Whether the entire product itself is a platform devoted to bringing folks together or community efforts provide an outlet for bonding over mutual love of a product, it seems as though more and more startups are getting into the community building game these days.
But “community” itself is still a rather fuzzy concept. It’s a murky and almost mystical world where connection is currency and authenticity is paramount, but the how-to tactics of actually creating one are less clear.
“Communities feel magical, but they don’t appear out of nowhere. Just as when you’re building a fire, there are certain ingredients you need to assemble and an order of operations you need to follow to generate a spark, fan the flames, and keep it going,” says Bailey Richardson. And she’s something of an expert on this subject.
In this exclusive interview, Richardson digs into the nuts and bolts of how startups should approach community building, highlighting eight valuable lessons on how the best communities start, gain steam, and evolve as scale takes hold. Building on a handful of highly tactical excerpts from their new book, Get Together: How to Build Community with Your People, Richardson offers up advice ranging from finding the first few members to giving up the controls when you have thousands of members, making it an indispensable guide for early-stage founders and seasoned community managers alike.
Click to Add the First »