Anti-Hype Business Growth

Carolyn Childers, co-founder of Chief, shares her perspective on building a successful community-based business while intentionally staying under the radar. She believes that focusing on building a great business and showcasing members rather than founders leads to stronger, more sustainable growth.

Key Points:

• Business Model Philosophy:

  • Community should lead, not curriculum or professional development
  • Vetted membership (not exclusive) ensures peer-level value
  • Companies typically sponsor membership ($5-8K/year per member)

• Brand Building Strategy:

  • Intentionally minimal social media presence
  • No "inspirational quotes" or typical women's network approach
  • Focus on creating an aspirational, high-quality brand
  • Physical spaces helped establish brand credibility early on

• Growth Approach:

  • Primarily word-of-mouth driven
  • Minimal marketing spend
  • Under-the-radar by design
  • Focus on member showcase over founder publicity

• Community Engagement:

  • Started on Slack for easy adoption
  • Moved to proprietary platform in 2020
  • Regular touchpoints (monthly meetings) drive platform engagement
  • Utility-driven features keep members active

• Mission-Driven Business:

  • Aims to drive more women into leadership positions
  • Focuses on senior executive women (VP level and above)
  • Values mission alignment over hype
  • Raised VC funding to accelerate mission, not just growth

• Results of Strategy:

  • Close to 15,000 members
  • 60,000 person waitlist
  • $1.1B valuation
  • Achieved substantial growth without heavy publicity

• Perspective on Publicity:

  • "Being under-hyped" is intentional and beneficial
  • Focuses on "building a great business" over generating hype
  • Members are "more impressive than the founders"
  • Success should speak for itself