How Mastermind City Ditched Code and Built a Real Community

Stacey and Faye have been through it all. When they say they’ve tested “an enormous amount” of community software, they mean it. They’ve tried platforms from free to “most ridiculously expensive.” They’ve moved their members from one solution to another, promising each time that this was the one.

And every time, they ended up doing the platform’s job for them.

At one point, they spent a fortune on a community platform that couldn’t figure out how to do what they needed. So they wrote code for it. Literally. They told the developers, “Just give us access. We’ll do it ourselves.”

That’s when they looked at each other and thought, “This is ridiculous. We can’t keep doing this.”

Then GroupApp came along.

Faye tested it first. She sent Stacey a message: “I think this might be it.” Stacey was skeptical; they’d been burned too many times. But she tried it. And then she sent back: “I think yeah, this might be it.”

Today, Mastermind City runs entirely on GroupApp. They use every feature. Their members, even the “technology-challenged” ones, navigate it without help. And when someone asks where to find something, the answer is always the same: “It’s in the community.”

For the first time, they’re not writing code. They’re not finding workarounds. They’re just running their business and enjoying the dings of new messages.

This is their story.

The Dark Ages (or, “We Spent More Time Finding Workarounds Than Engaging Our Members”)

Stacey and Faye have been in the entrepreneurial training game for years. They do courses, live coaching, Q&As, hot seats, networking events, free training, and paid memberships. Their community is the heart of their business.

But for years, that heart was broken.

Every platform they tried had a fatal flaw. One did courses well but treated community like an afterthought. Another had great forums, but no way to organize resources. A third had everything they wanted, if they could figure out how to make it work.

“Every other community we used, we had to customize, find workaround solutions,” Faye says. “We spent more time trying to find the workarounds than we were actually engaging with our members.”

The low point came when they paid top dollar for a platform that couldn’t handle their needs. Instead of waiting for support or getting the standard “that’s not on our roadmap” response, they just wrote the code themselves.

“We were like, ‘No, no, we’ll do it. Just give us access,” Faye recalls. “But then we started going, ‘This is ridiculous. We can’t do this level of commitment.'”

They wanted to spend their time being excited about their community. Not doing someone else’s job.

The Discovery (or, “I Think This Might Be It”)

Faye doesn’t remember exactly how she found GroupApp. Maybe a recommendation. Maybe a late-night Google spiral. But she set up a test account, clicked around, and felt something she hadn’t felt in years: hope.

She messaged Stacey. “I think this might be it.”

Stacey, the skeptical one, braced herself. She’d heard this before. She logged in, poked around, and waited for the inevitable catch.

It didn’t come.

“I think yeah, this might be it,” she wrote back.

What sold them? Two things. First, the platform had everything they wanted built in: courses, categories, resource library, events, discussion channels, subscription levels, and access controls. It wasn’t a course platform with community tacked on, or a community platform with courses as an afterthought. It was all of it, at the core.

Second, the back end was so intuitive that they didn’t need to write code. They didn’t need to find workarounds. They just clicked buttons and made things happen.

“We were so skeptical,” Faye says. “But it was very cool to find you guys.”

The Migration (or, “How to Move 10 Years of Members Without Breaking a Sweat”)

Here’s where it gets good.

Stacey and Faye had years of members, people who had paid for courses, signed up for coaching, and trusted them through all those platform switches. They needed to move those people without creating friction.

In other platforms, this would have been a nightmare. Manual re‑enrollment. New passwords. Emails bouncing. Members getting lost.

With GroupApp, it was almost too easy.

Stacey created subscription links for each membership level. She emailed the links to existing members. They clicked, created a username and password, and, boom, they were in. Full access. No re‑paying. No confusion.

“They didn’t have to put in any extra money because they’d already purchased access before,” Stacey says. “So there really wasn’t a hiccup.”

For the “technology-challenged” members, the ones they use as guinea pigs, Stacey walked them through personally. And even those members figured it out.

“That’s the first time in probably about 10 different community software we’ve used,” Faye says. “First time that actually worked.”

The Architecture (or, “How to Organize 8,000 Courses So People Can Actually Find Them”)

Stacey and Faye have a lot of content. Courses on AI, podcasting, speaking, business, lifestyle, and special interests. Free training. Paid masterminds. Networking events. Live coaching.

In a Facebook group, this would be chaos. Posts get buried. Searches fail. People leave frustrated.

In GroupApp, they built a system.

Collections: They grouped courses by topic, AI, podcasting, speaking, and by access level. Free members see the free training collections. Paid members see everything.

The Upgrade Pop‑Up: When a free member clicks on a paid course, they get a friendly pop‑up: “This course is for our Plus members only. Click here to upgrade.” No dead ends. No confusion. Just a clear path forward.

The Resource Library: They put all their PDFs, quizzes, articles, and downloadable resources in one place. Members can browse, search, and grab what they need without clicking through 15 modules.

Segments: This is the secret sauce. Instead of managing access by individual subscription plans, they use segments. All Plus members, monthly, yearly, whatever, are in one segment. That segment has access to certain courses, events, and channels. When they add a new subscription plan, they just tag it to the segment. No re‑configuring every single piece of content.

“The biggest challenge I had in the beginning,” Stacey admits, “I was doing it by plan. Then we changed something, and I had to go through all the courses and add that plan. With segments, I don’t have to do that.”

Events with Access Levels: They run weekly Hot Topics sessions (free for everyone) and exclusive Plus coaching calls. When a free member tries to RSVP for a Plus event, they get a pop‑up explaining the upgrade. When a Plus member RSVPs, the Zoom link appears instantly. No more “What’s the URL?” texts five minutes before the call.

“We haven’t had that question,” Faye says. “We have not had the question.”

The Engagement Myth (or, “Just Because They’re Not Posting Doesn’t Mean They’re Not Learning”)

This part is worth its own section because Stacey and Faye have strong opinions about it.

“A lot of people think if people aren’t talking, your community sucks,” Faye says. “No. If people aren’t talking, maybe it’s because your training is so good that they don’t have questions.”

She should know. She buys more courses than most people will in a lifetime. And she rarely engages.

“I buy the course, I watch the course, I learn, I grab value, and I go ahead and implement it,” she says. “It does not mean that I’m not interested. I just have to prioritize my time.”

Stacey is the opposite. She reads every discussion, watches what other people ask, and learns from the answers. She’s a lurker, and she’s okay with that.

The point is: engagement looks different for everyone. Some people come for the live coaching. Some people come for the courses. Some people come just to be in the room.

GroupApp lets them all do their thing. And Stacey and Faye don’t have to guess who’s doing what. The platform just works.

The Playbook: How to Build a Community That Doesn’t Make You Write Code

If you’re starting a community, or thinking about moving your existing one, here’s what Stacey and Faye want you to steal.

1. Join a community before you build one. Don’t take someone’s word for it. Go into a real community (like Mastermind City) and see how it works from the member side. If you’re confused, your members will be too.
2. Know what you actually need. “Community” means different things to different people. Do you need courses? Forums? Events? A resource library? Write down your non‑negotiables before you start shopping.
3. Start small. You don’t need 40 collections on day one. Stacey and Faye started with a general discussion channel, an introduction thread, and one or two courses. They grew as their business grew.
4. Use segments from the beginning. Trust them on this. Don’t manage access by individual subscription plans. Create segments (Plus members, Free members, Networking members) and assign access by segment. It will save you hours when you add new plans.
5. Keep everything in one place. No Facebook groups. No Slack. No off‑platform Zoom links. Every course, every event, every resource, every discussion lives in the community. When a member asks, “Where’s the link?” the answer is always the same: “It’s in the community.”
6.  Use the upgrade pop‑up. Free members should never hit a dead end. If they click something they don’t have access to, tell them what they’re missing and give them a clear button to upgrade.
7. Don’t panic about engagement. If your content is good, people will consume it. Some will talk. Some will lurk. Some will show up to every live call. That’s all fine.
8. Pick a platform that grows with you. You might start with one course and one discussion channel. Two years from now, you might have 40 courses and 12 collections. Your platform should handle both without you having to rebuild everything.
9. Test with your “technology-challenged” members. Stacey and Faye have a few members who openly admit they’re not good with tech. Those members are their guinea pigs. If those members can figure it out, anyone can.
10. Find a team that actually builds what they promise. Stacey and Faye have been burned by platforms that promised features “on the roadmap” that never arrived. With GroupApp, when they ask for something, the answer is either “it’s already there” or “let’s do it.”

The Inspiring Part (Because This Story Deserves It)

Stacey and Faye didn’t start with a perfect community. They started with a vision, years of frustration, and a willingness to keep trying. They wrote code for other platforms. They moved their members more times than they can count. They were skeptical, critical, and exhausted.

But they didn’t give up.

Now they have a community that runs itself. Their members find what they need without asking. Their retention is higher than ever. And when a new feature drops, they get excited, not anxious.

“We’re always thinking, ‘What can we add? What can we do?” Faye says. “And when we ask you, you just do it. You understand what a community needs.”

That’s the difference. Not just a platform that works, but a team that actually cares whether it works for you.

Your Turn to Stop Writing Code

If you’re tired of duct‑taping together courses, communities, events, and payment systems. 

If you’re tired of answering the same “where’s the link?” question five minutes before every call.

And if you’re tired of doing the platform’s job instead of your own, take a page from Stacey and Faye’s book.

Join a community first. See how it feels from the member side. Then build your own.

And when you’re ready to put everything in one place, courses, events, discussions, resources, and a way to manage it all without writing a single line of code, see what GroupApp can do for you.