community-catalyst

Community Catalyst (LOOP Engine)

Design the mechanisms that make your product grow itself through product experience, community engagement, and viral mechanics.

When to Use

• PLG motion design
• Community program launch
• Referral program design
• Developer ecosystem strategy
• Growth loop optimization

What You'll Need

Critical inputs (ask if not provided):

• Product and its core use case
• Current growth motion (sales-led, PLG, hybrid)
• Target user persona

Nice-to-have:

• Journey Architect output (Gates 5-7 for post-sale experience)
• Current product metrics (signups, activation, retention)

Process

Step 1: PLG Readiness Assessment

Score your product on 8 dimensions (1-5 each):

Dimension	Question	Score Guide
Self-serve signup	Can users start without talking to sales?	1=must talk to sales, 5=instant signup
Time-to-value	Can users see value in under 5 minutes?	1=days/weeks, 5=under 5 minutes
Freemium viability	Is a free tier sustainable?	1=no, 5=natural free tier exists
Network effects	Does product improve with more users?	1=no, 5=strong network effects
Collaboration	Does usage naturally involve inviting others?	1=solo use, 5=inherently collaborative
Integration distribution	Does product plug into existing workflows?	1=standalone, 5=deep integrations
Data personalization	Can the product self-optimize with usage?	1=static, 5=gets smarter over time
Virality mechanics	Can users share/embed/publish from product?	1=private only, 5=public artifacts

PLG Readiness = sum / 40 (percentage)

• Below 50%: PLG not primary -- focus on community and assisted growth
• 50-75%: PLG-assisted (hybrid with sales)
• Above 75%: PLG-primary viable

Step 2: LOOP Design

Four interconnected growth loops:

L - Leverage Points: Where in the product do users naturally encounter reasons to share or expand? Map these to journey Gates 5-7.

O - Onboarding Friction Audit: Walk through first-time experience step by step:

• Score each step: value delivered (1-5) vs. friction imposed (1-5)
• Remove or simplify every step where friction > value
• Target: 3 clicks or fewer to first value moment

O - Organic Amplifiers: Design the growth mechanics:

• Referral program (incentive, mechanics, tracking)
• User-generated content (templates, showcases)
• Community forums (platform, content pillars, moderation)
• Ambassador program (recognition, access, revenue share)

P - Product-Embedded Growth: Features that inherently drive expansion:

• Collaboration and team invites
• Public sharing and embedding
• Integration marketplace
• API ecosystem

Step 3: Community Architecture

Design the community program:

Element	Decision
Platform	Discord, Slack, forum, GitHub, or hybrid
Content pillars	3-5 topics that drive engagement
Contribution ladder	Lurker -> Contributor -> Champion -> Ambassador
Incentive structure	Recognition, early access, swag, revenue share
Moderation model	Community-led, staff-led, or hybrid
Feedback loop	How community insights flow back to product team

Step 4: Viral Coefficient Modeling

• K-factor = (invites sent per user) x (conversion rate per invite)
• K > 1 = viral growth (each user brings more than 1 new user)
• K > 0.5 = meaningful organic amplification
• Design experiments to improve each component of K

Output

Save to outputs/community-catalyst-[YYYY-MM-DD].md

Deliverables:

1. PLG Readiness Scorecard: 8-dimension assessment with improvement roadmap
2. LOOP Growth Blueprint: Four interconnected growth loops with specific mechanics
3. Community Architecture Plan: Complete program design from platform to incentives
4. Viral Mechanics Playbook: Features and experiments to increase organic growth

Chain Connections

• Next skill: Run launch-command to orchestrate the launch including PLG readiness
• Also feeds: growth-loop (PLG mechanics drive retention), demand-engine (community becomes a channel)
• Enhanced by: Run after journey-architect (Gates 5-7 define growth loop triggers)