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28 Comments

Micro-Communities | and why you should start one too

  1. 3

    Which tools, platforms do you use to start your micro communities?

    1. 1

      Great question! start with whatever is easier for you, signal/telegram/whatsapp(which could problematic at the moment with the new privacy). Ask a few people to join. Then use Zoom/Google Meet for talking.
      I suggest chat apps because those will tend to have the best engagement as you probably already use them quite frequently.

  2. 3

    This was fantastic, thank you for sharing. It's a breath of fresh air in many ways because it's not all about 'scaling' and reaching huge numbers. Really appreciate the real-world examples. 💖

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      Thank you for your kind words! Exactly, I tried to show that value can be obtained with small scales too, and that it might be a great path for many of us starting.

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        For sure. I think it's really important that be kept in mind. An amazing life can be had with sales in the hunderds of thousands instead of the hundreds of millions. Perspective is important.

  3. 3

    Love your story, and love the concept too. This trend toward niche or micro communities is something that's been on my mind a lot lately. So many people are drinking the Kool-Aid of "build at scale" that they forget the simpler approach of starting small and letting it organically take its shape. Great article!

    1. 2

      First of all thanks for the reply! It really means a lot to me.
      Yes, exactly, it reminds me of the comparison of indie hacking vs traditional VC path (where scale is everything). Sometimes smaller things are better.

      PS do you have a micro community of sorts? I'd like to talk to other people who found the same idea intriguing or already are pushing some kind of mc.

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        Yes, not to get too meta but I'm cofounder of Crowdstack, which makes a free micro community platform (it's soft-launched now, full launch by end of Summer when mobile app is released). I like to "dogfood," so a few of us have set up a micro community on which shows to binge next, just for fun: https://bingeworthy.crowdstack.app/c/general.

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          Amazing! yes I saw the tweet now.

  4. 2

    this was a great read! I noticed that this goes really well with another community-building article I read about the orbit model, both emphasize pulling people in and keeping things small and modest: https://orbit.love/blog/a-tactical-guide-to-kickstarting-your-community/

    1. 2

      @mohayat Thanks! The article you sent it great, I read all of it. I think that we all really need some patience and to remember we need to deliver value, it doesn't matter if it is a community or a product, no one can jump straight to the deep end without growing though those two. I appreciate the comment man!

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        for sure! I'm trying to build a community of my own so this is all gold :)

  5. 2

    I like it as a the solution for "You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with". I have been thinking about that quote a bit lately. Maybe not in the terms of micro-community.

    I have a couple of co-founders I work very close with. But sometimes it feels like I/we are getting siloed and it would be good to be part of some likeminded community. Maybe it's due to corona and lack of IRL meetings.

    Anyways, I hope indiehackers can fill up that hole a bit (found the site yesterday).

    1. 1

      You can start a micro community to talk about "meta" discussions and notonly work itself, it can be greatly beneficial! why not create a chat group with 4 friends and talk about it, try it out :)
      Indiehackers is great but wouldn't fill the gap of deep conversations IRL/Zoom with people. It is great for these kind discussions we are having now, but it isn't like talking about it for 45 minutes together.

  6. 2

    Absolutely love this!

  7. 2

    This really resonates with me. I think the ROI in starting and participating in DM groups consisting of goal-driven, like-minded individuals is really incredible. People are much more likely to speak up and encourage each other, give honest feedback and criticism when needed, and discuss different perspectives openly.

    1. 1

      Thanks! I really appreciate the comment!
      Yes, having this group is great. It is a different kind of beast.

  8. 2

    Author here, if you have any questions, let's start a discussion :)

  9. 1

    I strongly believe that micro-communities are the future and with the help of technology there's a lot of potential that can be unlocked.

    Telegram channels are a great way to bring people together around a common topic or a goal.

    I've built https://routergram.com to help Telegram channel administrators to stay in touch with their community and never miss out a single message.

    I really loved your article, I wish you all the best!

    1. 2

      Thank you for the kind words! I love seeing products that target such needs :)

  10. 1

    Thanks for the story, it's well written and speaks from experience. I love small communities because it's more human. You get to really connect with people and generate meaningful ideas and work toward a shared purpose. Not everything needs to be done at scale. Some things are better in smaller groups. That's also how we build friendship. I've been working on midnight.pub, which is a micro community of strangers connecting in a virtual space.

    1. 1

      I couldn’t have put it better myself! I really appreciate the comment 🙏
      PS I love that you used the term :)

  11. 1

    i love this. i'm all about smaller communities. i hope to help build so many more.

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      @8bit You actually helped me build it without knowing ;) I really appreciate all the work you are putting in YEN 👏👏

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        wow! i appreciate you letting me know! that makes me feel all happy inside.

        ... anything else i can do for you?

  12. 1

    This is awesome. Thanks for sharing!
    Just followed you on Twitter.

    1. 1

      Thanks, It's really nice to hear! Followed back :)

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