on a whole new level.

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

So, @gmail is squandering one of the most psychologically potent moments in digital life...and nobody's talking about it.

Here's what I mean: the average office worker receives 121 emails per day. Studies show 23% of work time is spent just checking messages. We check our inboxes 36 times per hour.

And here's the sad state of affairs...only 22% of people ever achieve inbox zero.

Think about that. Inbox zero is rarer than a decent comedy movie in the last 10 years.

Inbox zero IS an accomplishment worthy of celebration...why? Because we all hate email...so when we finally roll up our sleeves and deal with the misery of *yet another bloody email*...AND when someone finally clears their inbox... they've conquered the digital chaos that plagues 78% of professionals...

...but what does Google show these triumphant souls who conquered the bane of modern digital life?

"Your primary tab is empty."

This is prime real estate being used to display...nothing.

Meanwhile, gamification research shows that 70% of users increase activity when platforms implement reward systems. Instant gratification boosts satisfaction and encourages repeated behavior. Companies using gamification see up to 30% increases in user engagement.

Just imagine the potential...

Imagine hitting inbox zero and getting a $10 Starbucks card...

...or unlocking a mini-game.

...or receiving insights about your email patterns...how you've saved 4.2 hours this week by being efficient.

Damn, Google could even lease out this real estate to companies who provide rewards to people who hit inbox zero (I am kinda surprised they don't pedal Gemini there too 😉)

Google, just do *anything* to recognize this achievement.

Worried about people gaming the system?

I think it is unlikely - email is sacred territory. You're not going to archive critical messages just to see a reward screen. The risk is too high. Your career depends on those messages.

But the upside? You'd create a dopamine hit that reinforces productive behavior. You get more people using your product. You make people happy.

You'd tap into our intrinsic need for achievement and recognition. You'd transform email management from a dreaded task into something people actually want to complete.

Google has billions of users staring at that empty screen. And they're doing absolutely nothing with it.

Thoughts?

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

Check out the full video here: https://t.co/ZgbbM3kRS9

[Jono Bacon @jonobacon]

Did you know that many communities limp along at 10% engagement...but video-first communities tend to operate at closer to 40% engagement?

Video is powerful because it adds an essential layer of human trust and body language...and I just put out a brand new video reviewing a fantastic video-first platform called Swarm.

▶️ Link to the video is in the first comment below 👇