Creator Science with Jay Clouse

I brought back Becky Pierson Davidson to compare notes on where community is headed — and we found a few areas of disagreement. Becky works with 6, 7, and 8-figure businesses helping them build memberships and courses through design thinking and customer research, and she's seeing a major shift right now: course businesses are slowing down, and the smart ones are pivoting to membership models. The difference? Shared learning experiences are replacing self-paced education. Community is what people stay for.

We dig into the real mechanics: how to set expectations that don't feel like a bait-and-switch, why meaningful engagement isn't what most people think it is, the mastermind paradox (increases retention, decreases forum activity), and why in-person events might be the most important retention lever you're not using. Becky's hot take for 2026: content drops are dying. People don't need more stuff — they need connection and programming that moves them forward.

⁠Affinity Collective⁠

⁠Build with Becky podcast⁠

⁠Episode 197: Building Raving Fans (with Becky & Chanel)⁠

⁠Circle (community platform)⁠

⁠TightKnit (Slack archive plugin)⁠

⁠Dreamers and Doers⁠

⁠Full transcript and show notes⁠

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TIMESTAMPS

(02:35) Defining community as a product, not a growth engine

(04:09) Why community is rising as a business model in 2026

(06:02) The reality of transitioning from courses to memberships

(08:01) Finding the right community design for your appetite

(10:02) How to avoid the bait-and-switch with member expectations

(13:06) Value perception vs. value experience

(13:57) The smallest viable promise for your sales page

(16:44) Where we disagree: transformation vs. community of practice

(21:14) Forum design: why fewer spaces wins

(23:17) Solving the engagement problem (what meaningful engagement actually is)

(25:50) How the best members actually use your community

(29:46) The mastermind paradox: retention up, forum participation down

(32:09) In-person experiences and the graduation weekend model

(36:39) The economics of offline events

(39:35) 2026 Hot Take: Content drops are dying

(43:07) Retention rethink: Did I get my money's worth vs. Will I next year?

(46:04) Why connection drives retention more than results

(48:23) Tool stack: Circle 9 times out of 10

(51:14) The future: personalization in community software

***

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODE

→ ⁠Episode 197: Building Raving Fans⁠

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ASK CREATOR SCIENCE

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WHEN YOU'RE READY

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🚀 ⁠Get CreatorHQ⁠ (creator operating system)

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🧞‍♂️ ⁠Get a Personalized Offer⁠

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Sid Yadav is the CEO and co-founder of Circle, a community platform trusted by creators like Jay and thousands of others to build membership businesses. Today, Circle has ~280 employees and has raised around $30 million.

Before Circle, he was the third hire at Teachable, where he helped build the infrastructure for the creator economy before the term even existed. He spent four years as a tech blogger, writing about startups five to ten times a day, and was one of the first people to ever cover YouTube—back when it was a dating platform!

The one thing Sid says separates successful communities from the rest

Circle Eclipse: what it is (AI partner + connective tissue + Discover marketplace) and why 80 of 100 engineers have been on it for 4 months

The “course as wrong abstraction” insight: why Sid saw self-paced courses heading toward terminal decline as early as 2018

By the end of this episode, you will understand why the most successful community businesses aren’t built around content — they’re built around a specific transformation.

Join the waitlist for early access to Circle AI

Full transcript and show notes

***

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Introduction

(01:44) Teachable origin story: the “I don’t want to play Tinder with you” email that started it all

(06:18) Tech blogger at Mashable — and the story of being first to write about YouTube

(09:15) ~280 employees, $30M raised — the scale of Circle today

(12:52) Why self-paced courses are in terminal decline (the leading indicators Sid saw in 2018)

(17:16) The “course as the wrong abstraction” moment — community as the right container

(22:00) Circle Eclipse: the three major updates launching

(24:00) The connective tissue opportunity: one plus one must equal ten

(33:19) Admin dashboard evolution — where Circle AI lives for returning users

(35:30) The morning brief: five recommended next steps, then you’re good for the day

(38:50) The biggest bet in Circle’s history: 80 engineers, 4 months, Spain offsite

(40:00) Member-side AI agents and where they’re heading

(43:24) Discover: from supply-side listing directory to the first real marketplace for transformations

(48:00) The promise: Discover will never market inside your community — ever

(51:55) Sid’s #1 recommendation: define your transformation

***

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODE

#295: Community Building Trends for 2026 with Becky Pierson Davidson

***

ASK CREATOR SCIENCE

Submit your question here

***

WHEN YOU'RE READY

📬 Creator Science Newsletter

🚀 Get CreatorHQ (creator operating system)

🧪 Join The Lab (private membership community)

🧞‍♂️ Get a Personalized Offer

***

CONNECT

🐦 Connect on Twitter

📸 Connect on Instagram

💼 Connect on LinkedIn

📹 Subscribe on YouTube

***

SPONSORS

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Every few years, someone asks you the question you've been avoiding. For me, this was it: does your show actually have a premise, or does it just require people to already know and like you?

Jeremy Enns is the founder of Podcast Marketing Academy, where his primary product is podcast audits. He has spent years analyzing what separates shows that grow from shows that stall, and he runs Podcast Marketing Academy to help hosts fix both. He has been a member of The Lab since the early days.

In this episode, we talk about:

Why podcast problems are almost always brand and product problems in disguise

The difference between a show that requires you to already be known vs. one that earns listeners on its own merits

What "killer concepts" are — and why a sharper premise makes episodes easier to produce, not harder

The case for featuring Lab members as guests, and why it could be the highest-converting version of Creator Science

By the end of this episode, you will have a new framework for auditing any creative project — including your own — and asking whether it's designed to grow or just to persist.


Jeremy's resources for US!

Podcast Marketing Academy

Killer Concept

Jeremy Enns on LinkedIn

Full transcript and show notes

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TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Cold open: what a "killer concept" actually is

(02:20) How this episode came to be: Jeremy's years of quiet notes on Creator Science

(04:04) What Jay actually wants from this conversation

(09:36) Where podcasting fits in the funnel — why it's the Lab's best front door

(13:23) "If you were starting today": the co-host question

(22:14) Does Creator Science have a premise? Jeremy's honest take

(26:11) The container model: Song Exploder vs. Reply All

(31:09) The density problem: why 80% of episodes aren't relevant to most listeners

(34:49) The missing IP: Jay's philosophy exists in his head, not on paper

(38:31) Why featuring Lab members could be the highest-converting version of the show

(44:51) A three-part lens: discovery, trust, monetization

(53:28) Jeremy's prescription: what the ideal Creator Science show looks like

***

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODE

#273: How to create a scrappy industry report that elevates your brand | Jeremy Enns

***

ASK CREATOR SCIENCE

Submit your question here

***

WHEN YOU'RE READY

Creator Science Newsletter

Get CreatorHQ (creator operating system)

Join The Lab (private membership community)

Get a Personalized Offer

***

CONNECT

Connect on Twitter

Connect on Instagram

Connect on LinkedIn

Subscribe on YouTube

***

SPONSORS

View all sponsors

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Richard van der Blom published his first LinkedIn algorithm report years ago as a curiosity project. This year, he and his team analyzed 1.3 million posts from 50,000 creators — and the headline number is hard to ignore: reach is down 60% for active creators over the last two years. Even harder to stomach: 80% of the comments Richard receives in the first five minutes of any post are written by AI.

Richard is the author of the annual LinkedIn Algorithm Insights report — the most data-backed independent study of the platform I've found. He's also been targeted by LinkedIn's legal team, banned from the platform, and watched the third-party tools he relied on get shut down one by one. He keeps publishing anyway.

In this episode, we talk about:

Why reach is down 60% for active creators — and why LinkedIn says that's intentional

What "topic fingerprinting" is and how to use it to re-teach the algorithm who you are

How your comments now shape your interest graph, not just your human visibility

Why LinkedIn newsletters are outperforming regular posts on reach, engagement, and conversion

By the end of this episode, you will understand exactly what changed in the LinkedIn algorithm, why the old playbook is working against you, and the specific moves to make in 2026.

2026 LinkedIn Algorithm Insights Report

Richard van der Blom on LinkedIn

Full transcript and show notes

***

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Introduction

(02:36) Richard's one-word description of LinkedIn in 2026: "turbulent"

(07:38) The shift from relationship graph to interest-based graph — the biggest change in 10 years

(11:36) Topic fingerprinting: how to re-teach the algorithm who you are

(14:47) Why commenting on the wrong posts actively hurts your reach

(16:41) Richard's 25-30 minute daily commenting system, broken down

(25:17) The free bookmark search trick for building curated feeds

(31:41) Newsletters vs. standalone articles — the numbers are not close

(35:16) LinkedIn newsletter analytics: click-by-link tracking is now live

(39:37) Optimal posting frequency: down from 5-6x to 2-4x per week

(41:18) Why text-only posts require exceptional copywriting to work

(43:20) What the top LinkedIn creators know that everyone else misses

(45:29) Richard's prediction: LinkedIn is at a crossroads

***

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODE

#188: Richard van der Blom – How the man behind the LinkedIn Algorithm Report uses LinkedIn.

***

ASK CREATOR SCIENCE

Submit your question here

***

WHEN YOU'RE READY

Creator Science Newsletter


Get CreatorHQ (creator operating system)


Join The Lab (private membership community)

Get a Personalized Offer

***

CONNECT

Connect on Twitter

Connect on Instagram

Connect on LinkedIn

Subscribe on YouTube

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SPONSORS

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Josh is the founder of Upright Media, an operating partner for content creators handling operations, consulting, recruiting, and post-production. His clients include some of YouTube's biggest channels — Erak, Smosh, Emma Chamberlain, Dude Perfect, Matthew Beam, and Chris Williamson. He runs 11 full-time staff and about 40 contractors worldwide. He describes himself as a creator without a channel. This conversation also took a turn into what YouTube actually rewards right now, why "companionship content" is quietly eating the internet, and the concept of the "shitty flow state" — that experience where you put down your phone 35 minutes after opening Instagram and can't name a single thing you saw.

Upright Media

Brad Stulberg — The Way of Excellence

Monday.com (project management tool Josh uses)

Topper Guild (YouTube channel)

Speeed (James Pumphrey + Jesse Wood)

Full transcript and show notes

***

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Josh's opening: don't lose sight of the big goals that motivate your team

(00:26) Who Josh Mattingly is and what Upright Media does

(08:16) Excitement vs. panic — how much of working 80 hours a week is actually anxiety

(12:49) Why most creators hire from panic — and how Josh reframes it around a goal

(22:35) Build the team around what you're doing well, not where you think you're going

(24:36) The positioning exercise: what is your channel, actually — and why it drives every hire

(20:36) Speeed channel case study: lean team, clear mission, "GQ for this generation"

(27:02) What YouTube is biased toward right now: real connection over spectacle

(30:02) The content spectrum: entertainment → education → companionship content

(40:01) The "shitty flow state" — why most of what we consume doesn't satisfy

(55:52) Hiring mistake: moving too fast — interview 10 more after you find "the one"

(56:56) Building a hiring committee as a solopreneur using peers and friends

***

RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODE

#175: Angus Parker – Ali Abdaal’s right-hand man shares a YouTuber’s guide to hiring.

***

ASK CREATOR SCIENCE

Submit your question here

***

WHEN YOU'RE READY

📬 Creator Science Newsletter

🚀 Get CreatorHQ

🧪 Join The Lab

🧞‍♂️ Get a Personalized Offer

***

CONNECT

🐦 Connect on Twitter

📸 Connect on Instagram

💼 Connect on LinkedIn

📹 Subscribe on YouTube

***

SPONSORS

💼 View all sponsors
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices