Figma: The Collaborative Powerhouse
Remember when designing software meant endless file versions and clunky email attachments? Figma changed all that. Like Discord, it started with a niche focus: creating a browser-based design tool that was genuinely collaborative. While competitors were
selling offline software to individual designers, Figma bet that entire teams—designers, developers, and product managers—wanted to work together in real-time. This community-first approach turned it from a clever tool into an essential platform for companies like Microsoft and Uber. The story is classic Discord: start with a specific, underserved community, build a product they love, and let that passionate user base drive your expansion into the mainstream.
Roblox: The User-Built Universe
If Discord is where communities talk, Roblox is where they build and play in entire worlds of their own making. It's not just a game; it’s a platform where users create the experiences. This user-generated content model creates a vast, ever-expanding universe that the company itself could never build alone. Much like Discord avoids ads, Roblox has built a thriving digital economy around its virtual currency, Robux, paying out billions to its creators. In 2025 alone, creators earned approximately $1.5 billion. This has turned hobbies into full-fledged businesses, with top developers earning millions. It’s a powerful lesson in how empowering your community to create and profit can become the core engine of your business.
Substack: The Direct-to-Reader Revolution
The core of Discord's appeal is the direct connection it enables within communities. Substack applies that same principle to writers and their audiences. It gives creators the tools to launch paid newsletters, letting them build a business directly from their most loyal readers, free from the demands of advertisers or algorithmic feeds. This model, where success is tied to the value you provide to a dedicated community, is a direct echo of Discord's Nitro subscription model. Substack is betting that creators can build sustainable businesses on trust and loyalty, attracting high-profile journalists and turning individual writers into media entrepreneurs. It proves that for the right audience, a direct, paid relationship is more powerful than chasing viral clicks.
Patreon: The Original Creator Economy Pioneer
Before almost anyone else, Patreon saw the future: fans want to directly support the creators they love. Founded in 2013, it allows podcasters, artists, and all manner of creators to offer membership tiers to their followers, providing a stable, recurring revenue stream. This philosophy is the bedrock of the modern creator economy and mirrors the way Discord server owners can monetize their communities through exclusive perks. While Discord integrated these ideas into a communication platform, Patreon built its entire business around the concept of direct patronage. Creators have now earned over $10 billion on the platform, proving that a dedicated community is the most valuable asset a creator can have.
Hugging Face: The GitHub for AI
This one might seem technical, but the DNA is the same. Hugging Face has become the central hub for the artificial intelligence community. It’s a platform where developers and researchers share, discover, and collaborate on AI models and datasets. Sound familiar? It’s what Discord did for interest-based communities and what GitHub did for code. By providing the open-source infrastructure for the AI world, Hugging Face built an incredibly active and loyal community that has made it an indispensable player in the AI revolution. Their strategy shows that even in the most cutting-edge fields, the winning move is often to build the campfire that everyone else wants to gather around.
