Principles for building community

Having limited resources, startups quickly understand that user communities will provide an outsized return on visibility, adoption, and support.

But Discord and Slack often feel like haunted houses. How can you keep the conversations flowing?

Here are some principles from my time bringing together a community of 40,000 users at Dataiku:

1. Always co-build with users

Think of your community as a product — don't expect to "build it and they will come". It's key to bring on users as you're designing the discussion space, planning events, or any other project to get users to talk to each other so you actually address their needs. It may be about product support, but it may also be about education, networking, or other ways to level up.

2. Give more value than you get

Nurture it like a bonfire. People who join and participate in the community should get value from it, more than the time they invest, so as to keep coming back and increase their participation. It often starts with swag and free event tickets, but can also be personal contact with PMs, influencing the product roadmap, training or upskilling opportunities, and the intangible sense of belonging to a next-gen community.

3. The exec team needs to be bought in

Building community takes time, energy across teams, and $ resources. It will be hard to prove the ROI and you likely won't be able to convince your exec team of its value, unless they're already bought into the concept. Beware of your CFO, who will see it as a prime opportunity to cut spend if your startup slows down.

4. Different people want different things

People in your community will be driven by different motivations. I found this framework helpful, segmenting four personality types:

1. Fame seekers who will love to be on social
2. Connectors who prefer events and discussion opportunities
3. Problem solvers who love a good challenge
4. Timid geeks who want to help the team privately

You'll want to cater to their specific needs and offer different opportunities to different types. That's particularly useful to know how to surprise and delight them.

5. Your community is like PMF

When it works, you'll know. Members talk to each other, seek to meet in person, spread the word. That's incredible. But you have to keep the fire burning with new ideas and projects, and make sure your product stays on top of its field. It's not an achievement, but a work in progress, like all relationships.