Most of us probably don’t think of community-driven products as serious businesses or the best way to improve customer retention.
Yet, countless examples of successful products owe their popularity to their communities, like WeWork, Patreon, and ReForge. If you’re looking for long-term paying customers with high average transaction values, a subscription model, or an annual membership for community access, consider how easy it can be to gain insights from your audience. There’s so much potential to build around this concept — just like Amazon, you’re an aggregator of various needs and know exactly what your users want. You don’t have to spend time on customer development; just create and launch products tailored to your audience.
I’ve always been fascinated by different community models and the art of building them because I love creating systems that work for me. I’d like to share my step-by-step experience from my latest community product, R-Founders, where we found product-market fit in just the first month and grew organically by tenfold over two years, thanks to user referrals.
About R-Founders
R-Founders is an exclusive community for top entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs who are ready to take their business global. You'll find big names like ChatFuel, Windy, TripleTen, and LocalRent among the members. And if you want to join, you'll have to prove your worth through a rigorous selection process.
As an expert in community building, I'm going to share eight key strategies for creating a thriving community.
Tip 1: Attract Market Leaders
Building a thriving community is all about connecting with the right people. I learned this firsthand back in 2016 when I was creating products for seniors under the Young Old brand. By 2022, my network of contacts in the IT world was huge, and I knew it was a powerful tool.
When I launched R-Founders, a platform for sharing knowledge about international markets, I realized I needed a strategy to attract the right people. My plan was simple: find one influential leader who could bring others with them.
That's how I ended up approaching Seva Ustinov from Elly Analytics. He's well-respected in the industry, and his involvement instantly gave R-Founders credibility. Soon, Ilya Krasinsky from Rick.ai joined, and the community began to grow on its own.
Here's what worked for us:
• We didn't have to spend time on marketing.
• Seva alone brought in more than 15 new members, and those members attracted another 50 people!
Tip 2: Implement a Strict Entry Filter
Even the coolest startup community can fall apart fast if it loses its focus. It’s crucial to understand who your core group is and why they're there. You can't just chase money by letting anyone join – that can drive away the valuable members who are looking for real connections and knowledge, not just a party.
Our goal is to have a mix of about 30% industry leaders and 20% rising stars, with the rest being strong professionals who are on their way up. We also rely on our gut feeling to spot talented individuals who could be big players in the future and benefit the community.
We do this by:
• Asking for recommendations from other entrepreneurs
• Checking mutual connections
• Looking at Facebook and LinkedIn profiles
• Talking to the group leader and existing members
• Interviewing potential members
This rigorous screening process makes sure we attract the right people and help them integrate into the community smoothly. It's crucial for maintaining a high-quality group of engaged members.
Tip 3: Introduce a Monthly Subscription
A strict entry process isn't just about keeping things exclusive; it's about building a strong foundation for long-term relationships within the community. Think of it like a well-built house – you need a strong base to withstand the test of time.
One way to measure the health of a community is by looking at LT – that's Lifetime, or how long members stay involved. In R-Founders, our LT is 1 year +, which is pretty good considering we have a monthly subscription model. This allows us to get quick feedback from members and make adjustments as needed. If people are leaving after a month, we know we need to improve something. A yearly subscription would make it much harder to see those trends and adapt.
To help our members connect and learn from each other, we've created working groups based on industry and business models. We have B2B Global SaaS, First Steps, Edtech, Mobile Apps, B2B Global Services, Generative Ai.
Tip 4: Focus on Specific Topics
Building a strong entrepreneurial community isn't just about throwing a bunch of people in a room and hoping for the best. You need to understand why people are coming together. If it's just about networking for networking's sake, the discussions can get cluttered with fluff, and busy founders won't have time for that.
The key is to focus on substance: real, actionable advice and expert insights without all the fluff. That's what our community is built on – sharing practical knowledge about international markets based on real-world experience.
Keeping the focus on substance takes careful management by group leaders and community managers. Some informal elements are great, but the main goal should always be to deliver valuable, actionable information.
Tip 5: Use a Knowledge Base for Retention
I have to admit, I didn't fully grasp the importance of a knowledge base for community engagement until our advisor, Ilya Krasinsky, pointed it out. He said, "Hey, all this great content from our groups is getting lost! We need a way to keep it organized and easily accessible." It was like a lightbulb went off!
Here's how the knowledge base is making a difference:
• Members can quickly decide if they need to watch the full webinar or just read the summary.
• They can easily share summaries with their teams, saving everyone time.
• They can go back and reference the summaries to find expert contacts or ask follow-up questions.
We did some interviews, and it turns out that about 60% of our members use the knowledge base as their main tool! It’s got over 300 summaries on topics like entering different international markets. I honestly think our LTV (how long people stay in the community) would be more like 3.5 months instead of 8.5 months without it.
Tip 6: Share Useful Information through Multiple Channels
Content marketing is a powerful tool for building a community, and you don't need to break the bank to do it right. We manage on a budget of around $3,000 a month, focusing on smart content marketing instead of expensive ads or influencer deals. And guess what? It's working! Around 25% of our members find us this way. Half of our members come through referrals from other participants, while the other quarter through direct sales.
The key is to create useful information that people will actually share – not just try to sell them something. For example, we send out digests on Telegram with tips from our members on how to crack international markets. We have about 5,000 subscribers, and they're genuinely interested in what we're sharing – they're potential members!
I also leverage my personal brand to get the word out. I started a weekly podcast a year ago, and it's been going strong ever since. I've already released nearly 40 episodes, featuring interviews with top founders and executives who have experience taking their businesses global. Some of my recent guests are Alexandra Johnson, Managing Director at DFJ VTB Aurora; Nick Davidov, co-founder of Davidovs VS, and George Levin, Founder & CEO of Hints.
Tip 7: Set Product-Related Tasks for Community Managers
Many communities fall flat because they rely on cookie-cutter templates instead of creating something unique. At R-Founders, our community managers are more than just admins – they're the heart and soul of the community experience. They blend skills from hospitality, coaching, and diplomacy to create a supportive and engaging environment.
Here are four tips for building a strong community management team:
1. Understand What People Need: Our managers subtly guide people towards the value of sharing their expertise with each other. They make sure everyone understands the benefits of open communication.
2. Stay in the Loop: Community managers need to be on top of the content and discussions to engage effectively. Being knowledgeable helps them connect with founders and gather valuable insights.
3. Be Adaptable: We check in with members every week to stay in tune with their needs and make adjustments. Recently, a conversation led us to organize a session on building communities around mobile apps, which was a big hit.
4. Pick the Right People: Not everyone is cut out for this role. We've refined our internship process to screen out candidates who lack genuine interest in startup culture and depth. The two-month internship helps us make sure they're a good fit.
The bottom line? Our community managers at R-Founders do a lot more than just manage things. They create a thriving community by fostering meaningful interactions and delivering real value.
Tip 8: Organize Offline Events
Hosting offline events is a tried-and-true way to bring a community together. I’ve been doing it for over 15 years, and it works like a charm when you put some thought into it.
We're building local communities wherever our audience is. Right now, R-Founders has over 20 local representatives in places like Barcelona, New York, London, Amsterdam, Belgrade, Dubai, Buenos Aires, and more. For each location, we’re on the lookout for a community Lead who can act as our moderator and facilitator.
The first key task is to organize regular offline meetups — at least once a month — and capture some great photos to share in the chat, highlighting the amazing people in our community. Secondly, Leads serve as gatekeepers, reaching out to potential participants before adding them to our community chat. It's essential that these individuals are founders or C-level executives with a focus on global markets.
Leads also gauge the vibe of each participant, which is quite subjective; that's why we believe our Leads embody the spirit of R-Founders. Another important point is that our chats aren't for anonymous users; everyone should introduce themselves. This is crucial for creating a warm and welcoming community where everyone feels safe.
Lastly, Leads are responsible for moderating the chat, removing promotional messages from other communities, events, and off-topic posts. It’s vital for us that the chat remains focused, professional, and relevant, so we’re not used as a sales platform.
Now, I regularly host events at major conferences. At Web Summit in Lisbon, I organized a side event for tech startups. To make it special, I carefully vetted participants and focused on creating a meaningful experience. The event was a hit and really stood out at the conference. It helped raise awareness about R-Founders and potentially drew new members to our community.
These events are more than just fun – they create memorable experiences that help us reach more people and make R-Founders even more appealing.
By following these tips, you can create a successful community that attracts the best talent and keeps people engaged over the long term.