Behind the Build
Behind the Build is a candid conversation series with the people behind thriving communities. Most communities look polished from the outside — this show goes inside. Each episode, we sit down with one founder and dig into a specific win: the real numbers, the honest decisions, and the messy middle that made it happen. No theory. No highlight reel. Just the actual story.
Hosted by Circle — the platform powering some of the world's most successful online communities. New episodes monthly.
Behind the Build
The honest truth about building a six-figure community business
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Four years ago, Jessie Montague wrote one honest Instagram post to a couple hundred followers and half expected silence. Today, Honest Hounds has over 1,000 active members, 100 neutral walk locations across the UK, CPD-accredited courses running at near 100% completion, and six figures in recurring annual revenue.
What makes this episode worth listening to isn't just what she built—it's how she built it, and what she had to unlearn along the way. Jessie got so focused on being a CEO that she lost the part of the work that made her good at it. This episode is about what happened when she found it again.
In this episode:
- How Jessie achieved near 100% course completion in an industry where most people never finish what they buy
- Why her affiliate trainers refer their own clients to her, and what that says about building a referral system that works both ways
- The moment she tried to step back and be more of a CEO, and what it cost her before she course-corrected
The conversation doesn't stop here—join the discussion and ask the guest your own question at community.circle.so/c/behind-the-build
Behind the Build is a candid conversation series with the people behind thriving communities. Most communities look polished from the outside—this show goes inside. Each episode, we sit down with a community business founder and dig into a specific win: the real numbers, the honest decisions, and the messy middle that made it happen. No theory. No highlight reel. Just the actual story.
Hosted by the Circle community—where community builders come to build, grow, and connect.
New to Circle? Visit circle.so to learn more.