How To Build A Community Around Your Startup w/ David Spinks of CMX Media

On this episode of Startup Slingshot Radio I chat with David Spinks. David is founder and CEO of CMX Media, the hub for the community industry. In our time together, we chat about actionable tactics you can use to build a community to help your business thrive. Toward the end, we cover mini-case studies on how companies like Udemy, LeWeb, & Zaarly developed their communities. The knowledge David shares in this episode is sure to put you on the path to building a thriving community. Enjoy!

Have comments, questions, ideas, or feedback? I want to hear it. Tweet me at william_griggs.

TOPICS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE

What is CMX Hub?
- Why did you build it?
- What is the goal?
- What does it offer?
- What success have you had to date?
First, what’s the point? Why are companies doing this?
What kind of businesses tend to think about building a community?
- Can you give us an example?
- How does it fit inside their marketing/sales strategy?
- What’s the results they can hope to see?
  - How is it tracked?
- Where does the team sit? Under customer success or marketing?
  - How do people structure their team?
  - Who do you start with and how do you think about building out the team?
  - What are the titles of the people on the team?
  - What are they responsible for?
  - What should our audience look for when hiring people for this team?
How do in the people in the audience get the ball rolling? How do they start from nothing and grow into a thriving community?
What’s something people get wrong when looking to build a community?
Mini-Case Studies
- Udemy
  - What is it?
  - Why did they need to build their community?
  - What did you help them do?
  - What did I miss?
- LeWeb
  - What is it?
  - Why did they need to build their community?
  - What did you help them do?
  - What did I miss?
- Feast
  - What is it?
  - Why did they need to build their community?
  - What did you help them do?
  - What did I miss?
- Zaarly
  - What is it?
  - Why did they need to build their community?
  - What did you help them do?
  - What did I miss?

David Spinks’ Bio

David Spinks is the founder of CMX, the hub for the community industry. He built his first online community when we has 13 and has since dedicated his career to building communities and giving community professionals the opportunity to thrive. Spinks previously founded Feast (acquired) and BlogDash, and has built community for Zaarly, LeWeb, Udemy and SeatGeek. He serves as a mentor on community strategy for 500 Startups, Startup Chile and hundreds of different companies of all sizes.