Episode Details

My guest today is Jake McKee, a pioneer in the modern customer community movement.

In this conversation, he shares:

• Hiss Origin Story: His unique career bridging product design, engineering, and community strategy.
• Community-Driven Product Development: How companies can embed passionate customers in the development cycle.
• Empathy & Relationship Building: The importance of emotional connection between brands, engineers, and users.
• Community Across Industries: From B2B to B2C, physical products to software, communities play a crucial role in success.
• Brand Strength vs. Community Engagement: Why brand prestige isn’t necessary—what matters is purpose and connection.
• Breaking Silos Within Organizations: How community initiatives foster collaboration across different departments.
• Harnessing Collective Knowledge: Using communities to gather insights, troubleshoot issues, and enhance product adoption.
• Leading Indicators vs. Reactive Responses: Using community feedback to detect trends before they become business problems.
• AI in Community Management: How AI can augment but not replace human relationships in communities.
• ‍ What Makes a Great Community Manager?