Success Story Podcast with Scott D. Clary

Episode: Lessons - From Refugees to $100M Exit | Lloyed Lobo - Community Building Expert
Date: January 3, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, Scott D. Clary interviews Lloyed Lobo, an entrepreneur and community-building expert who co-founded Boast.ai and Traction, and successfully exited for $100M. The discussion centers around the pivotal role of community in business, the foundational steps to community-building, and how aligning personal mission with professional pursuits fuels lasting success. Lloyed shares his actionable framework for entrepreneurs, his personal journey from hardship to prosperity, and the enduring value of passion-driven work.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Future of Successful Businesses: Community over Commodity

• Thesis: Businesses built around strong communities will far outperform those built as mere commodities, both presently and in the future.
• Lloyed and Scott agree that community is the core differentiator that enables sustainable, compounding success.

Quote:
“The future of business will be built around community. I think that will differentiate businesses and allow them to achieve levels of success that a commodity based business would not be able to achieve easily and even more so in the future.”
— Scott D. Clary (03:39)

2. Step One: Understanding and Deciding the Type of Community

• Two Types of Community:

  • Community of Practice: Unites people with a shared goal of learning or passion (e.g., digital marketing, customer success, motorcycles).
  • Community of Product: Gathers product users to exchange insights and stay engaged with the company.

• For startups, especially pre-product-market-fit, community of practice is crucial.

  • Product-centric communities can feel insincere early on, coming across as sales-centric.

Quote:
“The step one is understanding what kind of community do you want to build? Do you want to build a community of practice or a community of product?...focus on building a community of practice to elevate that field of learning or field of passion. Very important, especially if you don’t have a product or you’re pre product market fit.”
— Lloyed Lobo (04:47–05:38)

3. The Building Blocks: Mission, Vision, Purpose, and Values

• Mission, Vision, Purpose, and Values:

  • Not superficial slogans—essential for durability and direction.
  • These should be internalized, not just written on walls.

• Lloyed’s personal framework:

  • Purpose: Enable innovators to change the world.
  • Vision: Accelerate innovation.
  • How: Provide innovators with content, connections, community, and capital.
  • Values: Impact, passion, teamwork, empathy (“Impact over power and money... People who focus on impact can change the world.”)

Quote:
“A lot of people say, man, these are bullshit things that people write on the wall. If it’s bullshit, you can’t build a long lasting sustainable company, right?...Your mission tells you what you do every day, your vision tells you what you will be as a result of that...your values tell you how you behave every waking hour.”
— Lloyed Lobo (06:46–08:11)

4. The Importance of Alignment and Authenticity

• Lloyed’s behaviors and preferences naturally shaped his company cultures, not forced processes.
• Authentic, purpose-driven work creates natural alignment across ventures.

Quote:
“I didn’t make sure they sustained across both my companies. It’s just my behaviors caused me to go in.”
— Lloyed Lobo (11:56)

5. Finding Your Passion—and Leverage—in Entrepreneurship

• Personal Audit:

  • Identify work that energizes versus what you procrastinate.
  • “If every week you hit snooze on your Google email...those are things you should never do.” (12:58)
  • Leverage your passion for sustainable energy and impact.

• Formula for Fulfillment:

  • When passion meets profession: “You become Michael Jackson or Michael Jordan...it’s not work anymore.” (13:32–13:55)
  • Critical to surround yourself with people who complement your gaps.

• Nurture and Upbringing:

  • Lloyed credits his values to growing up in a generous, community-driven family and enduring hardship:
    • “If you help enough people get to their destination, you’ll get to your destination. Those people may not help you, but the karma comes back.” (14:23)

6. Prioritizing What Matters

• After a major exit, Lloyed continues working in his passion areas.
• Delegates or ignores less-enjoyable tasks. “Everything else I procrastinate on.” (15:19)
• True happiness and lasting impact come from focusing on what you love and building teams that complement you.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Community-Building:

  “One of the best ways to build a community is where there’s person to person interaction, not just a one to many. So people within the community can interact—whether or not that central figure lives or dies.”
  — Lloyed Lobo (05:08)

• On Mission, Vision, and Values:

  “Impact over power and money. People who hunger for power destroy relationships. People who just focus on money make short term decisions... People who focus on impact can change the world.”
  — Lloyed Lobo (07:50)

• On Passion and Profession:

  “When passion meets profession, you become Michael Jackson or Michael Jordan... it’s not work anymore. You love dancing, you love shooting hoops... you gotta find that.”
  — Lloyed Lobo (13:44)

• On Delegation and Happiness:

  “If you can surround yourself with people who fill your gaps so you can do what you love doing, then you’ll have a happy life forever.”
  — Lloyed Lobo (15:36)

Timestamps for Core Segments

• 03:39: Why the future belongs to community-led businesses, not commodities.
• 04:16–06:56: Types of communities and how to start building one.
• 06:56–09:17: The role of mission, vision, purpose, and values in company longevity.
• 11:56–13:20: How Lloyed identified his purpose and values naturally.
• 13:32–14:50: Using passion as leverage and how upbringing shapes work.
• 15:19–15:49: The joy of doubling down on your strengths through delegation.

Episode Takeaways

• Community is the engine of enduring business success. Find your community type and prioritize real relationships.
• Mission, vision, and values create sustainable organizations. They must be authentic and integrated.
• Passion is leverage: Build your business around what you love, and fill gaps with complementary people.
• Your upbringing and experiences shape your ‘why’. Lean into them to find your authentic purpose.
• Delegate the things you hate; double down on your strengths for happiness and long-term results.

Lloyed’s story and frameworks offer a powerful playbook for anyone building a business in 2026 and beyond: community, purpose, and authenticity trump short-term tactics and commodity competition every time.