Groundswell vs. Windswell

In surfing there are two general types of swells: groundswell and windswell.

A groundswell forms when powerful, distant storms generate deep energy that travels thousands of miles before arriving at the shore. It creates strong, clean, long-period waves that are consistent and ideal for surfers.

Conversely, windswell is generated by local winds. These waves are quick, choppy, and unpredictable. While a windswell can stir up water fast, it doesn’t hold shape for long.

I return to these concepts often when I think about building anything meaningful: a conference, a brand, a product, a community. When you're launching something new you have a choice between creating a groundswell or a windswell.

Groundswell

From the outside, when people see something going well they often assume it "just worked." They see the wave, but not what caused it.

Take React Miami, a conference we’ve been organizing at G2i since 2021. It’s grown over the years into a beloved event, with sold-out editions, an enthusiastic community, and strong support from sponsors and speakers, but none of that happened overnight.

Behind the scenes it’s a year-round effort. While the intensity ebbs and flows, I work on React Miami twelve months out of the year. I’m sharing updates, talking to sponsors, brainstorming ideas, checking in with past attendees, engaging on Twitter, attending meetups, and the whole time, I’m sharing as much of this as possible to keep the momentum alive.

That’s groundswell. I don’t wait for there to be something to announce before I share a post online. I don’t jump from stunt to stunt with periods of silence in between. I build recognition over time through repetition, consistency, and genuine excitement.

Some great examples of companies that built groundswell include Notion and TailwindCSS. These products developed a community, created resources, and grew their audience over time. They didn’t gain their current popularity overnight, or with disparate marketing stunts, but instead they earned trust with their persistence.

At times it can seem obsessive, but that’s necessary. You never know when someone is ready to pay attention. Most people don’t decide to engage with something after seeing it only once, and curiosity takes time. Repetition builds recognition and the groundswell leads to trust.

Windswell

Let’s compare that to windswell. Windswell is hype. It’s fast and it’s splashy. This can include:
- flashy promo videos
- influencer posts
- launch events

None of these things are inherently bad when utilized strategically (and in fact they’re all quite fun!) However, your efforts will not be sustained if you don’t build more messaging and content around this to carry it further. Every day on X you scroll past dozens of announcements and marketing campaigns. In an endless feed, yours is only one of them. Try not to put everything you’ve worked toward in just one, ephemeral basket. Searching for a way to stand out is not a wasted effort, but building momentum through continuous posting and engagement (even if it’s not flashy) will be much more effective.

It’s painful when I see a team announce something they worked hard on with one big campaign and then go silent about it within a few days or a week. It’s incredibly self-limiting. This is one of the fatal flaws of launch weeks. Launch weeks feel like a big deal to you because you’re finally announcing something you’ve been building in stealth. But to the outside world your launch week is one of many and it doesn’t tend to seem that different than any other general announcement. Furthermore, many people simply miss these time-boxed marketing pushes. Keep reiterating what you’ve built for the weeks and months to come.

I remember launching The Developer Health OS (DHOS) with the best marketing VP I’ve ever worked with. After over a year of working on this project I kept insisting on a huge launch, shooting over idea after idea for the day-of moment. Very respectfully she kept reminding me, “We can definitely do this, but we need to make a plan for what comes after this. The long term plan is much more important than a launch.” With this in mind we spent the majority of our time building out weeks worth of social posts and content. A year and a half later, I’m preparing to speak about The DHOS again at Squiggle Conf this September.

Wind swell feels exciting in the moment, but standing on its own it doesn’t last. It’s based on spikes of attention, not sustained engagement. On the surface it looks alive, but it’s missing the depth that carriers it forward and shapes it over time. If people don’t understand what you are, they don’t stick around, and understanding takes time and repetition.

A Note on Quality

Marketing efforts will produce the exact opposite of their intended outcome if the core product doesn’t live up to the promise of the hype. We see this all the time. A new product drops with a cinematic trailer or an influencer endorsement and then it disappears. Companies where this is most salient include Clubhouse and Quibi. The hype was enormous, but the energy was short-lived. People were attracted to the idea, but it never converted into long-term interest because they failed to uphold the promise of their campaigns.

Always be honest about what you have to offer. Subtle honesty > Hyped attention.

The Best Work is the Consistent Work

There’s an ideology in tech and entrepreneurship that attention always equals success. But sustainable momentum doesn’t come from random big moments, it comes from showing up over and over and over again. It’s the result of clarity, consistency, substance, and quality.

I think people worry that being “always on” with their message will come across as overkill or annoying. However, the truth is most people aren’t paying that close attention. Your fiftieth post might be the first time someone comes across your product. Some of the fastest growing companies of the last decade are still finding new users every day.

You can absolutely create a windswell with loud launches and viral moments, but this attention is fleeting and temporary without support or substance. Repeat yourself. Reshare the good stuff. Keep building the momentum granularly. The groundswell is slower and demands more of you, but when it arrives it holds its form. It carries people with it and creates something worth riding.