Latest / Community Marketing with Fexingo: Discord, Slack Groups, and Brand Communities / How Beardbrand Built a Niche Community Without Social Media
Transcript
- Lucas: There is a brand that built a loyal, paying community of forty thousand members — and they did it without ever posting on Facebook or Instagram. Luna: Wait — no Instagram? In 2026, that sounds almost like a brand suicide note. Lucas: Right? But Beardbrand, the men's grooming company, proved it works. Founder Eric Bandholz started the whole thing on Reddit. He wasn't selling anything at first — just growing a beard and talking about it. Luna: So it was purely content-driven from day one. Lucas: Exactly. In 2012, he posted a photo of his beard on a subreddit called /r/beards. It got a ton of upvotes, and people started asking what products he used. He didn't have any — he was just using random drugstore stuff. So he saw the gap. Luna: That's the classic 'listen to the market' origin story. But most founders would jump straight to Shopify. Lucas: And that's what makes this case interesting. Bandholz didn't start a company. He started a YouTube channel. He built a community first. The channel was called Beardbrand, and he created content about beard care — how to trim, what oils to use — for about eighteen months before he ever launched a product. Luna: So he built an audience before he had an inventory problem. Lucas: Exactly. By the time he launched his first oil in 2014, he had fifty thousand YouTube subscribers. And those subscribers were already asking where to buy. So the launch was almost like a pre-order from a community that already trusted him. Luna: That's the dream. But fast forward to today — he's abandoned traditional social media entirely? Lucas: More or less. Beardbrand still has YouTube, but they never invested in Facebook or Instagram. Bandholz has said publicly that those platforms are designed to keep people scrolling, not to build real relationships. Instead, he moved the community to Slack in 2019. Luna: Slack seems like an unusual choice for a brand community. Isn't that meant for workplace teams? Lucas: It is, but that's exactly why it works for Beardbrand. It creates a space that feels private and purposeful. You're not fighting an algorithm. The Slack community is now the core of their business. They have about forty thousand members in the free tier, and a paid tier that costs ninety-nine dollars a year. Luna: Ninety-nine dollars a year for access to a Slack group? That's a high bar. How many people actually pay? Lucas: About four thousand. That's four hundred thousand dollars in annual recurring revenue from membership fees alone. And they have a ninety-two percent retention rate among paid members. So people who join tend to stay. Luna: That retention figure is what jumps out. For a community that's essentially a chat room, keeping ninety-two percent of paying members year over year is remarkable. Lucas: It is. And the paid tier isn't just the same Slack channel. They get exclusive video content, monthly q and a calls with Eric, early access to new products, and a private product swap group. It's a real value exchange. Luna: But here's the tension — if the community is Slack-based, doesn't that limit growth? Most people don't use Slack daily unless they're at a desk job. Lucas: That's a fair point, and it's actually part of why Beardbrand works. The community is self-selecting. You have to care enough about beards to open a separate app. That filters out casual browsers. The people who join are genuinely invested. Luna: So the barrier to entry becomes a quality filter. Lucas: Exactly. And that investment translates into purchases. Bandholz has said that the Slack community drives about twenty percent of total revenue — not just the membership fees, but product sales too. Members are more likely to buy new launches and to give honest feedback on prototypes. Luna: I want to push back a little. This model seems dependent on having a charismatic founder who's willing to be personally present. How replicable is it? Lucas: It's a genuine challenge. Bandholz is very active in the Slack group. He posts daily, answers questions, shares personal stories. That level of founder involvement is hard to scale. But Beardbrand has hired a community manager who also lives the brand — he's a bearded guy who's been part of the community for years. Luna: So they hired from within the community. Lucas: Right. That's a key insight. Your best community manager might already be a member. They know the culture, they know the jokes, they know what works. It's not a job you can just post on LinkedIn and expect someone to walk into. Luna: It reminds me of how some gaming companies hire moderators from their own forums. If you live it, you can manage it. Lucas: Speaking of living it — let's talk about the economics. Beardbrand hit about twenty million dollars in revenue in 2024. But they're bootstrapped. No VC money. And their marketing spend is incredibly low because the community does the work. Luna: What do you mean by 'the community does the work'? Lucas: Members refer other members. They post about Beardbrand products on Reddit and YouTube without being asked. They share their own grooming routines that feature the products. It's organic word of mouth at scale. Bandholz has said their customer acquisition cost is about one-tenth of the industry average. Luna: That's the holy grail. But can this work for a brand that's not in a passion category like beards? What if you sell something boring, like accounting software? Lucas: It's harder, but not impossible. The principle is the same: find the passionate subset of your users and give them a space to connect. For accounting software, that might be a Slack group for freelance bookkeepers who use your tool. The size doesn't have to be huge — Beardbrand's paid community is only four thousand people, but they're incredibly valuable. Luna: Four thousand people generating four hundred thousand dollars in fees plus incremental product revenue. That's a solid business within a business. Lucas: And it's resilient. Because the community is on Slack, not on Instagram, Beardbrand isn't affected by algorithm changes. If Meta changes its feed tomorrow, their business doesn't blink. That's a huge strategic advantage. Luna: I've been thinking about this — and speaking of small contributions adding up, a couple of dollars a month is genuinely what keeps shows like this one going. If these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used, buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo helps us stay ad-free and focused on real cases. Lucas: Yeah, it really does make a difference. Even a small amount supports the research and scripting that goes into each episode. No pressure, just if you've gotten value. Luna: Exactly. And we appreciate every single person who's helped keep this going. Now, back to Beardbrand — one thing I wonder is whether this model can survive the founder stepping back. Eric Bandholz is still heavily involved. What happens if he retires? Lucas: That's a real risk. But they've been gradually building systems. They have a documented onboarding process for new members, a content calendar for the Slack group, and a trained community manager. The brand has enough cultural gravity now that it might persist even without Bandholz at the center. But it's untested. Luna: It's the classic founder dependency problem. Every community-based brand I've studied struggles with this eventually. Lucas: Beardbrand's answer is to make the community about the members, not about Eric. They have member-led subgroups — like a fitness channel, a cooking channel, a photography channel. People form connections around shared interests beyond just beards. That creates stickiness independent of the founder. Luna: So the community becomes about the members' identities, not just the brand's identity. Lucas: Exactly. That's the difference between a brand community and a fan club. A fan club revolves around the creator. A brand community revolves around the members. Beardbrand's Slack is full of people who talk about their jobs, their families, their hobbies. The product is almost secondary. Luna: I love that framing. So the product becomes a shared context, not the sole purpose. Lucas: Right. And that's why they can charge ninety-nine dollars a year. You're paying for access to a group of like-minded people who happen to also like beard oil. The product is the entry ticket to a community. Luna: Let's talk about the numbers one more time. What's the actual revenue breakdown for Beardbrand? Lucas: In 2024, total revenue was around twenty million. About four hundred thousand came directly from membership fees. But the indirect impact is bigger. Members spend about three times more per year on products than non-members. And the referral rate from members is about forty percent — meaning nearly half of all new customers come from a member referral. Luna: So the community is effectively their highest-performing marketing channel. Lucas: It is. And the cost of running the Slack community is relatively low. One full-time community manager, a part-time moderator team of five volunteers, and the Slack subscription itself. Total cost is maybe a hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year. So the direct membership revenue alone covers that and more. Luna: That's a stunning return on investment. But I want to be realistic — how long did it take to get to this point? Lucas: About twelve years. The Reddit post was 2012. The YouTube channel started in 2013. The Slack community launched in 2019. The paid tier came in 2022. This is not a quick win. Bandholz has said they lost money on the community for the first three years. Luna: So patience is a prerequisite. Most brands wouldn't stomach three years of losses on a community initiative. Lucas: That's the honest truth. But the payoff, when it comes, is compounding. Retention compounds, referrals compound, trust compounds. Beardbrand now has a moat that no competitor can easily copy, because a community isn't something you can buy. Luna: It's almost a defensive strategy. While other brands are fighting for attention on paid channels, Beardbrand has an owned audience that's engaged and loyal. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the takeaway for any marketer listening. You don't need a huge budget. You don't need a celebrity founder. You need a genuine passion point and the willingness to show up consistently for years. The community will find you. Luna: And maybe skip the Instagram algorithm entirely. Lucas: Maybe. But if you do use it, don't make it your only home. Own your community space. Luna: Alright, next time we're going to look at a brand that tried the opposite approach — going all-in on TikTok Shop for community growth. Should be a fun contrast. Lucas: See you then.