You are the PM for a B2B software product that has built an active user community across discussion forums, events, and peer-to-peer support channels. Leadership believes the community may be a major driver of acquisition, activation, and retention, and is considering a significant investment in community features and programming. At the same time, the core product already has solid usage, and some executives worry the community is mostly engaging existing power users rather than creating incremental growth. You have been asked to determine whether the community is truly a growth asset or simply a valuable but nonessential layer around the product.
How would you assess this, and how would you decide whether to invest more deeply in community versus prioritizing improvements to the core product experience?