It took me 20 years to build Mindvalley.
If I were starting today, in 2026, I could build the same company in 12 months, with one-twentieth the people, and with far less friction, stress, and pain.
And here’s the important part:
I’m not just saying this hypothetically.
I’m actually building this way right now.
What’s changed isn’t ambition.
It’s leveraged speed.
We are now in an era where one person with clarity, systems, and social media can outpace entire teams from ten years ago.
Not by working more hours or posting more content.
But by letting identity, systems, and content compound your effort.
Let’s go deeper:
The New Advantage: Leveraged Speed
In 2026, the founders who win aren’t the ones working harder.
They’re the ones who understand Leveraged Speed.
Leveraged Speed comes from two pillars:
- Cloud coding — building technology lightning fast
- Social media — building trust at scale
I’ll talk about cloud coding in a future newsletter.
Today, I want to talk about the second pillar, because this one is wildly misunderstood.
Ten years ago, trust came after the product.
You built it quietly. You launched. Then you marketed.
Today, it’s reversed.
Trust now comes first.
And when trust exists before you launch:
- customers say yes faster
- advertising costs drop
- partnerships appear without chasing
This is why companies are being built faster than ever before.
Why Dubai Gets It
As I’m writing this, I’m in Dubai.
This weekend, from Jan 9-11, Mindvalley is curating a special stage in the 1 Billion Follower Summit in Dubai which is possibly the largest creator summit in the world, with 30,000 people attending.
(In the special Mindvalley Stage, our biggest ever – Social Media Summit is taking place in which we’ll be sharing our amazing curated speakers free LIVE on Zoom.)
And I want to point something out:
The Dubai government understands this shift.
They know that dominating social media isn’t about influencers or vanity metrics.
It’s about strategic advantage.
For businesses. For cities. For entire countries.
Because social media created PROOF.
And in a world of AI fakery – PROOF matters more than ever.
You no longer need years to build trust.
You need clarity + consistency + content distribution.
In 2026, social media isn’t a marketing channel. It’s a growth multiplier.
It can recruit customers, attract partnerships, build credibility before you even “launch.”
And it can do it fast.
Don’t Think of Social Media as Content.
Think of it as Proof.
Here’s the biggest mistake founders make: They think social media is about content.
It’s not.
Social media is proof.
Proof that: you’re real, you’re building something, you believe in what you’re creating
And this matters now more than ever.
We’re entering an era of AI slop: AI-generated videos, AI avatars, people cloning themselves
Please hear me clearly:
Do not clone yourself.
Do not hide behind AI.
Do not outsource your humanity.
Humanity is developing a deep distrust of anything that feels fake.
I see this on my own social media.
Highly produced videos with perfect lighting often underperform.
It was really me, but it could just as well be a polished AI clone.
But raw, selfie-style videos, me holding my phone, speaking honestly, unscripted, take off.
A spontaneous video I shot in a Miami mall about an airport incident hit 2 million views.
No script. No teleprompter. Just the truth.
This is happening everywhere.
More rawness. More realness. More humanity.
Because anything that can be faked no longer carries trust.
How Founders Are Building Faster Than Ever
This is why building in public is no longer optional.
I recently came across two Duke University students who built a fashion app called Styl almost entirely through Instagram.
They shared the journey while building. They documented progress instead of performing.
No massive ad budgets. No years of silence. Social media became the accelerant.
This isn’t rare anymore. It’s becoming the default.
The IKEA Effect: Let People Build It With You
There’s a principle called the IKEA Effect:
People value what they help build. A psychologist noted that people grew attached to the IKEA furniture because they helped create and assemble it.
We experienced this firsthand at Mindvalley.
When we created Silva Manifesting in 2014, I didn’t hide the curriculum until launch.
I put the raw outline into a Google Doc and shared it with our community.
It was messy. Incomplete. Unpolished.
I asked:
What do you like?
What would you change?
What should we add?
When we finally launched, it became the biggest launch in Mindvalley’s history.
Why? Because trust had already been built. The community felt ownership.
I recently shared this idea with a female founder launching an online clothing brand.
She was shy about showing up on social media.
I told her:
“You don’t have to be polished. Wear sunglasses if it helps. Just show the warehouse. Share the frustrations. Be real.”
Reluctantly, she did.
A few weeks later, she told me sales were up 50%.
Same product. Same ads. More trust.
Stop Trying to Be a Content Creator
Here’s the identity shift founders need to make:
You are not a content creator. You are a founder using social media to build trust.
You’re not posting to entertain strangers. You’re publishing to let people see what you’re building.
That’s it.
Three Rules for ‘Leveraged Speed’ on Social Media
If you want to move faster in 2026:
- Pick one platform you actually enjoy
- Share the journey, not the highlights
- Let people give feedback while you build
That’s how trust compounds. So don’t be afraid to share what you’re building in secret in your garage.
Don’t build in secret; build publicly, and it’s okay to be sloppy, to have uncertainty
But most importantly, be real.
And if you’re struggling with social media or just curious to learn the newest trends in growth hacking your way to the top for better visibility, opportunities, and revenue…
You don’t want to miss this opportunity:
Join Us This Weekend (Jan 9–11)
At Social Media Summit 2026, I’ll be teaching a session called:
Founder-Based Content: How to Build Trust at Scale
We’ll cover:
- How founders should show up online (without becoming influencers)
- Why trust lowers advertising costs
- And how to build demand before you launch
The entire summit over this weekend will be streamed live on Zoom, free to our community.
Reserve your spot here to get access
If you’re building anything in 2026, this matters.
Because the companies that win now aren’t louder.
They’re more trusted.
37 Responses
Thanks Vishen! Hello everyone! I run a tech development company, and we’ve recently built a new financial-social ecosystem for content monetization (web2 + web3), that will definitely revolutionize the global creators economy. We are the first and only monetization app in the world paying creators 95% (for each sale or tip) instantly to a web3 wallet, linked with a VISA debit card for immediate use. The MVP is 100% functional, and we are launching March 2026 in LATAM (the region with most financial barriers for creators with massive global audiences), then we’ll expand globally. Would you like to check it out? Let’s find out how can you benefit from it! Just write to: info@imodelentertainment.io. Greetings and blessings from Colombia! Cordially, Juan Mesa (CCO iModel Entertaintment Corp.)
Thanks Vishen! Hello everyone! I lead a tech development company (iModel Entertainment Corp), and we’ve built a new financial-social ecosystem for content monetization (Web2 + Web3), that will pay creators 95% instantly in our Web3 wallet, linked with a VISA debit card for immediate use. We are launching next March in LATAM (the region with most financial barriers but massive global audiences), and then expand globally. The MVP is ready and 100% functional. Would you like to check it out and know how can you benefit from it? Please write to info@imodelentertainment.io. Greetings and blessings from Colombia! Cordially, Juan Mesa (CCO – iModel Entertainment).
I am building limitless.ceo, a community for ambitious tech CEOs that want to build in a different way. Prioritizing body, mind and spirit to give them more energy, clarity and inspiration.
Love all these insights. This has encouraged me to share the journey as I build. Thank you.
Thank for so much for such an insightful information and encouragement. Unfortunately l missed the summit due to other commitments.
I’m also building my body of work as a Clinical Psychologist and was inspired and encouraged with this article you shared. For me fear and not believing in mypself is my greatest drawback. You have challenged me that failure does not define who l am. Kindly share any recording of the summit if possible. Thank you.
I am creating a body-mind-connection program. Something even mindvalley is missing. And if you can’t find it, create it yourself. I took my yoga teacher training in Rishikesh, directly from the source of yoga science. And in a couple of weeks I can also call myself a certifiyed body therapist with roots in chinese medicin. For me there is a need to spreed the knowledge on how the mind works. Taking the ancient spiritual ways and explaining them in a scientific, evolutionary way. I have done that. I have created the template, ready to finish the content. And I am eagor to share. In reality it is my own healing journey I am sharing. I’ve reheased a bit on tiktok. Now I will start the true journey with the knowlegde of a scientiific backed up ancients spirituality and the movements from chinese medicin and yogic science.
Hi Vishen, happy new year! Thank you for this amazing, inspiring Social Media Summit! I have had an online business for some years, that is now evolving into a next stage. I just start a project about the power of blessing and feel that this project can become a movement. This summit helps me to take the first steps and to trust that my vision is doable 😉
Until recently, I’ve been trapped in various roles, the need to be a parent, a provider, the madre-de-familia after our parents passed away.
I finally found a space for my real personal growth and Mindvalley has been my go-to the past year.
This is what we are sharing with the world – these card decks and our story of how we got out of our way to let the cards flow through.
https://www.canva.com/design/DAG3MXAZRRQ/pIWLeaPFOPVE3f5EMjsvuA/view?utm_content=DAG3MXAZRRQ&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=h08c9ed12d5
We are also sharing our vision of a new way to be in education, health, leadership and other areas.
For me ‘individually’, over the past year music and poetry have been pouring out of me and I have left my legal career to open to what is calling me, and this is another story to share. So grateful for your offerings which resonate deeply!
I’m a fertility & mindset coach. I help women identify and overcome hidden fertility blocks so they may conceive the baby they’ve been dreaming of. For 2026, I’m building a group coaching program for women who’ve been told they need to drop 20 lbs or more to boost pregnancy chances. These women have tried every diet, exercise program, pill, weight loss injection… you name it. But alas, the results elude them. Every month of trying and not conceiving feels soul shattering, confidence crushing and they can feel the baby dream slipping through their fingers… one cycle at a time. I know that pain. I was once there. My mission is to help them identify gaps, align their subconscious beliefs and identity with their desired outcomes, and bring the baby they soooo dream of to life. I look forward to learning at the summit and applying the learning to my social presence so that I can build trust and the above program (and future ones), not in silo but alongside my audience, giving them exactly what they want and need.
Almost 4 years ago I quit my job in a company to start my own business. i wanted to help entrepreneurs to learn how to use tools and methodologies that big corporations where using but in a more simple format. My initial are “LDN” and I played with them with the idea “learning as dynamic nodes” because I think that we evolve connected and learnin from each other during all of our life. I created my IG account “LDN_gestion” and recorded a one minute video eighty times until I shared the final one. Previously I had also shared the process to create my own logo and I had received a lot of comments. But after I posted that video, a ‘friend’ posted immediatly a video making a joke about how her friend couldn’t explain anything about her product (saying that my video was confusing and nobody would understand what I was saying). It had been really hard for me to post a video because and she had more experience, she is an extrovert and I am not. I cried, I felt an idiot and never posted another video. I worked a lot and learnt a lot, but I couldn’t expose myself in a video since then. Of course, I am not so close to that friend but I’m still struggling with this social media issue.
This past week I began LIFEBOOK journey with Mindvalley and learned about this SUMMIT. What has been a serious problem for me is Technology and learning the ins and outs of Social Media. I have stayed away from it, however, I know it is important if I want my new QHHT business/practice to flourish. It is necessary for me to open to the possibility of learning all that I can; to move through, around and passed the fears that I allow to prevent me from realizing my dream. I am very excited about this opportunity: Social Media Summit – What an amazing idea to help folks like me who desperately want to learn and need your help.
Here is what I am passionate about and want to manifest through learning how to be friends with social media. I am a QHHT Level 2 practitioner. I am blessed with years of experiences in preparatory fields in addition to the amazing training through QHHT OFFICIAL. I have a Doctorate in DreamWork as a Spiritual Practice. I have an MBA and two additional masters degrees. All of this education and I am afraid of technology and find the jargon intimidating.
I am full of all kinds of knowledge and wisdom. I want to increase my client base. What I offer is powerful and life changing. I want to become known and seen by many so that they have the opportunity to experience Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique which will assist clients to be in contact with their Higher Self, their Super Conscious, this highly developed part of each of us that many of us have not yet met or don’t know how to connect and communicate with in powerful and healing ways.
What I do for my clients is what I hope to gain from this Summit. I want to be introduced to and to understand Social Media, how it works , how it can help me, how I can use it to create a thriving client base. Up till now, it has been out of my reach and I hope to change that this weekend. I want to connect with this area of knowledge and skill. I am looking to you experts to make this something I can understand and connect with to change my life for the better. This means, that I will be equipping myself with abilities to draw people to myself and the benefits of QHHT.
Providing the opportunity for connection they are seeking with a part of themselves they have kept out of reach for too long – Just as I have kept the Social Media context a formidable place to inhabit.
Thank you for making this Summit a Reality.
ONE REQUEST: Please keep it understandable for folks, like me, who need so much, and long for – what you have to share. Simple, and extremely important things like explaining the jargon vocabulary that is second nature to you experts and is part of this body of knowledge, elemental and NEEDED by those of us who want desperately to understand what you know so well. Please over explain so that I can learn from you. Thank you.
Hi Vishen, am only sharing this because you claim you personally read all contributions. For a month now I have been trying to gift three family members a one time only yearly subscription of Mindvalley, which I have happily been with nearly two decades. In my frustration at the responses of Support I sent a message to you about the difficulties but I doubt that it got to you.
The issue is this. I find it incredible that you make all the claims about building a better customer-oriented business but it is difficult for members to gift a subscription to others! I am told that they have first to subscribe but how do they do that if they cannot pay? Basically, all I am asking is for me to pay through my card and for them to be welcome contacted. But it seems this is impossible for Mindvalley whereas my experience with other competitors has been easy.
Hi, I have read what you wrote. If your family members what the subscription, give them the money to get it. Like send them a check. Or, Zelle or CashApp. If they are not able to do this for themselves, then what is really going on? Perhaps buy them a motivational book would be better to help them BEGIN their journey. I hope this is helpful whether or not Vishen reads or responds. Blessings, Samuel.
Hey Vishen,
I have been following you for many years. I became a Latina Business Coach after my retirement from formal education. I realized that running a school as a Principal was actually exactly the same as running a business with the help of a coach. Why is it, that I never see many if any “Latina” or “Latino” presence in the influencer area nor in the speaking arena? I honestly do not see many of them anywhere online- and I set out to be trail blazer in the “MujerPreneur” arena.
all these years later and I still see the void. I would love my podcast to be at the forefront of coaching these women to believe in themselves and to give them access to curriculum that can help them rock 6 figures. I want to show folks over 60 that they are not done!
Hi Vishen. I’m toying with the idea of creating a space that brings good books and people together.. just a 5 minute whatsapp audio on my WhatsApp status giving insights of books I’ve read. I’m worried about using my voice and if I’ll be able to keep it up but then again I love good books. I have gained so much from little nuggets of wisdom here and there over time and I want to do the same. Pay it forward. So that’s what I’m building this 2026. My Little Book Corner.
Happy New Year! Thanks as always for sharing. I’m an independent teacher on Outschool. I strongly believe in providing a safe space on Roblox, now more than ever. I focus on helping learners develop emotional regulation, communication and team work experience through gaming on my private servers with Outschool Zoom recording all interactions. Many learners are neurodivergent homeschoolers so this is a helpful outlet and fun way to accomplish these goals. This all speaks to me because being ourselves and accepting our mistakes as we grow together as teams is at the heart of what I do with my students. I used social media when I first started this 2 years ago and focused on authenticity, spoke about my gaming journey and the ups and downs of different games. It was a success.
I am ready to scale and become an organization, hiring other teachers to be a part of my brand and teach my classes, too. I’m nervous to take on a different role and am not sure how to transition from speaking to parents about their kids to other teachers about alternative educational models. It’s a big jump from the classroom to a virtual environment that doesn’t offer benefits, sick days, retirement, etc. I remind myself that I’m a teacher and a parent to a neurodiverse child who I homeschool. What helps me? Who do I trust and listen to? I realize this is small compared to others’ comments but it’s huge to the families I work with. I wish there was more of me to go around but I can’t do it all alone anymore. Again, thank you! This is so timely and relevant.
I’m building an integrated ecosystem under Eterna Works Creative that blends a real-world mission with long-form storytelling:
• Hospital-to-Home Care Blueprint: shipping caregiver-ready toolkits (ask scripts, discharge checklists, escalation paths, evidence-pack templates) so families can get answers in writing and push for home-first care when it’s the least restrictive option.
• Infinity Trilogy (Books 1–3) + soundtrack: a memoir-to-sci-fi arc about love, psychosis, autism, trust, and the question of how humanity avoids “beautiful tyranny” in the age of AI.
• TE1∞0 + Infinity Code Builder: a systems framework for equilibrium-based decisions, with strict ethics: no fake human presence, no voice/likeness cloning, and transparent AI use only for assistive tasks like editing/captions.
What I’m most excited to share publicly in 2026 is artifact-first proof (draft pages, marked-up timelines, redacted receipts, “here’s what changed and why” changelogs) the IKEA effect, but with integrity.
What I’m most uncertain about is how public to be while staying fully compliant on consent, privacy, and legal risk — without losing the rawness that creates trust.
Hi Vishen,Happy New Year, you are always an inspiring person. Ihave attended many masterclasses of mindvalley. Thanks for all that.In my life the most valuable thing the universe provided me is meditation. I am running a podcast on Spotify and want to serve more people to inspire them to have meditation in their life.The one who attain bliss in true sense has no complain and he/she is enough to serve this world better then others.This planet need more & more blissful and aware people .Lots of good luck to you and entire mindvalley family.
Right now, I’m building a body of work centered on helping high-functioning women transition out of survival mode and into lives rooted in nervous system safety, alignment, and truth. At the heart of it is my podcast, Break the Cycles, which explores healing, identity shifts, and spiritual integration through lived experience rather than performance or bypassing.
What I’m most excited to share publicly in 2026 is a deeper conversation around what happens after survival ends. We talk a lot about resilience and strength, but far less about the disorientation that comes when peace finally arrives — when calm feels unfamiliar, softness feels unsafe, and old identities no longer fit. That space is where real transformation begins.
What feels uncertain, and also most meaningful, is sharing this work without packaging it into hustle or self-improvement narratives. I’m learning to trust that grounded, honest conversations about safety, grief, and embodiment are enough — and that there’s a growing collective readiness for a quieter, more integrated kind of healing.
I’m creating and developing my own project as a meta-system for personal growth. It brings together deep psychological work, meta-coaching, and different systems of self-knowledge such as astrology, Human Design, numerology, Gene Keys, and other symbolic frameworks, along with transformational practices.
My main focus at this stage is expanding to an English-speaking audience. For many years, I worked mostly with Russian-speaking clients, and now I’m living in Australia and consciously stepping into a new space, building bridges to a global community.
At the same time, I’m developing an AI mentor, a kind of meta-coach, that represents a person’s higher self. This mentor helps people see their natural, inborn potential, release inner blocks, and move toward the life they truly want to live, not the one they feel they should want. It’s not a one-time product, it’s a long-term companion that supports a person on their life path, guided by their true values, soul tasks, and authentic direction. This vision is what truly inspires me and keeps me moving forward.
I’m deeply excited about bringing this AI-mentor and this whole approach to a wider, international audience. I love the idea that people can have a thoughtful inner guide, almost like their higher self, supporting them every day with clarity and honesty.
At the same time, my uncertainty comes from very real and human things. I’m still building this mostly on my own, without a full team yet. I sometimes face technical challenges, limited resources, and the natural difficulties of working in a language that is not yet completely native for me. Entering the English-speaking world feels both inspiring and vulnerable.
But I also know that meaningful projects are rarely born in perfect conditions. They grow where there is purpose, sincerity, and the courage to keep going even when the path feels uncertain. And that’s exactly where I am right now.
I’m building alignment — literally and metaphorically.
I chose orthodontics at the age when I first had to deeply realign myself due to a family little crisis.
Today I paused social media for six months — partly out of shame for not “performing,” partly as a personal challenge.
Ironically, I now realize I still want to perform (apparently I’m competing with the entire internet 😄).
This year for me is forcing a professional realignment — a physical space, a system, a direction — and I don’t yet know where it leads.
Curious to build trust through clarity, writing, and real thinking, not performance.
This summit arrived at a very precise moment.
P.S. Your line about rebuilding Mindvalley in 12 months landed almost too precisely.
I recently received a registered letter telling me I have 12 months to leave my current practice space. No drama — just reality handing me a deadline.
So here I am, unexpectedly running my own 12-month experiment:
realigning a physical space, a system, and a professional life, with far less certainty… but hopefully with more clarity.
If it’s true that today one person, with clarity and systems, can rebuild faster and better — then my brain should be in excellent shape by the end of these 12 months 😄
This email syncing with that letter feels like the universe saying: challenge accepted.
Wahooooo. Good on you.