Community is the Platform for Your Network
Tim Parsa
9 replies
Community is more important than product for an early-stage startup.
Community should guide what founders build and the earliest validation of founder/market fit.
Community starts with believers who know the founders and will create a signal for the Community and help founders find early adopters-- pre-mvp future users who will join the Community and help it grow because they really want the founders to build the mvp-- they want to try it, spread it, and help improve it.
Community is a hatchery for Collaborators who will help build the MVP and spread the Community to other talented builders. This is where the early adopters get supercharged because they see all the super competent and influential builders joining the Community, promoting the product, attracting even more talented Collaborators.
Community is the Platform of the Network.
NFX is why digital products attract founders in the first place because solutions to problems can scale so fast and create so much value.
Without Community there is CAC.
Without Community there is Churn.
Without Community there is Corruption.
With Community there is Collaboration.
With Community there is Coin.
With Community there is Crypto.
Most digital products-- including VC-blessed products-- go nowhere/die is because they forget that Community is what makes startups fun, successful, and yuuuuuge.
Replies
Camilo Noa | xfxhub.com@noakmilo
I so agree @tim_parsa2 community is the foundation of startup success. Makers who understand that already have one foot on the road. Product Hunt is about community, everything on a digital product is about community, even traditional business.
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Yes @tim_parsa2 not enough can be said about building community. Too often founders get excited about the product and building it before defining the mission and why people should even get involved at all.
A project without believers is like an empty shell. Before launching any product or startup, the idea must be validated by our community. This way, we managed to guarantee immediate support and feedback, which allow us to advance to the following stages. Excellent, @tim_parsa2. 👌
Launching soon!
I always say to others, don't worry about your product not being perfect. Be worried about growing a supportive, engaged community around your idea. Because if you can grow and engage an audience while you create, they will stick with you through the tough times when things aren't perfect yet.
@qudsia_ali Sahil Lavignia from Gumroad-- a truly remarkable and tenacious founder-- once said join a community you love and then solve a problem for that community-- that seemed like a wise approach to me.
I tend to disagree because ofte people (in a community) don't realize what exactly they need
@milla_eane there is a latin expression-- pathemata mathemata-- let pain guide your learning. Community need to form around pain points that the startup/product solves. But before that there needs to be believers who trust the founders to execute their vision and passionately pursue the problem they set out to solve. The new friends & family round is the friends & family coin-powered community-- where people get rewarded with upside in the project for finding those first early adopters. I've built a lot of digital products and this is very obvious to me. I agree with you that community can generate a lot of noise, which is why it's important to reward signal and real value creation.
I agree with you - building a product-centered community is difficult but fun and rewarding. It's great to see more businesses connecting with customers and users on the human level. Also, it gives a lot of room for product feedback and helps founders build tolls that are useful and fun.