A guide to curation in community: Do Things that Don't Scale

A guide to curation in community: Do Things that Don't Scale

In the world of community building, curation plays a vital role. It allows community builders to provide value to their members by offering hand-picked and trusted information quickly. Whether it's tools, articles, directories, conversations, books, quotes, or tips, the act of curation holds immense value for both the community and its builder.

One of the key benefits of curation is the opportunity for community builders to learn and understand the community they serve. By curating content, they become experts on their people, their interests, and their needs. This knowledge enables them to stay aware of trends and pass on valuable information to the community.

Before building a community, it's crucial to research the ecosystem and engage in community discovery. This process involves learning about the members, the conversations they're having, and the content they're sharing. By understanding the landscape, community builders can curate content that resonates with their audience and adds value to their lives.

When curating content, it's essential to evaluate its worthiness. Community builders must ask themselves if the content is truly valuable and worth saving. By curating only the most valuable pieces, they ensure that their community receives the highest quality information and resources.

Continued curation is key to maintaining an engaging community. It ensures that community builders never run out of interesting questions to ask, content to write, or events to create. By consistently curating new and relevant content, community builders keep their community dynamic and active.

While organizing curated content with tags and categories can be helpful, it's important not to go overboard. Too many tags can create chaos and make it difficult for members to navigate the curated content. Striking a balance between structure and simplicity is crucial for an optimal curation experience.

The power of curation lies in the ability to connect the dots. While a repository of any kind can be helpful, it's the curation process that allows for the identification of patterns and connections between different pieces of content. By connecting these dots, community builders can provide deeper insights and unique perspectives to their members.

In the startup world, doing things that don't scale is often necessary for success. Founders need to take manual and unscalable actions to recruit users in the early stages. Waiting for users to come to you is not an option. Founders must go out and actively get them.

There are two common reasons why founders resist manual user recruitment. The first is a combination of shyness and laziness. Going out and personally recruiting users can be intimidating and time-consuming. The second reason is that founders underestimate the power of compound growth. They dismiss the initial small numbers without realizing the potential for exponential growth.

Startups are fragile in their early stages, and many inexperienced founders and investors fail to recognize this. It's crucial for founders to believe in their startup and not dismiss it prematurely. The key question to ask is not if the company will take over the world, but rather, how big it could become if the founders do the right things.

Building something to solve your own problems can be a great starting point. By finding peers who share similar problems, founders can easily recruit their initial users. Understanding the target market and finding a critical mass of users quickly is essential for early success.

Creating an insanely great user experience is more important than having a perfect product. Early-stage startups can give users an exceptional experience, even with an incomplete and buggy product, by providing attentiveness and support. The feedback received from engaging directly with early users is invaluable and can guide future product development.

While some tactics may not work in the early stages, such as the "Big Launch," founders should not rely on external events or partnerships to drive user acquisition. Effort and personal engagement are crucial for initial growth. Launches alone are not enough; founders must be willing to put in the extraordinary effort required to recruit users one at a time.

In conclusion, curation and personal engagement are key elements in community building and startup success. By curating valuable content, community builders can provide immense value to their members and gain a deep understanding of their community. Similarly, founders must be willing to take manual actions to recruit users and create an exceptional user experience. By doing things that don't scale, founders can lay the foundation for exponential growth and long-term success.

Actionable advice:

1. Invest time in researching and understanding your community before building your platform or curating content. This will ensure that you provide the most relevant and valuable information to your members.
2. Don't be afraid to manually recruit your initial users. Personal engagement and attentiveness can create an exceptional user experience and lead to exponential growth.
3. Continuously curate new and relevant content to keep your community engaged and active. Regularly ask questions, write content, and create events to maintain a dynamic and thriving community.