Founding Voices: Project Your Principles to Attract Your Community

Project Your Principles to Attract Your Community

It’s hard to overstate the benefit of having a community that complements your product. But communities are living, breathing things, and while you can guide and shape them, you can’t dictate the specifics of what they care about, or how members interact with one another.

“You cannot fake a community. Conversations will happen in the community that may be unexpected or different from what you think is your brand, but authenticity is what keeps a community strong. We’ve always focused on nurturing authentic expression and conversation on our platform, most recently by introducing a new live selling product, Posh Shows, that lets anyone go live on Poshmark to make sales, express themselves, and support others in our community.”

MANISH CHANDRA

Co-founder & CEO, Poshmark

Creating a community that’s both authentic and aligned with your values starts with you. Before you have a forum or a subreddit, the fundamental building blocks of your community are the 1:1 exchanges between you and your users – how you help them troubleshoot problems, respond to feature requests, or handle complaints.
These interactions are opportunities for you to model the qualities you want to see in your community. And while not everybody will resonate with your principles, those who do will carry them forward and build a deeper affinity with your brand.
“Creating a community that’s true to your values means leading by example,” says Navin Chaddha, longtime partner to Manish and Poshmark. “In the early days of Poshmark, Manish personally responded to almost every customer service email. I’d like to think that’s a big part of why their community is so kind, supportive and deeply human. You might not need to go to those same lengths, but it’s that spirit that’s important.”

NAVIN CHADDHA
Managing Partner

Enterprise, Consumer, Semiconductors