We’ve all been there: the startup journey could be challenging and… lonely. That’s why you need to build a solid community around your idea.

The whole world is thinking about this: according to the Community Industry Report 2024; almost 80% of managers believe the community positively impacted their organization’s goals. However, 100% of them will experience the value of a community in times of crisis. Community support can even help you innovate and recover from the lower points in your company’s development.

A group of engaged people around the startup was extremely useful for one of Storyby’s flagship products — the novel marketplace,

AlphaNovel. Our product relies heavily on reputation, so gathering a community for open communication and feedback was crucial at the beginning and is still crucial today. In this article, I’ll share how the community helped us and why any startup should consider building one.

What Makes a Group of People a Community — and How to Benefit from It

One thing: loyalty. It isn't just a buzzword. It's the heartbeat of any thriving group. It’s about more than just perks or a shared history — it’s rooted in shared values and sticking to them.

Be razor-sharp in your first year. You need to earn trust and gather instant feedback from people to shape a startup that they would love. As for us, we wanted to create a safe, transparent space where authors share their experiences and get honest feedback.

Kick things off by inviting a selected group of early adopters to become your ambassadors. They will help you lay the groundwork by joining your chat, group, or whatever you choose as your communication platform.

Use your platform to keep everyone in the loop with the latest product updates and actively seek feedback on your developments. This two-way street of communication is the backbone of any community, ensuring everyone feels deeply involved and valued every step of the way.

When launching a community for your startup, ask yourself:

• Whom do you want to see in the community?
• What will be your acceptance criteria?
• What are the reasons people will want to join the community? What's the value for them?
• How will you manage the community and create engagement there?
• Who among the members could potentially become your brand ambassador?

First things first: manage your people. It's a delusional idea that a group could communicate effectively without some form of control.

Here are the universal rules for every community:

1. Selectivity

   Be super mindful about whom you want in your community. Remember: your group or chat isn’t a garbage can. It’s a place to share ideas and seek feedback. That’s why you want to carefully review your group members before allowing them to join.

2. High content standards

   We only accept high-quality book promotion posts, and we encourage authors to work on them. All authors are welcome to share their novels to gain new readers or receive feedback. While we encourage this, we also want promotional posts to be engaging. We ask authors to start with an introduction about themselves and their book, then select an intriguing dialogue or paragraph from the book. Finally, they can add the link and optionally a cover. In our group, we also share all things related to AI: we allow no AI-written books.

3. Moderation

   Community members should be kind and respectful. We're all in this together to create a welcoming environment. Let's treat everyone with respect. Healthy debates are natural, but kindness is required. We laid down our rules in the group’s description and demanded that everyone follow them. It’s easy — treat people the way you want to be treated.

It is your responsibility to actively engage with your community by posting regularly, answering questions promptly, and encouraging participation. Startups should involve their community not only in shallow conversations but also in problem-solving, idea generation, and beta testing.

You should also provide growth opportunities to your most active members. They could potentially serve as community moderators or even join your team.

Community Management and Building: 7 Takeaways

Here are our key learnings based on our community management experience:

• Talk, write, and share a lot. The worst thing you can do is be absent from your own community.

• Ask plenty of questions. This will bring you to the main benefit of your community — the quick feedback loop from your people.

• Listen to the answers. You don’t just ask — you have to actually listen to the answers and turn them into valuable insights. The next thing you do is implement what users are asking for.

• Edit the heck out of your posts. Maintain high-quality content and prepare in advance what you want to share with your users.

• Encourage active participation. Consider offering incentives for those who are active in the community.

• Be patient. You’ll have to work for a while to create a space where people genuinely want to communicate. Slow growth is also a part of the process, don’t let it discourage you.

• Scale carefully. Active participation could push you to invite more members, but scaling your community could disrupt your close-knit group of people. Be mindful.

Bottom line: your people are your secret weapon. Think of your community as a group of friends who will support you no matter what — but will also tell you if you’re doing it wrong.

Rely on your community and learn from it. In the end, startups grow thanks to people — so why not start engaging them now?