Our Head of Decentralization [Plugrel](https://x.com/plugrel?t=eqQxruDh5Q-w8emT82GhRA&s=09) shared with us why building a community without a real project in hand is like inviting guests to an empty party. Here are 5 valuable reasons on why you should build your project before the community around it. **Community-Centric Product Development:** Understanding and addressing community needs is foundational for successful product development. **Understanding the Product's Role:** For sustained success, ensure the product solves customer problems directly. Also, make sure it has a clear business model. **Developer Relations and Ecosystem Building:** Encouraging a friendly community of devs is vital. It promotes open sharing of software ideas. This helps create new and better products. It makes the overall system stronger and more expansive. **User Retention and Community Feedback:** Keeping users interested and engaged improves products and services over time. It is important to listen to what users say, to achieve this. **Long-term Sustainability:** Designing a strong and enduring ecosystem is crucial for sustained success. This holds true even if key individuals are absent for example Satoshi with Bitcoin. Shot emphasizes the importance of substance over hype. It helps to avoid falling into emptiness. Additionally, he underscores the significance of engaging the community with a long-term perspective.