UpTrajectory Review

This as-told-to piece profiles Alena Beliauskaya, a 37-year-old San Francisco product director who turned casual weekend outdoor meetups into a paid founders community called 12 Scrappy Founders. After moving to the Bay Area in March 2025 and finding standard networking events overly transactional, she began organizing hikes, backpacking trips, and dirt biking excursions in Tahoe for other startup founders. What started as free community building now generates over $10,000 in monthly revenue through paid memberships and sponsored events, with Beliauskaya personally taking home $2,000 to $3,000 in profit monthly since the summer. The piece is structured as a first-person account of how she built this side business while maintaining her part-time role at an AI narrative games company.

For small business owners and aspiring founders, this story illustrates a broader shift in how professional communities are being built and monetized. Rather than competing in crowded digital spaces or traditional networking venues, Beliauskaya identified an underserved niche: founders who wanted genuine connection through shared physical experiences rather than elevator pitches. The model demonstrates how a service business can start with zero upfront costs by leveraging existing skills and interests, then layer in revenue streams once community trust is established. Her approach also highlights the growing appetite for in-person experiences after years of remote work, suggesting that local, activity-based communities may represent a viable path for entrepreneurs looking to build recurring revenue without significant capital investment.

What distinguishes this account from typical side hustle coverage is the emphasis on relationship depth over network breadth. Beliauskaya explicitly rejects the transactional nature of conventional founder events, instead creating environments where eight hours on a trail or learning to ride together naturally builds bonds. This is a genuinely different value proposition than most professional communities, which often prioritize access and introductions over authentic connection. However, the piece leaves several operational questions unanswered: how she structures memberships, prices her offerings, manages liability for extreme sports activities, and balances community authenticity with sponsor expectations. These details matter for anyone considering replicating the model, particularly the tension between keeping events pitch-free while accepting corporate sponsorship.

The revenue breakdown also deserves scrutiny. While $10,000 monthly revenue sounds impressive, the $2,000 to $3,000 profit margin suggests significant costs—likely event expenses, insurance, equipment, or platform fees—that consume 70 to 80 percent of gross revenue. This is not the passive income fantasy often promoted in side hustle content but rather an operationally intensive business requiring ongoing time and energy. Additionally, the model depends heavily on Beliauskaya's personal brand and outdoor expertise, which may limit scalability. For founders in smaller markets or those without access to venture-backed networks, replicating this exact approach may prove challenging, though the underlying principle of community-first monetization remains applicable across contexts.

Operators watching this space should pay attention to how Beliauskaya's community evolves as it grows, particularly whether the no-pitch culture survives sponsor pressure and member expansion. The piece hints at a broader trend of professionals building businesses around curated experiences rather than traditional services or products. For those considering similar ventures, the key insight is starting with genuine community value before introducing monetization—Beliauskaya's zero-cost hiking model allowed her to validate demand and build trust before asking members to pay. The next phase of her business will likely test whether paid memberships can sustain the same level of authenticity that made the free version compelling, a challenge every community-based business eventually faces.

“Finding like-minded people who understand startups and also want to spend Saturday riding dirt bikes in Tahoe is worth more to me than another 100 LinkedIn connections.” — Business Insider

Takeaway: Build genuine community first through free shared experiences, then layer in paid memberships and sponsorships once trust and demand are established.