Rule #7: Create a community to support and enhance your products.
I haven’t really created a community (yet) and I’m not entirely sure I’d be able to, but as it is, I’m trying to service an existing community… the users of Sparkbooth.
Now I didn’t just jump into this existing community with the idea that there was money to be made… I’m a Sparkbooth user, and in solving my own problem I’ve also solved the problem of other Sparkbooth users. (And yes, I’m not the only one.)
I’m hoping members of the community support my product, and as for the enhancing part, well, that may happen just as a result of having customers. I’ve already thought about ways to make things better (the product and the process) as well as some alternatives that may be of interest to people.
Of course, there’s this bit regarding customer support:
Get it right and you can have a community rooting for you. Get it wrong, and you’ll have a virtual riot on your hands.
Hey, no pressure, right!?
(See all the posts in this series: Begin, Stock, Buy Smart, Basic Rules, No Leeway, Be Open, Community, Manufacturability, Marketing, Shipping, Lessons Learned, The Real Costs.)