Community for start-ups is vital, but the notion sometimes feels at odds with going it alone.
Let me get a disclaimer out of the way, yes we run a start-up community. Discussing the importance of community with the Decksender team the other day it struck me that the idea is somewhat at odds with the reasons many of us branch out on our own. Normally we do this with a co-founder or two in tow. But, in the main, we give up our our life surrounded by our workmates to explore another path. We make a conscious decision to take a path different from the norm. So i thought i would explore what makes a community for start-ups so powerful.
Lone wolf doesn’t cut it.
It’s very rare you find a lone wolf founder that makes it big. The advice most people give a founder is a get a co-founder and from their it’s often surround yourself with talent. Like the saying goes it takes a community to raise a child, the same could be said of start-ups. Physiologically that can be a hard thing to do, relinquish ownership, even in the mental sense, to others. It is however a vital step.
Communities accelerate learning
Frankly it’s a phrase i hate, fail fast. At a community level though think of all the learnings you get when 50 start-ups fail fast? That kind of accelerated learning is invaluable. You could be the one that doesn’t fail fast, or at all, based on the collective community knowledge you can absorb.
Communities have power
One small pre-revenue company can’t do much to affect change. A thriving community has the power to do so. Want a collective discount on a popular tool, done. Want to get the best mentors to help your team, done. The power of community stems not just from what we put in but what we can get out. Like all things it’s give and take. Decksender is no different with it’s core built on a simple proposition to connect you the start-up directly with an investor, no middle man.
Communities fulfil our needs
Whether we like it or not we all have basic human needs to fulfil. Community allows us to do this. Whether it’s socially or professionally humans in the main perform better when they feel a part of something. we are after all social animals. Community makes us feel part of something and the best communities make us feel empowered.
It’s all kind of obvious when you think about it. Communities help start-ups thrive. The trick i think is to understand what you can both put into a community and what you can take out. Be realistic, it’s easy to say yes. Striking a balance is nearly always the best policy.