If you have to trick people into following you, you’re not a leader. You’re a scam with a group chat.

Following someone because of a story they told only lasts until the story does. If people are with you because of an exaggeration, a hidden detail or a version of the plan that was never true, you spend all your energy maintaining that instead of doing the work, and the collapse when it comes takes the group with it. Persuasion built on accuracy is slower and does not need defending.

Say the real numbers and the real risks. Fewer people will sign up, and the ones who do will still be there in a month.