How to build a community to validate start-up idea

A big part of launching a successful start-up is nurturing a community that would support it throughout its journey. It might seem odd in the first place, but building a tribe of early adopters doesn't always make it top of a founder's priority list. 

Why one needs to focus their time and energy on nurturing a community of passionate followers and eager early adopters? 

It's simple to answer this as nowadays, consumers care about culture, communication, ethics and expect to have genuine interactions with real people with real-life experiences. Connection breeds loyalty and in return, leads to growth. Building a long-lasting relationship with your consumers is a worthwhile investment because when a customer feels connected to a brand, 57% of the consumers are likely to increase their spending with that brand. 

A great way to connect with your audience as a founder is by having an active social media presence. Recent studies have shown that 65% of the consumers feel more connected to a business when their CEO is using social media - you might even say that it creates transparency about the business. Thus, increasing the sense of trust your consumers have about your product. 

To build that initial connection, you can use platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, but what about less obvious choices when it comes to launching your start-ups on platforms like Tik Tok or even Twitch. 

Social media platforms have made it easier for entrepreneurs to tap into their target audience, build a business, and then scale it to the next level. It has also made it easier to build hype around the launch date. Pat Walls, the founder of Start-up Story, took it to the next level by creating a start-up in 24 hours and streaming the whole process live on Twitch! 

Pat Walls used Twitch to stream live for the launch of his start-up right from ideation to creation. Image Courtesy: Pat Walls. 

With a bit of extra support from other social media channels to promote his activity on the popular streaming platform, Pat was soon watched by thousands of curious viewers as he came up with his start-up idea. He wrote lines of code, got feedback, and finally - launched his product. The results led Pat to over 9,000 Twitch views, 1,000 registered users on launch, and his product 'You Don't Need WordPress' made it to the top on Product Hunt. 

Although, there are fewer examples of building a community for your start-up. Two recent examples are: Eat Out in London and  Car Crowd that we have recently spoken to are smashing in this space and have used social media to secure a successful launch. Another great example is Fit pack, the health & wellbeing optimization platform that has validated their idea for a year using WordPress and Instagram before building their v1 app and successfully launching it in early 2020. 

Car Crowd used Instagram to build a following of 11,5k for their start-up. 

Having a community of passionate followers and early adopters creates a sense of belonging and makes members feel like they're part of something important. Because of their level of involvement, users can help you validate your start-up idea and also be a great source of inspiration for what features to be added next and what are other opportunities lie within the market. If you treat your followers as partners, rather than simply looking at them as end consumers, and making them happy with your product, your start-up is likely to be bound for great success. 

Author: Martin Sandhu