ideaDoes anyone have any noteworthy examples of successful entrepreneurs using blogs throughout their startup in a productive way? I mean even at the stage BEFORE they launch a product, or even have an idea.
The founders of Stack Exchange, Joel Spolsky and Jeff Atwood, started blogging in March 2008 about what would soon become the largest, most successful programmers’ website on the planet — a full six months before the site made its first appearance.
The strong lead up and constant user engagement were instrumental to the impressive launch and ongoing success of the network.
Not a waste at all.
As Robert pointed out, Stack Overflow is a classic example.
There are countless others. One example is Pinch of Yum, which is part blog and part product line. The founders/owners publish a monthly report of their income, which should be required reading for all entrepreneurs who are just getting started, especially those who are bootstrapping (rather than raising lots of funding). The 2 of them are pulling roughly $30,000/month in net income, and a surprisingly large amount of that does not come from the blog itself, even though that’s what started things for them.
People with a following use blogs all the time to preview projects, test ideas, build target lists and all the rest. That's great if you're Joel Spolsky, but not if you're Joey Unknown.
Accelerators, to a better approximation than you might guess, are blog aggregators for the rest of us. Their startups are encouraged to find a voice, and the fame of the incubator or/and the mentors gets that voice heard.
Go look down the current cohort of just about any accelerator, and you'll find many of them blogging away. Some are blogging to promote what they've built, some are blogging to decide what to build, and it's sometimes impossible to tell which!
One very useful way to create a minimum viable product is that favourite formula of a landing page (preferably with a way - apparently - to join the beta programme) plus a twitter account, plus Buffer. In an hour a day before breakfast you can build community (or see how community fails to build) around claims you make. When one of these gets traction, you can think about cutting some code!
Look at developers.airbnb.com, many of the big web names have blogs about their business model or technical issues. Just remember who you will want the audience to be and write coherently. I’m prototyping an electronic device that will allow a new business model, but the model will take participation from others before it’s real value is obvious, so I’m writing to generate interest from early adopters.
Groove has impressive blog giving in-depth details about their business, including precisely how their blog ads value to their business. :)
Disclaimer. I am not affiliated with them, and get no benefits from posting it here. I just love their blog and happen to learn a lot from there.
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