Warm Growth

Growth isn’t broken, it’s just gotten a little noisy.

Maybe you've felt it too — the slow drift from creating with intention to creating with urgency. Chasing numbers. Watching trends. All the while wondering if more for the sake of more will lead to what you want.

Every day, millions of voices grasp for attention, like a relentless sea of noise.

Warm growth can help you find focus in this sea of noise and build something sustainable. It’s not some new take on growth. It’s a quiet shift that could change the way you create and help you find a path you love, instead of one you quietly grow to resent.

What is Warm Growth?

You may not know it yet, but how you grow your audience will define the longevity of your business—and your peace of mind.

Have you ever felt that creeping pressure to always be “on”?

Create more content.

Try more hacks.

Watch the numbers.

And now with AI, output more than ever… in less time, with less care.

But what’s easy to miss is what’s being lost. More for the sake of more erodes your thoughtfulness. Hacks to get more attention erodes your trust. And following the numbers, leaning on AI to become a second erodes your realness.

We’ve spent years being told we should optimize for maximum reach. It doesn’t matter how you get there, just do what everyone else is doing. But we rarely ask if the people we end up reaching will want to hear from us again.

Warm Growth is the quiet revolution against optimization at all costs.

It’s the creator who still replies to emails, even with 100k subscribers. It’s the founder who remembers their first ten customers by name. It’s the writer whose work is shared over and over – not because it went viral, but because it feels like it was written just for you.

Warm Growth is a strategy and a mindset all in one. Really it’s a way of being that future-proofs your business because it focuses on the only thing that actually matters:

Real human connection.

Let’s face it, reality is increasingly harder to discern. That’s why I believe Warm Growth isn’t just a good idea…

It might be the most important one.

When content feels like a handwritten letter

You’re one of 200 people tucked into a wood-paneled event space, the kind with string lights all over the ceiling and the faint scent of coffee still lingering in the air. You’re here to see a creator you’ve followed for years. Their videos helped you dream bigger on quiet nights, their voice a kind of motivating presence on long walks, their writing a helpful reminder during hard weeks.

And now, for the first time, they’re standing just a few feet away.

When they step on stage, there’s no dramatic entrance or rush to impress. They say hello to everyone, take a breath, and suddenly their eyes land on someone in the front row.

“It’s so good to finally see you in person, Jacob,” they say. “Thanks for the reply last week, it really stuck with me.”

There’s a light ripple of laughter, not because it’s funny — because it’s surprising. Disarming even. As if this wasn’t a talk or a performance, but just a gathering of people who already know each other a little.

Later, after the Q&A, you find yourself near the side of the room, debating whether to say anything. You’re not sure if they’ll notice and wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t.

But they do.

They catch your eye and step a little closer.

“Hey! Glad you made it” they say, like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

And just like that, something feels different. You talk — not for long, but long enough to feel like it mattered. They listened without rushing, without scanning the room, as if for these few minutes there was nowhere else they need to be.

That’s Warm Growth.

And it doesn’t just happen on stages.

It shows up in the podcast host who pauses mid-episode to read a listener’s story. In the writer who spends hours responding to reader emails, even when their inbox is full. In the YouTuber who still takes time to reply to comments, long after crossing 100k subscribers.

Warm Growth isn’t a tactic or something you can fake. It’s a way of being.

You can see it in a message that feels like it was written for one person. In the way someone talks about their audience — not as data points or conversions, but as people worth knowing.

They don’t need to point to it. You feel it. And once you do, it stays with you.

The subtle signals of a Warm Growth creator

You know a warm growth creator when you meet one. They make you feel like you matter.

They reply to emails and DMs. They remember small details. They ask questions that invite real responses.

They show up when they don’t have anything to sell. They do more than publish—they check in.

They give more than they take. They’re more curious than promotional.

When you meet them in person, they feel exactly like they do online. Not louder, flashier, or pretentious. Just a kind and consistent human.

They’re not building influence for influence’s sake. They don’t speak in soundbites. They listen and do all they can to help.

They’re driven, but not desperate. They’re growing, but it feels like you’re growing with them.

They’re not perfect and never claim to be. And in a world of polished content, that’s a competitive advantage.

Warm Growth creators don’t chase dopamine. They crave depth.

Real people, real connection

These are a few creators who built trust-first. Prime examples of Warm Growth:

• Ali Abdaal — Grew through generosity, transparency, and consistent care for his community. His tutorials feel like they’re for you. His monetization feels aligned with his message.
• Anne-Laure Le Cunff — Built Ness Labs around reflective thinking, open learning, and slow, intentional publishing. She invites exploration over optimization.
• Jay Clouse — Launched The Lab with radical transparency, capped membership, and personalized onboarding. He built a community with boundaries that preserved belonging.

This is a very small sample. Warm Growth creators are out there. Many of them haven’t even been recognized yet.

These creators don’t grow overnight. They earned loyalty over time. They focused on people, and people stuck around.

The six pillars of Warm Growth

So now that we’ve covered what warm growth is, you’re probably left wondering how this applies to you. It kind of feels like something you either have or don’t.

Call me overly optimistic but I like to believe we’re all capable of warm growth. These 6 principles point to what a warm growth creator looks for:

1. Resonance leads to reach

Virality is a quick moment. Resonance is a lasting effect. A Warm Growth creator doesn’t publish just to get seen, they publish to get remembered. Their best work shows up in someone’s inbox, yes, but it also shows up in someone’s thoughts days later.

2. People over performance

Metrics are not the enemy, but they’re not the compass. A Warm Growth creator is smart so of course they optimize, but not at the cost of the person on the other side of the screen. They realize that just because something could get more eyes doesn’t mean it will get the right eyes. So the question isn’t as much "Did it work?" as "Did it matter?"

3. Trust is everything

Scaling a business is not the same as scaling trust. Warm Growth creators scale with their audience, not away from them. They remember names. They reply. They celebrate quiet milestones. They make people feel like part of the journey.

4. Attention is earned

Warm Growth creators earn attention by giving before asking, by leading with depth, and by delivering on the promise. They don’t write clever headlines to trick you. They view reciprocity as a precious resource.

5. Build in public, listen in private

They create in community and invite feedback. They open up the process—not as a content strategy, but as a way to include the people they’re serving. Warm Growth creators assume they don’t have all the answers. That’s why they’re always eager to talk to the right people and ask better questions.

6. Never stop testing

Warm Growth isn’t allergic to experimentation, it’s allergic to mimicry. These creators don’t just do what’s trending. They try to find what’s best for the people they’re trying to serve. They’re guided by intuition, not imitation.

The good news is, these principles are all learnable. Repeated over time, they don’t just help you grow a warmer brand — they help build something rare: a reputation people trust.

But to really build that trust, you have to know what to avoid…

What Warm Growth steers clear of

Warm Growth isn’t just defined by what it builds. It’s also defined by what it bravely walks away from.

Below are the silent killers of trust. The shortcuts that trade connection for clicks. The tempting strategies that scale fast but fail quickly.

In case my writing up until now has given you the misconception that Warm Growth is soft, it’s quite the opposite. Warm Growth creators have the courage to say no.

Here are a few things they’re saying no to:

1. Growth at all costs

You can grow fast or you can grow deep, but rarely both at once. Warm Growth avoids the kind of hyper-growth that burns out your audience’s attention before they’ve even had a chance to care. You aren’t working toward an exit, you’re working toward long-term sustainability.

2. Vanity metrics as validation

Follower count, view count, subscriber spikes — none of these things are inherently bad. But when they become your definition of success, you lose sight of what matters. Warm Growth measures impact, not popularity.

3. “Post and ghost” behavior

It’s easy to publish but harder to listen. Harder still to follow up. Warm Growth creators don’t just hit send and walk away, they stay in the room. They read replies and answer back. For them that’s the fun part, not watching the likes and follows grow.

4. Faking connection

There’s nothing worse than performative care. Saying “I read every reply” but never responding to anyone. Pretending to be interested just to get a sale. Warm Growth doesn’t simulate community, it cultivates it.

5. Treating connection like a tactic

Connecting with real people is a responsibility. Faking a connection just to get something in return is the antithesis of Warm Growth. Instead, Warm Growth treats trust as a precious resource and acts accordingly.

6. Letting algorithms set the tone

Yes, pay attention to what performs. Just don’t lose your voice trying to please the feed. Warm Growth creators are algorithm-aware, but audience-aligned. They don’t post to manipulate, they post to get in front of the right people.

If you want to pursue Warm Growth, start by asking yourself this question: Are you tolerating any of the above? What’s it costing you?

Every time you abandon depth for a quick win, you show your audience what really matters to you. When you choose easy over honest, you pay with trust.

Be bold and say no to the noise. Watch what begins to take root when you do.

Becoming the creator people remember

Warm growth is one of many paths, but I believe it’s the most rewarding.

It all starts with some internal reflection. Are you pursuing a problem you want to see solved in the world? Finding people who have that problem and focusing on them every step of the way?

Stop obsessing over growth hacks and start obsessing over resonance. Always ask:

• “If I stripped away all metrics, what would I still create?”
• “What does my audience actually need from me?”
• “What would build trust today?”

Slow down and make space for depth. This is a long-term way of building that won’t turn you into a literal overnight success, but will compound your growth in the future.

Don’t chase what’s trending if it compromises who you are.

Create because you care, not because you have to.

Warm Growth doesn’t require scale. It requires you to believe that connection is still the best marketing strategy. That resonance beats reach. That a loyal 100 is more valuable than a mildly interested 100,000.

The creators who adopt this mindset – building slowly, intentionally, with care – will be the ones you know by name years from now.

Because trust and care compound over time. And Warm Growth, more than anything, lasts.

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Hey, quick P.S. – if this resonated with you, please share it. What I've written here is the result of years of observation and I believe it's an increasingly important concept.

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