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.
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:
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.
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