Building Gravity, Not Momentum
Guest: Lloyed Lobo — Cofounder, Boast.ai & Traction | WSJ bestselling author, “From Grassroots to Greatness.”
Theme: How community compounds into customers, careers, and health—and why founders should train like athletes.
The Setup
When you meet someone whose worldview was forged in crisis and tempered by community, you can feel the center of gravity. That’s Lloyed Lobo. As a child, he fled Kuwait during the Gulf War. As a founder, he grew Boast.ai to $10M Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) with ~30 people and no marketing team, powered by Traction, a community he built for entrepreneurs. As a survivor, a bout with bilateral COVID pneumonia reframed his mission: “Entrepreneurs are athletes. Train like one.”
This conversation maps three arcs that keep looping back to the same idea: community is the compounding engine.
1) From Cold Calls to a Cult(ure): Community-Led Growth
“We weren’t getting anywhere with cold outreach. So we hosted meetups. Ten people…then twenty…then two hundred. We did it with cadence. That became the Traction Conference.” — Lloyed
The pivot: When enterprise buyers didn’t trust two engineers promising AI-driven R&D tax automation (pre-AI-hype), Lloyed narrowed to people like him: startup founders.
Cadence > virality: Small, consistent, in-person meetups → a “tribal niche” → Traction Conference with leaders from Uber, Atlassian, and more.
Unit economics of belonging: Events were cash-flow positive (tickets + sponsors) and became the Go-To-Market (GTM) motion.
Brand architecture: Keep company and community identities distinct. Boast.ai (product). Traction(movement).
Takeaway: If trust is the bottleneck (IP access, finance/HR data, security integrations), in-person is the unlock.Build gravity (pull) before you scale momentum (push).
2) Build Gravity, Not Noise: The Network-Effects Mindset
“I don’t want a momentum startup. I want a gravity company. Seed a tribal niche, then design hooks so value compounds.” — Lloyed
Cold-start strategy: Start narrow and special. Create FOMO and expand concentric circles (Harvard → campuses → public—think Facebook’s early play).
Hooks that stick: Lloyed maps Nir Eyal’s Hooked loop to community and AI tools: Trigger → Action → Variable Reward → Investment.
Accruing benefits & mounting loss: With time, users personalize the experience (benefits accrue) and store more data/context (switching costs mount). That’s how gravity sustains.
Takeaway: “Build it and they will come” is a myth. Seed. Design hooks. Earn gravity.
3) Entrepreneur ≈ Athlete: Health as a Go-To-Market Advantage
“After the wire hit, I almost died. Bilateral COVID pneumonia. I’d built the business and neglected the body.” — Lloyed
Founder physiology: VO₂ max, body fat, sleep architecture, reaction time—treat them like your P&L and cash flow.
Benchmark against athletes, not averages: Insurance ranges reflect the sick bell curve; optimize for performance, not mere “normal.”
Micro-progression: “Wax on, wax off” routines—ruck the 1:1 calls, walk after meals, short heat/cold intervals, evening skill reps + sleep consolidation.
Community is medicine: Proximity, music, shared rhythms, and yes—hugs—all reinforce compliance and resilience (my favorite line from this chat: “It’s neither the journey nor the destination. It’s the companions.”).
Takeaway: Your GTM stamina is a health function. Treat biomarkers as Key Performance Indicator (KPIs), and community as your coaching staff.
Highlight Reel (Quotes)
“I don’t want a momentum startup. I want a gravity company.” — Lloyed
“The events became cashflow-positive marketing.” — Lloyed
“Entrepreneurs are athletes. Train like one.” — Lloyed
“It’s neither the journey nor the destination. It’s the companions.” — Lloyed
“You have a lot of problems—until you have a health problem. Then you have one.” — Lloyed
Action Box - Founder Protocol (90 days)
Diagnostics (Day 0–7)
Blood panel (lipids incl. TG/HDL, fasting glucose/insulin, HbA1c, hs-CRP, thyroid, ferritin, vitamin D/B12).
VO₂ max test + DEXA.
Sleep baseline (watch/Oura/Whoop) for efficiency + REM/Deep.
(Optional) MRI screen; gut test; genetics.
Training (Weeks 1–12)
Mon/Wed/Fri: 45–60 min strength (compound lifts; progressive overload).
3–5x weekly: 30–45 min Zone 2 (conversational pace).
Daily: 20–30 min ruck/walk calls, especially post-meal.
1–2x weekly: Heat 12–15 min → cool rinse → repeat 2–3 rounds.
1–2x weekly: Cold 2–4 min, not daily (avoid over-adaptation).
Nutrition (Daily)
Protein floor: 1.6–2.2 g/kg/day; whole-food first.
Whole-food “chorus”: spices (turmeric, rosemary, oregano), polyphenol-rich foods, fermented hits.
Timing: front-load protein; 10–20 min post-meal walk.
Sleep & Skill (Daily)
Evening “wax on” reps: 5–10 min slow practice of one motor/cognitive skill → sleep to consolidate.
Community (Weekly)
1 live touchpoint (meetup/run/strength circle).
Pair-accountability with one founder (“same slot” rule).
Music or play at least once/week to charge the emotional battery.
Field Guide - Community-Led GTM (Template)
Name the movement (separate from the product).
Cadence before scale (weekly/bi-weekly meetups; same day/time).
One tactical topic per session; one speaker; clear takeaway.
Rituals: cold open + hot take + roundtable + shared playlist + group photo.
Unit economics: sponsor tiers + modest tickets to keep no-show low.
Library: record everything → publish highlights → podcast after.
Gravity hooks: member spotlights, small wins wall, “bring-a-builder” pass.
Graduate to an annual, cash-flow-positive conference.
“Postscript”
I loved Lloyed’s distinction between momentum and gravity. Momentum chases attention; gravity earns allegiance. In both business and biology, the compounding agent is community - the companions who keep you honest, inspired, and in motion. If you try the 90-day protocol above, reply with your baseline and your first small win. I’ll share anonymized deltas in next month’s Pulse.
- Steve
For a fitting music session - we had a recent mix with some of my favorite musicians Tim DierkesMusic, Andrew DeFaria, Tammy Ann, RickL, AlanW, and special guest and good friend all the way from Hawaii - Jerome Dawson). As usual, none have all played together, and below are rough first runs at songs that several of us didn’t know. Way cool how folks just plugged in and just started playing...locking into one another ahead of sound leveling -it’s a bit like a good startup. Then started to play around a little. So a few clips this time:
And then once Tammy was plugged in, she warmed up with this puppy:
And Rick running Smooth. It was fun to watch the musicians pass off to one another solotime. Love it that Jerome looked-up the song on the fly. As with most things, communication is critical:
