Your Business Model Can't Be Outsourced
Adam Nash, CEO and co-founder of Daffy.org, shared that your business model is one of the most important strategic decisions you'll make as a founder.
Beautiful Design Doesn't Save Bad Business Models
"Design won't save you." Plenty of award-winning designs and well-loved products and communities have still ended up in the graveyard, not because the idea failed, but because the business model couldn't sustain the business.
Why?
Because revenue, like gravity, pulls everything towards it.
The bigger your company gets, the more your strategy bends around how you make money.
This was the theory from Adam Nash - CEO and co-founder of Daffy.org at Startup Grind 2025.
Even if you hire brilliant, thoughtful, community-minded people, their energy will still orbit the goals that match your business model.
People work towards targets.
KPIs. OKRs. And all of those are driven by what the business values, usually, revenue. So it’s no shock that your revenue engine sets the pace for where your community team spends their time.
If the current goal is new customer acquisition, your community strategy will reflect that. No matter how healthy your engagement metrics look, they won’t count for much if the leadership team is laser-focused on signups.
Business Models Drive Behaviour
Towards the end, Nash outlined a truth most founders eventually learn (sometimes the hard way):
Ad-supported businesses optimise for engagement and clicks.
Marketplaces chase transactions.
Subscription models push for retention, value delivery, and lifetime customer growth.
Each model pulls your product, people, and community in a different direction.
So choose carefully.
And once you’ve chosen, make sure your model aligns with your mission, product, and the kind of community you’re building. Because if it doesn’t, the model will pull you off course, no matter how strong your values are.
Your business model matters. More than you think.
So don’t treat it as an afterthought. Treat it like the foundation your whole community stands on.