Defining the Lingo

You may have heard of the alpha and beta phases of product development. Alpha is a very early version of a product that may not contain all of the features that you're planning to include in the final version. Beta is a pre-release of a product that is given out to a large group of users to try under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product.

We use the phrase alpha community to mean a small group of customers that are connected to and engaging with one another. Creating an alpha community for your not-yet launched product can be a great way to continue to do customer discovery while working with the customers regularly and providing some value. You can utilize it as a founder to help you better understand your customers' problems and get sign-ups to test your first (alpha) product.

Benefits of an Alpha Community:

Building a community also has many long-term benefits, especially regarding customer acquisition and engagement. Your community can:

• Attract potential new users to your product.
• Support and help each other answer questions that you may not have the resources to handle yourself.
• Give you a finger on the pulse of what your customers think about.

<aside> 🙌 Community Tip: One key pre-requisite to forming an alpha community is knowing which customer segment you're targeting and having a clear customer persona. However, you don't need to understand what your product will be. By forming and participating in the community, you will have the opportunity to learn about their pain points better and what kind of support or resources they are proactively seeking.

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Note: Creating a community centered on your product is different from creating a personal brand or following. If you would like to build a following around a topic to become a trusted thought leader in the subject area, consider creating content such as blogging, YouTube, Instagram, etc.

Platforms for Your Community:

• Facebook Group
• Slack
• Mailing list (Google groups or Mailchimp)
• Meetup (online and in-person)
• In-person dinner groups
• Roundtable (more formal meetings)

How to Build the Community:

Building a community that is useful to you and valuable to the members of the community will take some time. While you can set it up relatively quickly, it will likely take a few months to develop into a community where people are connecting. Getting new members and engaging these members will take consistent work, so be sure that a community is in line with your longer-term product goals. Moreover, be sure you have the time and resources to dedicate to this; otherwise, your community will be a waste of time.