How to Build a Crypto Community from Zero to Hero: The Roo Playbook

So...

Everyone thinks building a crypto community is about having deep pockets and fancy VCs. But I'm about to tell you how two guys built a thriving meme coin community with basically zero dollars and a lot of hustle.

The Brussels Sprouts Moment

You know that feeling when you're trying to host dinner for your mom but you don't know how to cook Brussels sprouts? That's exactly how most founders feel when launching a crypto project. They're trying to look like adults, but they're really just winging it. (And that is fine, we’ve all been there, we just embrace the suck and learn on the go).

But, Jack from Roo? He was different. This guy had been in crypto since 2017, not as some big shot, but as retail. Just another degen learning the ropes.

It was March 2024. Jack's scrolling through crypto Twitter, watching celebrity meme coins rug their communities left and right. He turns to his developer buddy Ian.

Jack: "What if we made a meme coin that doesn't suck?"

Ian: "What do you mean?"

Jack: "No team tokens. No rug pulls. No BS."

Ian: pauses. "That's either brilliant or insane."

Spoiler: It was both.

FOUNDER LESSON #1: The best ideas often sound crazy at first. If everyone thinks it's obviously good, it's probably already been done to death.

The Zero Dollar Startup

Remember in The Social Network when Zuckerberg needed that $19,000 loan from Eduardo? Yeah, Jack and Ian didn't have an Eduardo.

Total startup cost: Whatever it costs to deploy a smart contract on Stacks.

How? Ian could code. Jack could community. That's it. That's the business plan.

FOUNDER LESSON #2: Your skills ARE your seed funding. Stop waiting for someone to write you a check. Find a co-founder whose skills complement yours perfectly.

The Trust Formula That Broke Crypto's Brain

Here's what made everyone lose their minds: When the fair launch happened and Jack got an airdrop to his wallet, he did something nobody expected.

He announced it publicly. Then gave it all back.

"Hey, this just came into the wallet. I'm being transparent. We are not taking anything for free. We're going to put it back in the pot and even myself and Ian are gonna buy our allocation in the open market."

The community went nuts. In a world where founders regularly dump on their holders, these guys were buying their own tokens like everyone else.

Frame: While everyone else was extracting value, Jack was injecting trust.

FOUNDER LESSON #3: In a low-trust environment, radical transparency becomes your biggest competitive advantage. Do the opposite of what scammers do.

The Art of the Anti-Whale

They raised $260,000 in STX from the community. But here's the twist, they made it impossible for whales to dominate.

Maximum buy-in limits. Anti-gaming measures. If you wanted to be a Roo whale, you had to work for it on the secondary market.

Then came the waiting game. Stacks follows Bitcoin's confirmation time, and with the massive interest, the whole process took 30+ hours. Imagine holding a quarter million of other people's money while the blockchain slowly churns through confirmations.

Jack's move? Update the community as often as possible, so they know what's going on.

"Processing block 4,237..."

"Still waiting on confirmations..."

"Almost there, gang..."

FOUNDER LESSON #4: When handling community resources, paranoid transparency is your best friend. Over-communicate during critical moments. Silence breeds doubt.

The Kangaroo That Broke Telegram

You know what's funny? The feature that got people most hyped wasn't some complex DeFi mechanism. It was a fun Telegram bot.

Every time someone bought Roo: 🦘 "Someone just bought 1,000 ROO!"

Big purchase? 🦘🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 "WHALE ALERT!"

People would literally sit in Telegram waiting for the kangaroo to appear. It became a dopamine slot machine for degens.

FOUNDER LESSON #5: The best features make people feel something. Emotional engagement beats technical sophistication every time. Sometimes the quirkiest ideas are the stickiest.

The NFT Artist Hustle

Jack needed art. Jack had no money for art.

So he went to talented and aspiring NFT artists in the Stacks ecosystem with a proposition that would make a Silicon Valley growth hacker weep:

"Make art for Roo. I can't pay you. But you'll get exposure."

Before you laugh, it worked. Why? Because Jack understood something most people don't: Artists need attention, exposure and recognition more than they need immediate payment.

They jumped in. Created iconic art. Built their reputation. And Jack? He made sure to compensate these artists with Roo tokens whenever he could, not because he had to, but because he wanted to show appreciation with whatever resources he had in his toolbox.

FOUNDER LESSON #6: Turn your expenses into equity partners. When you can't pay in cash, create opportunities for people to grow alongside you. Make them invested in your success.

The Second Act That Nobody Saw Coming

Six months in. Bear market. STX down bad. Most projects would be dead.

Jack and Ian are in the trenches:

Jack: "We need something new."

Ian: "What about those DMT NFTs we talked about?"

Jack: "The ones that live fully on-chain?"

Ian: "Yeah. Nobody's done it on Stacks yet."

Jack: “Let’s cook.”

They launch Stacks Invaders. Starting price: 0.5 STX. The mint mechanism? Absolutely chaotic. One NFT per STX block (approx. every 10 minutes). People setting alarms, fighting over blocks, developing strategies like it's a war game.

Current floor: 32 STX. That's a 64x for people who minted early.

FOUNDER LESSON #7: When everyone else gives up, that's when you double down. Bear markets are for building. Your second act should be bigger than your first.

The Daily Grind Nobody Sees

Here's what building a community actually looks like:

• Sponsor DeOrganized podcast (with Roo tokens, not cash)

• Show up in every Stacks Twitter Space

• Run random token drops at town halls

• Create and fund games through Skullcoin

• Build reputation systems for long-term holders

• Drop Easter eggs in smart contracts

• Respond to every single DM

Sexy? No. Effective? The community's still here while 99% of meme coins from March 2024 are ghost towns.

FOUNDER LESSON #8: Community building is a daily practice, not a one-time event. Show up consistently in unglamorous ways. The compound effect of small actions is massive.

The Philosophy That Changes Everything

I asked Jack what Roo was really about. His answer?

"An amusement park for degens."

Not "revolutionizing finance." Not "building the future of money." Just a place where people who love crypto can have fun without getting rugged.

That's it. That's the mission.

FOUNDER LESSON #9: Sometimes the best businesses solve the simplest problems. Don't overthink your mission. Make it clear, make it resonate, make it human.

Your Turn: The Roo Playbook

Want to build your own community with zero dollars? Here's the playbook:

Step 1: Find your unfair advantage

• Jack had community skills

• Ian had dev skills

• What do you have?

Step 2: Build trust before traction

• Public transparency

• Share your wins AND your struggles

• Deliver value before asking for anything

Step 3: Make whales work for it

• Fair launch with caps

• Anti-gaming measures

• Let market dynamics work

Step 4: Turn the community into your team

• Can't pay for art? Trade exposure

• Can't pay for marketing? Create believers

• Can't pay for devs? Find a co-founder who believes

Step 5: Ship fun, not features

• Kangaroo bot > Complex DeFi

• Meme contests > Marketing campaigns

• Vibes > Whitepapers

Step 6: Show up when everyone leaves

• Bear market? Build harder

• Community quiet? Stay louder

• Price down? Spirits up

Step 7: Play the long game

• Don't be fixated with roadmaps, be flexible, because your roadmap will likely be wrong and will need to be adjusted anyway

• Build reputation systems that reward loyalty over time

• Focus on creating lasting value, not quick flips

The Million Dollar Question

Here's what nobody asks but everyone wonders: Why didn't Jack and Ian take any tokens?

"I operate under a thesis that this is a very early time to be in this space. I'll be an old man before we really start seeing this space, you know, very mature where it needs to be."

They're not trying to get rich quick. They're trying to build something that lasts.

FOUNDER LESSON #10: In a space full of mercenaries, be a missionary. Build for the long game when everyone else is playing short-term games.

The Bottom Line

Two guys. Zero dollars. No team tokens. One year later: thriving community, NFT collections, games, and a floor price that hasn't collapsed.

They didn't reinvent the wheel. They just:

• Showed up every day

• Didn't scam anyone

• Made it fun

• Kept building when others quit

If they can do it, what's your excuse?

The tools are free. The playbook is above. The only thing missing is you actually doing it.

So... what are you waiting for? Build on Boom. We are here for you.

---

You can find Roo at @roocoin on X. Jack is at @jackbinswitch and Ian at @imbanksia. Join their Telegram for the full kangaroo experience.

Visit https://boom.money to learn more about the project or follow us on X @boom_wallet

P.S. - This isn't financial advice. It's way better, it's a blueprint for building something people actually want. No VC required.

From Morning Shows to Media Empire: How DeOrganized Media Built a Web3 Community with Zero Budget

The story of how a 48-year-old real estate agent with seven kids and "borderline technical knowledge" accidentally built a Web3 media powerhouse—and the lessons any founder can steal without asking permission.

Picture this: It's 8:30 AM. Most crypto enthusiasts are either sleeping off their late-night Discord sessions or doom-scrolling through their collapsing portfolios. Meanwhile, Stephen Perrino (known online as PeaceLoveMusic.btc) is live-streaming crypto news to a dedicated audience, many of whom schedule their morning coffee around his broadcast.

This daily ritual—"DeOrganized Morning Show"—has become something of a cult phenomenon in the Stacks ecosystem. The show has spawned spinoffs, attracted sponsors, and built a community so devoted they'll follow Stephen through conversations about everything from Bitcoin's price action to Brussels sprouts recipes (okay, I made that last part up, but you get the point).

Here's the kicker: DeOrganized Media launched with exactly $138 in funding.

The Accidental Media Mogul

Stephen isn't your typical startup founder. He didn't quit his job at Google to pursue his passion project. He didn't raise a seed round from Andreessen Horowitz. He didn't even have a business plan.

"What I was originally going to do was write 20 articles and host weekly spaces," Stephen explains, thinking back to his early days in the Stacks ecosystem. A modest proposal that has somehow morphed into a mini-media empire with multiple shows, dozens of collaborators, and plans for a suite of decentralized applications.

How does one go from writing a few articles to building a Web3 media company with essentially no budget? It turns out, there's a method to the madness—one that any bootstrapped founder can learn from.

The Art of Showing Up When Nobody Else Will

Stephen's first brilliant move was accidentally brilliant: he picked the most undesirable time slot in crypto.

"I chose the morning because there was no other times to write everything. There was too many shows," Stephen recalls. "I didn't want to step on anybody's toes and be opposite them, and there was nothing going on in the morning. So that's why I started doing the morning slot."

While everyone else was fighting over prime evening hours, Stephen claimed empty territory that nobody wanted. It's the entrepreneurial equivalent of buying real estate in a "bad neighborhood" before gentrification hits.

FOUNDER LESSON #1: Find the underserved spaces where competition doesn't exist. The most obvious times/places/markets are usually the most crowded. Look where others aren't looking.

But claiming territory is just the beginning. Stephen had to show up. Consistently. Day after day.

"The biggest obstacle really was committing. I'm gonna do this at the same time every day, Monday through Friday," he explains. "When I became like, I'm going to keep doing this and actually grow it into something more, it had to become consistent."

FOUNDER LESSON #2: Consistency isn't sexy, but it's the difference between the businesses that survive and those that don't. If you're looking for something and it requires you to ask somebody for business, and then you get that business, people tend to stop asking. But you've got to keep being consistent with the ask.

The "Minimum Viable Media Empire" Strategy

Most founders obsess over their product. Stephen obsessed over his relationships.

He didn't start with a massive marketing budget or sophisticated growth strategy. Instead, he did something much simpler: he showed up in everyone else's spaces.

"We're in the spaces. We're supporting everybody else. BoostX has a space. We're out supporting BoostX. Boom has a space. I try to get in," Stephen explains.

This approach created a virtuous cycle: Stephen supported others in the ecosystem, and they, in turn, supported him. It wasn't a calculated strategy as much as it was an extension of Stephen's personality, but it worked incredibly well.

FOUNDER LESSON #3: The best growth hack isn't a hack at all—it's genuine community participation. Support others before you ask for support. Be the person who shows up for everyone else, and they'll show up for you.

The result? A community that feels personally invested in DeOrganized Media's success.

"That actually is what makes our success, it's what helps, it's what fuels our growth—the ecosystem supports us. They tune in to support us. They tune in and chat with us because they like us and they like what we're doing."

The Art of Scaling on Zero Dollars

When most media companies want to grow, they raise capital and hire people. When Stephen wanted to grow, he just... let people join.

"One of the things that I wish I had earlier was more people streaming with me on a regular basis," he reflects. "Like it wasn't just me, because I think that that makes much better content when there's conversations and not just somebody talking about stuff."

Instead of hiring full-time employees (impossible on his non-existent budget), Stephen created a structure where others could contribute in ways that benefited everyone. GPSC started co-hosting on Fridays. Stacksy began doing weekly Stacks ecosystem updates on Mondays. Blockface added an AI segment. Zenitron joined to talk about Web3 gaming.

FOUNDER LESSON #4: When you can't afford to pay people, create a platform where they can build their own audience and reputation. Contributors get visibility, you get content, and the audience gets variety.

This collaborative approach created something greater than the sum of its parts—a diverse media platform with different voices, perspectives, and content offerings.

The Shameless Self-Funding Hustle

Let's talk about the elephant in the room: money. Or rather, the lack of it.

"Right now BitFlow, StackingDAO, we've had deals with Hermetica, Jack's done some stuff with us with Roo, Shoutout, Skullcoin's a sponsor too with some of the stuff that they've been sponsoring on Find2Earn, plus all of the meme tokens."

Stephen didn't start with these partnerships. He started by providing value, building an audience, and then—only then—creating opportunities for sponsors to get involved.

FOUNDER LESSON #5: Build first, monetize later. Provide so much value that monetization becomes the obvious next step, not a desperate attempt to stay afloat.

But even with sponsors, Stephen's operation remains scrappy. "Most of my money is self-funded and I don't spend a lot of money on the business. I only spend what's necessary."

The Real-Life Schedule of a Bootstrapped Founder

Want to know what Stephen's typical day looks like? Brace yourself:

6:00 AM: Drinking coffee, working on ChatGPT to produce news items for the morning show 6:30 AM: At the laptop, setting up the Restream app with headlines and show notes 8:00 AM: Binta hosts the warm-up space 8:30 AM: Live stream goes live, Stephen reads the news and brings on guests 9:30 AM: Zenitron comes on for Find2Earn games 10:00 AM: Stephen leaves to show a house (remember, he's still a full-time realtor) 3:00 PM: Joins the BitFlow space 7:00 PM: Jumps in to chat with GPSC on the night show

FOUNDER LESSON #6: Entrepreneurship isn't about quitting your job and going all-in. It's about finding the hours around your job, your family, and your life to build something meaningful. The best time to work on your startup is whenever you can.

The Future Is DeOrganized

When asked where he sees DeOrganized Media in 12 months, Stephen's vision is ambitious yet clearly defined:

"12 months from now, I anticipate we'll be at or near live streaming 24-7 or at least a 12 hour like a long all day stream section with lots of different content in the middle with different people, different personalities coming on."

Beyond the media content, Stephen envisions a suite of applications: deorganized.media, deorganized.events, deorganized.games, deorganized.music, deorganized.nft, deorganized.art, deorganized.publishing, and deorganized.finance.

The connecting thread? Supporting "the creation and control of digital rights, digital content, and distribution by the owner of that content."

Lessons for the Rest of Us

What can the average, non-crypto, non-media founder take away from Stephen's journey? A lot, actually.

1. Find the empty spaces. Look for the time slots, market segments, or content areas that everyone else is ignoring.

2. Show up consistently. The single biggest factor in Stephen's success wasn't talent, funding, or connections—it was his willingness to show up day after day.

3. Support before asking for support. Build genuine relationships by helping others before you need help yourself.

4. Create platforms, not just products. Enable others to build alongside you rather than trying to do everything yourself.

5. Start with value, not monetization. Build something people want, and the money will follow.

6. Work around your life, not instead of it. You don't need to quit your job to start something meaningful.

7. Build in public. Stephen's entire operation has developed in full view of his audience, creating investment and loyalty you can't buy.

The most refreshing part of Stephen's story is how attainable it feels. He didn't need venture capital, a co-founding team of Stanford CS grads, or a revolutionary AI algorithm. He just needed passion, consistency, and a willingness to provide value to a community he cared about.

And if a 48-year-old realtor with seven kids can build a Web3 media company with $138 and "borderline technical knowledge," what's your excuse?

You can find DeOrganized Media at deorganized.media, or follow them on X at @DeorganizedBTC. Stephen can be found at @PeaceLoveMusicG

Visit https://boom.money to learn more about the project or follow us on X @boom_wallet