Can Only VC Funded Companies Create Viable Web 2.0 Communities?
July 7, 2007 – 2:32 amAfter ThemBid.com was both Dugg and Slashdotted within a few weeks we decided to take a look at the results and draw some conclusions.
Currently our goal is to gain traction with the early adopters and spread the word about ThemBid.com virally in order to create a thriving community. To this effect, we have been providing valuable information to the tech community, which has been well received as shown by over 47,000 unique visitors in a little over four months. The Digg Effect yielded over 16,000 unique visitors in one day and the Slashdotting yielded over 4,000 unique visitors in one day.
Another way we are engaging the tech community is with the ThemBid.com Hack a Thon.
Even with all of this traffic and acceleration through the Alexa rankings, our community is relatively slow to expand. We are averaging a few new registrations and requests per day. While we can see the beginnings of a great and useful community, we are interested in accelerating this process. And so we ask whether it is possible to create a strong community in a short period of time without the VC money.
We would like to hear from other startups who are in the community building stage. What do you think? Can only VC funded companies create viable web 2.0 communities? If not, what do you think the proper strategy is?
One Response to “Can Only VC Funded Companies Create Viable Web 2.0 Communities?”
It looks like we’re a few months behind you guys with ClutterMe.com - we’re also not looking for VC (at the moment).
I think it’s definitely possible to build a great community without VC funding… but likely slower. It’ll take more patience and persistance. But the rewards should be that much sweeter
Is it possible to do it in a SHORT period of time? Only if your users are evangelizing for you. If the average user isn’t (over time) bringing in more users, then you might have to settle for slower growth (or go back to the drawing board). This might require being patient enough to reach critical mass the “slow” way first…
Congrats on your growth so far, and good luck in the future.
By Alex on Jul 7, 2007