

How Fred Wilson Built an Amazing Community at avc.com - satishmreddy
http://www.thoughtsonconsumerweb.com/how-fred-wilson-built-an-amazing-community-at-avc-com/

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replicatorblog
I've been reading Fred's blog for a few years now, but I think this post
ignores or underestimates quite a few things that you need if you want to be a
thought leader:

1\. Be early - Fred was one of the first VC bloggers to give people a real
time glimpse of his thoughts.

2\. Be consistent - There were some notable VC's who blogged before him, but
none with the daily pace he has consistently met for years. This regularity is
hugely important.

3\. Be successful - He has amazing credibility based on his investment
portfolio. With their thesis driven approach, USV has assembled the best
collection of "Large communities of engaged users" in tech. He has also
invested in companies that have become some of the biggest brand names in tech
e.g. Twitter/Zynga.

4\. Be talented - I can think of a few VCs that meet most of the above
criteria, but Fred is a really good writer with a strong POV. He almost always
brings a fresh thought to stale issues and rarely uses his blog as a
commercial for his investments.

5\. Be Human - If you read Fred's blog you know what music he's into, where he
vacations to, what his kids are interested in. He's a full personality, not
just a repository of info about term sheets or financing structures.

I think the points that the OP makes are important, but are not the primary
cause of Fred's success.

~~~
satishmreddy
I agree that I left out the issues you talked about. I did that on purpose
though. The issues that you mentioned are absolutely needed in order to build
a successful blog with a lot of traffic.

But there are many successful blogs that do not have an engaged community that
comments at that volume. I was trying to explain just that aspect. I should
have written that upfront. I also agree that being early and consistent helps
in building the community.

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edw
I suppose it's interesting to think about _how_ Mr Wilson built his community,
but more important is the sort of community he's managed to build and the
question of whether it's a good or bad community. A community isn't an end in
itself, and as someone recently pointed out, one of the great things about the
internet is that it allows people to _escape_ the communities they physically
live in. (Think about the gay Midwestern kid in the wheelchair from _Milk_ for
a moment.)

If words like "good" and "bad" aren't to your liking, please substitute
productive/unproductive, useful/useless, interesting/boring,
liberating/stifling, or whatever arbitrary dichotomy you prefer.

As for the AVC community, I don't find it particularly interesting. It
attracts a lot of fanboys, especially Android fans who consider anyone who
buys an iPhone to be sheeple brainwashed by the Steve Jobs reality distortion
field. And it attracts a lot of people who are basically promoting themselves
or their businesses, and they're trying really hard to exude _gravitas_. Fuck
gravitas.

Community is not an end in itself. A community is just as likely to embody
dynamics that enforce a soul-crushing conformity as it is likely to be
nurturing and supportive. All communities are mixed bags—I think that's
inevitable, but don't hold me to it—and the processes that _create_ a
community are going to _shape_ the community and the way its members interact,
so I would suggest looking at AVC and asking yourself whether you want to
create an AVC like community before you decide to consciously harness, deploy,
or whatever those processes to create a community.

Oh, and the idea that you can replicate anything involving a group of people
using a recipe-like approach is ridiculous. Life's complicated.

~~~
satishmreddy
I agree that there is no recipe. But the key take away is that Fred spent a
ton of time responding to as many comments as he could physically till end of
2009. And that is absolutely necessary in order for other people to take the
time to invest in your blog.

------
cyanbane
I started reading/commenting on avc back in 2005 and it was actually because
of Fred's music interests. I had found the blog because of his old music
podcast he did with his family (Positively Tenth Street). Not sure how many
within the avc community were introduced via that method but I didn't see it
touched on within the link. I started reading avc for the music, and ended up
staying for the tech discussion.

~~~
satishmreddy
Thats an interesting perspective. :)

------
spencerfry
I like the writer's breakdown, but all of this is common sense to me. It can
all be boiled down to: (1) write good, engaging content and (2) respond
promptly to readers' comments.

~~~
satishmreddy
I agree that it is common sense but a little more than that: 1) Write good,
engaging content with a strong point of view 2) respond promptly 3) Share your
spotlight & traffic with your readers by reblogging the best comments and
giving specific readers credit for the idea for your blog posts 4) As your
readership grows, you cant respond to all comments so identify leaders to help
you and ask for a couple of guest posts from them to make them feel a sense of
ownership. 5) Prioritize responding to people who are commenting for the first
time to welcome them to the community.

