Discord: Imagine a Place - Not Boring by Packy McCormick

I've bumped into Discord over the last few years and frankly I pretty much ignored it. What I understood was that Discord is a thing for gamers to connect around their clan or gaming group. That is where Discord started, and where most of its users still are, but I've slowly started dipping into Discord recently because it is being used by a handful of communities that I’m part of. Club MacStories has a Discord. Matthew Cassinelli Shortcuts Membership has a Discord. Crypto projects like POAP, ENS, Angry Bunny Club. Anyway, you get the point.

So, this article landed on my radar and it is a great backgrounder on the history of Discord and the people behind it. The pivots that they have made are interesting. And the growth in recent years is simply incredible!

Last year, there were 6.7 million weekly active servers, essentially spaces with at least some conversation in a given week. This year, there are 19 million weekly active servers -- 3x YoY growth -- and the year isn’t even over yet.

…😲…

More servers means more users. In 2017, Discord had 10 million monthly active users (MAUs). This year, just four years later, it boasts 150 million. For those keeping score at home, that’s 15x growth in four years, or a 96.8% CAGR.

…🤯…

Discord’s revenue growth has outpaced even its user growth. From $5 million in 2016, Discord grew revenue to $130 million in 2020, good for an astonishing 126% CAGR over four years.

That revenue is just driven by the Discord Nitro subscription which is all end-user supported.

Discord is a social platform with a fast-growing user base and recurring revenue subscription product plus one of the most strategically important positions in the web3 value chain. The question is: will it respond to web3’s siren call? And if it does, how?

The CEO of Discord recently shared a screenshot connecting to an Ethereum wallet. It will be very curious to see how Discord pursuits this web3 area and how.