🟡#3: Community-Driven Startups!?
Yes! Your startup's new unfair advantage. Welcome to the community-driven startups/companies era!
This post takes ~ 6min to read
👋Welcome Back Community Padawans!
It’s great to see you all here.
(If this is your first time, Thank you! You are so very much welcome).
Do you know that feeling of enthusiasm when you want to share something very good? Yes! That is exactly what I feel every time I prepare and write a post. But, for today's topic, uau, the feeling is even greater. Right on point:
Community-driven startups & companies.
For the last two weeks, we have been talking about complex systems full of interactions: startup communities & ecosystems and what’s the difference between them. We stick with a still complex task to achieve (build communities within startups & companies) but let’s start with a very simple fact:
♠️ Community is the new “ace of spades”. The new unfair advantage!
It is undeniable the power and benefits a community can have, not only when you are in the early-stage, but also being on a growth level, as a sustainable company.
And, more than just tell you what is a community-driven company, it is really important for you to understand why you should think about this option. Now.
This will be the era of community-driven (-led) startups & companies. And you need to be ready to for it. We are here to help you, as a community.
Let’s go!
Your Community Padawan ⚔️
Francisco
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There are three factors that demonstrate the importance and value of creating and developing communities as a business model.
Let’s call it the Community Trend Triangule:
Fortunately, we are seeing more and more tools that are here to help companies succeed on building, managing, engaging and raising the bar in what regards creating the best dynamic in their communities. Just like Charlie Ward said this week: “the world of Community SaaS is heating up, fast.”
In addition to this, there are many top companies, which have grown and are sustainable, with their community as the main core of the business model, which is a clear differentiating factor, the so called unfair advantage. Community is or can be one of the most important driver in startup/company success.
List of community-driven startups/companies (click the company’s name for more)
The last vertex of the triangule (and obviously, not the least important factor) is related to the fact that people is craving for belonging, customers want more deeper connections with members that share the same values and purpose and they are looking to create deeper interactions with their love brands. This is where magic happens.
Ok. Enough of triangules! I know that you are here to learn more about community-driven companies. So…
What is a community driven-company (CDC)?
It is a company in which community is the main factor or one of the key factors of their business model. A company that is highly connected and engaged with their customers as a strategy for attraction/adoption, retention, growth and, of course, success!
We can identify two models of CDC’s:
1️⃣ Company that builds a community around a specific product/service (Duolingo, Peloton, Harley-Davidson, Patagonia);
2️⃣ Company that has community as their main product (Strava, Startup Grind, OnDeck);
🔥 What’s positive about being a CDC?
Think about this…
more than just having “normal” customers, you will have passionate members;
members that are (kind of) part of your company as an element of your sales and marketing funnel;
You help your members and add value (value proposition must be clear). They add value and help each other;
You may start distribute authority and delegate tasks, developing a strategy based on co-creation. Afterwards, more than just a “normal” community, congratulations, you have a movement!
Community Padawans, we are here talking about a real win-win strategy, either you have:
Early-stage startups
Starting by building an audience, you can engage with your target which will help you with the Problem-Solution fit validation;
Through a lean approach, you will have the chance to create a loop of feedback while building/developing your product. A chance for a co-creation journey with your customer with an higher chance of optimization;
In the beginning, based on a potential low budget, while developing your product/service, you are already working on customer acquisition and lead flow.
Growth Stage Startup/Company
With all your passionate members, there is a huge potential of word-of-mouth, increasing the chance of customer acquisition and, consequently, decreasing the acquisition costs;
The better the dynamic among your members, easier is for them to keep coming back and/or stay. This leads to a higher retention;
With all bonds created, clearly defined incentives and rewards, you may have your members as your “community support team”, interacting & helping others members. This will give you space to get inputs, optimize your product/service and expand revenue.
As a result, your costs with operations, marketing and sales will decrease, while you are offering an unique customer experience.
Where to start? Ready…
Get the answer to the question: why I want to do this? (purpose) and for who? (target)
Start by building an audience (Product Hunt started by using friends) and give your best to increase the organic growth;
Test and optimize as much as possible (Lean Approach). Don’t forget that you can have your members as creators. This way, you will start to interact and build trust. Don’t be affraid to share and listen to their feedback;
Set a strategy for interaction among members, how will you add value to the community and how they can add value to each other;
🏁 And now…
Here is your chance. This is the time for you to start investing on building a community for your startup or company. And, trust me, you are not alone in this journey, you can count on me, you can count with your future community members and you can count on an amazing network of community managers who have the passion for connecting dots and share really inspiring content everyday.
📝 Startup Community List
Talking about a network, let's connect all startup community builders and put our communities on the map!
You can now check the list of startup communities, startup community managers and community managers.
Are you a startup community builder? Add your information on the following form or click the button bellow 👇
📈 Get to know the strategy that Courtland Allen, founder of IndieHackers used to build a community of more than 60.000…indie hackers;
👑 You must listen to the “Community Queen”, Bailey Richardson talking about building communities on Station F Podcast with Roxanne Varza;
🏆 CMX shared already the Finalists of the 2021 Industry Awards.
🔜 Learn the best with one of the best, Rosie Sherry. She masters community management, she is one of the my biggest inspirations and she is co-creating a course on modern community building. Get your golden ticket now!
Clubhouse - still in private beta, this audio-based network is already one of the most famous tools and being used already by thousands of people;
Haartland - a very accessible and affordable forum platform;
Community Tools - a matching and connection tool for your community;
Clique.Ai - online platform that empowers managers to build strong communities & ecosystems;
That’s it for this week’s Connect Dots.
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