I love that Romain referenced PG's Do Things That Don't Scale essay. That's exactly how Product Hunt has grown. Tons of emailing, tweeting, etc. and when it comes to building a community, being personable is the best way to build a healthy culture, imho.
Spot on. Reaching out to your earliest users directly - and not via a canned email - is really effective for building trust and loyalty in a community. Communities are often a reflection of the founder him/herself and this sort of grassroots outreach goes a long way toward attracting others.
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I love that Romain referenced PG's Do Things That Don't Scale essay. That's exactly how Product Hunt has grown. Tons of emailing, tweeting, etc. and when it comes to building a community, being personable is the best way to build a healthy culture, imho.
Spot on. Reaching out to your earliest users directly - and not via a canned email - is really effective for building trust and loyalty in a community. Communities are often a reflection of the founder him/herself and this sort of grassroots outreach goes a long way toward attracting others.
That WSJ article that Jessica was quoted from HN yesterday also made me think of you!