#129 The Under-100 Member Plateau
I had SO MANY CALLS this week. It was great. I talked to a bunch of newsletter readers (if that was you, thank you, I had a blast) who booked a coffee chat with me, and I had a ton of sales calls, too!
I threw an internet tantrum (read: ranted on LinkedIn) like two years ago soon after I started my business saying I was done taking sales calls because I was ghosted (no-shows) a few times in a row. I realize now I had a big ego about my wasted time.
I'm over it now, and I'm taking discovery calls again 😂.
My favorite quote on playback in my head right now is, "What got me here, won't get me there", and I want you to think about that.
If your community has plateaued – with engagement, with growth, with buzzing energy and connection... that's because what got you here won't get you to the next level of growth.
Let’s get into it –
I keep meeting community builders who feel stuck under 100 members.
They’ve done the hard work, they started their community, and they've kept it going. But they're feeling defeated when they struggle to balance keeping their members engaged, and bringing new members in.
The good news is that if you have 25 engaged members – meaning they participate in some aspect of your community offer – then you've found community-market-fit.
When I dig into it, it’s rarely a demand problem. It’s almost always a design problem. The foundations that got you here can’t carry you further.
One of our clients, Stevie, runs a breathwork membership. She hit that same plateau. Her community was full of loyal members, but new joiners weren’t sticking. Her biggest fans had built breathwork practices into their weekly routines, but most members weren’t even logging in.
It's a lot harder to grow your community when your current members aren't engaged.
We audited her onboarding, restructured the way content was delivered, and redesigned her member journey so every new member knew exactly how to engage from day one.
Within a few months, engagement rates spiked, and her growth picked up again — without adding more content, calls, or chaos.
This is the point where organic growth stops working. Up to ~50 members, energy and relationships fuel momentum. Past that, you need structure — a system that scales connection without burning you out.
The under-100 plateau isn’t a failure. It’s just feedback that your community has outgrown its original design!
When we audit communities at this stage, there are usually three gaps holding them back.
Weak foundations. The member journey isn’t clear. New members need structure to succeed, not just access.
No feedback loops. Without intentional data or reflection, you’re guessing instead of optimizing.
Missing growth strategy. There’s no predictable way to attract, convert, and onboard new members.
Your Next Steps
If that sounds familiar, here’s where to start:
Audit your first 30 days. Follow a new member’s experience from sign-up to first interaction. Where do they lose momentum?
Ask five members for feedback. “Where have you felt stuck? How has the community helped you [work toward goal] so far?” Their answers will show you what’s working, and what isn’t.
Identify one upgrade. Tweak your onboarding, add a feedback loop, or tighten your structure. Small shifts compound fast at this stage.
If you’re under 100 members and starting to feel stuck, it’s not because your community has peaked. It’s because your systems haven’t caught up to your vision.
If you'd like some guidance and a community audit from Affinity, this is exactly what we tackle in our Community Strategy Intensive.
The Community Strategy Intensive is designed to remove the guesswork. In this 90-minute session, we’ll answer your biggest questions, map out your goals, and create a custom strategy doc that gives you clarity on what to update, how to structure it, and how to get started with confidence. You can book a call with me here to learn more.
I only have 8 spots left for the year – and January is the biggest community growth month of the year so if you're struggling with a plateau, let's meet so you can get ahead of it!