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Nov 12 2020

The community approach 🚀

#137:
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Recently, I feel we've all been hearing that building a community is key. Community officer/moderator/manager, whatever you call it - is already an important position in a lot of startups/organizations.
This pandemic did get us to come together (be it virtually) and might've made communities an "in" thing, however, I feel communities have been existent for a really long time [more on this in my future newsletters].
But most communities are built after a startup or brand is launched.

In my recent podcast, I spoke with Sonal Singh, the Co-Founder of Fittr, a community that emerged into a startup. Sonal shares her transformational journey from growing up in Canada, moving to London to work for Deloitte, joining a community in India as a customer to then becoming its co-founder.
She walks us through her thoughts on pursuing one's passions, her experience transitioning from corporate culture to startup culture, and most interestingly, the values and insights on building an efficient community.
Click here to listen
Also, it's Diwali weekend!
We at Investopad wish you and your family a very happy and prosperous Diwali 🙏

And a perfect gift for yourself would be my recent favorite book; Let's Build A Company: A Start-up Story Minus the Bullshit by Harpreet Grover and Vibhore Goyal
ज्ञान
We’ve seen a precipitous decline in participation in civic organizations in recent years; membership numbers are down for religious groups, labor organizations and non-profits. A cynic could interpret these trends as a sign that we have all become digital hermits, with our noses buried in our highly personalized screens. The reality is that powerful communities are not just alive and well but also booming. They just look different than they did 50—even 20—years ago. They are organized around businesses and brands and providing profound opportunities for companies around the world.
CEO and Co-founder Marco Zappacosta launched Thumbtack after graduating college. Like most first-time founders, he wanted to reinvent everything. Since then, his company has changed how consumers connect to local professionals, with millions of projects completed across the United States since the company started in 2008. One of his proudest accomplishments, however, was not an innovation, but a realization — one that took nine years to fulfill to his satisfaction. “We've recruited heads of engineering, product, marketplace, finance, HR, operations, marketing and general counsel. For the first time in our history, we've filled all the seats.
The mid-level bureaucrats left China’s richest man waiting as they prepared for a meeting that would send shockwaves across the financial world.
It was Monday morning in Beijing, and Jack Ma had been summoned to a conference room at the China Securities Regulatory Commission just days before he was set to take Ant Group Co. public in the biggest stock-market debut of all time.
It happens all the time. A founder surrounds him or herself with a skilled group of advisors — maybe one or two from investors, a trusted mentor from their past, perhaps someone influential who can open doors. But as the company grows and pivots, it becomes clear this is not the best team to create long-term value. Can this situation be avoided by choosing advisors more wisely? Can it be turned around once things aren't great?
Elsewhere
Startup classifieds
Quotable
"A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm."

― Henrik Ibsen
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