How Polygon scaled through community-led growth: An Exclusive Interview with Astha Gupta
Unravelling Polygon's strategy, Astha highlights how community-led growth was instrumental in Polygon's expansive scaling, underscoring the power of decentralised collaboration in the blockchain realm
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Blending Community Passion with Product Obsession for Growth - Merging CLG with PLG
Why only 40% of communities thrive in GTM? - ICP vs ICMP strategy in Community led Approach
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Today, we're diving deep into the mind and experiences of Astha Gupta, Founder’s Office - Strategy at Polygon. This conversation is set to unravel the strategies and stories behind one of the most dynamic blockchain environments today. Let's jump in!
Quick Snapshot - Astha Gupta Career Journey
Role at Polygon Labs: Part of the Founder's Office-Strategy team.
Major Initiatives:
Launch of Polygon Village: A flagship B2B community program focused on nurturing early-stage projects.
Introduction of Village Wonders: The first native accelerator at Polygon.
Innovations: Introduced project vouchers for builders on Polygon.
Partnerships: Collaborated with over 60 ecosystem players.
Additional Roll-outs: Initiated an ecosystem job board.
Team Dynamics: Rapid growth to a team of 12+, overseeing community, marketing, content, and program execution.
Before Polygon: Career Highlights
Director of Partnerships at BetterPlace Technologies: A deep dive into partnerships with government entities, NGOs, skilling sectors, fintech, and other demand-driven domains.
VP of Partnerships & Alliances at Kuliza Technologies (Lend.In): Managed a staggering sales pipeline that exceeded $10 million purely through partnerships.
Other roles include contributing to the growth of Fyle Technologies and co-founding Loktra Technologies, which zeroed in on lead management and referral solutions.
Educational Milestones:
Bagged the impressive All India Rank 37 in IPCE as a Chartered Accountant.
Q&A with Astha Gupta
Astha, You have a diverse experience across Growth, Partnerships and Community Building. How are these roles related or different to each other - Growth / Partnerships / Community in tech startups?
In tech startups, roles in Growth, Partnerships, and Community may seem closely related, but they serve distinct purposes within the organization:
Growth:
Focus: Growth roles primarily concentrate on driving user or customer acquisition, retention, and revenue growth. They use data-driven strategies, marketing tactics, and product optimizations to achieve these goals.
Responsibilities: Growth teams often manage acquisition channels (e.g., SEO, paid ads, content marketing), optimize user funnels, and conduct A/B testing to improve conversion rates.
Metrics: They are typically measured by key performance indicators (KPIs) like user acquisition cost (CAC), customer lifetime value (CLV), churn rate, and revenue growth.
Partnerships:
Focus Partnership roles emphasize building strategic relationships with external entities, such as other companies, organizations, or platforms. These relationships can lead to mutually beneficial collaborations.
Responsibilities: Partnership teams identify potential partners, negotiate agreements, and manage ongoing partnerships. They often work on business development, integrations, and co-marketing initiatives.
Metrics: Success in partnership roles is often measured by the impact of partnerships on user growth, revenue, or other business objectives.
Community:
Focus: Community roles revolve around fostering and engaging a community of users, customers, or enthusiasts around the startup's products or services. This engagement can be instrumental in building brand loyalty and advocacy.
Responsibilities: Community managers organize events, moderate online forums, respond to user inquiries, and collect feedback. They aim to create a sense of belonging and facilitate knowledge-sharing among community members.
Metrics: Community success can be assessed through metrics like user engagement (e.g., forum participation, event attendance), Net Promoter Score (NPS), and the growth of the community over time.
While these roles have distinct functions, they often collaborate closely within a startup. For instance, growth efforts can benefit from partnerships that expand user acquisition channels. Similarly, a thriving community can positively impact user retention and growth. Each role contributes uniquely to the overall success and growth of the startup, and their synergy can lead to significant achievements.
Can you segment communities where Polygon is focussed? And why? What were major initiatives taken?
Polygon was focused on three type of communities:
1. Community of Developers (DevRel): Here, we engage with developers and builders, gather feedback, and educate them. DevRel fosters collaboration, connects with other projects, and helps grow the ecosystem. The community of developers advocate for Polygon’s technology, and drive innovation. These communities provide valuable market insights and ensure the startup remains developer-friendly and responsive to user needs.
Key Initiatives:
Developer Guilds: Polygon Guilds provide a local community for developers to connect, collaborate, and learn from one another. Guild “Mages” may participate in activities such as meetups, hackathons, and workshops to share knowledge and expertise, as well as contribute to open source projects and engage with the community.
Polygon University: Free learning paths, education and resources- by developers for developers
Hackathons and developer events: Both online and offline hackathons conducted by Polygon or with partners
Developer Discord
2. Community of customers (B2B) : These are projects are building in Web3 using Polygon’s decentralised ethereum scaling platform-
Key Initiatives:
Launched Polygon Village: Flagship brand for Polygon community, DAO and support for early stage projects (pipeline for all projects building on Polygon)
Village Wonders: Polygon’s 1st native cohort based accelerator with selected projects in defi, gaming, nfts, metaverse concluded with demo day with 110+ investors, 20+ mentors. -Vouchers: Partnered with 60+ tooling and ecosystem partners and introduced free/ discounted vouchers that could be utilised by projects in their building journey
3. Others
Ecosystem job board with 3k+jobs, 120+ partners, 2 JobDrops (job fair)
Discord, twitter and telegram engagement with users
Global offline events
How do you know that community initiatives were working for you?
Certainly, to gauge the effectiveness of our community initiatives we kept track of:
Engagement Metrics: We diligently monitored community engagement metrics, including the level of active participation, interaction on forums or social platforms, and event attendance. An increase in these metrics signifies a thriving community.
User Growth: Evaluating if community contributed to user acquisition by analyzing the number of new users or customers acquired through community engagement and referrals.
Feedback and Suggestions: Assessing the quality and quantity of feedback and suggestions originating from the community. A robust community often serves as a valuable source of insights for product enhancements.
Retention: Examining whether community involvement has a positive impact on user retention rates. Users actively engaged in the community tend to exhibit higher levels of loyalty to your product.
Content Creation: Observing if community members are actively generating and sharing user-generated content, such as tutorials, tech documentation, or reviews related to Polygon.
Advocacy and Evangelism: Measuring the extent to which community members advocate for Polygon. Look for mentions, positive reviews, and referrals stemming from community participants.
Product Adoption: Investigating how community initiatives influence product adoption rates. Analyze whether users who engage with the community tend to adopt additional features or upgrades.
Event Participation: Monitoring attendance and gather feedback to ascertain if these initiatives are driving engagement and garnering interest.
Community Surveys: Conducting periodic surveys to solicit direct feedback from community members regarding their experience and satisfaction levels.
Network Growth: Assessing whether the community is expanding its network of connections, both internally and externally. The formation of new partnerships or collaborations can serve as an indicator of success.
Impact on KPIs: Ultimately, correlating community metrics with key performance indicators (KPIs) such as user acquisition cost, customer lifetime value, and revenue growth. A favorable impact on these metrics underscores the effectiveness of your community initiatives.
By consistently evaluating these indicators and fine-tuning our community strategies based on the findings, we gained valuable insights into the success of our community initiatives at Polygon!
What were the bottlenecks that you or your team encountered while building communities?
A lot!
Initiating engagement takes time, content generation can be demanding, and moderation is essential to maintain a respectful environment.
Scaling smoothly while retaining personalization is challenging.
Measuring ROI and aligning community goals with company objectives can be puzzling.
Preventing member burnout and ensuring inclusivity are ongoing efforts.
Selecting the right platform and managing resources can be like solving complex puzzles.
Adapting to tech shifts is akin to a constant game of catch-up.
Hiring for an internal community team and keeping our advocates incentivised and encouraged.
Despite these challenges, with dedication and a focus on delivering value to members, we overcame these hurdles and built a thriving community.
Where does the community team sit in the organisation chart at tech startups?
In tech startups, the positioning of the community team on the organizational chart can vary.
Often, it falls under Marketing or Growth, highlighting its role in user acquisition and engagement.
In some startups, the community team reports directly to the CEO or senior leadership, emphasizing its strategic importance.
Others place it within Product or User Experience to ensure community feedback directly informs product development.
Larger startups might have a separate Community department, while hybrid models involve dotted-line reporting to both Marketing and Product to balance user acquisition and product improvement.
Ultimately, the team's placement depends on the startup's size, goals, and how it perceives the community's role in its overall success.
On a scale of 1 to 7, How important is community for any business? and why do you think so?
I'd rate the importance of community for any business as a solid 7, and here's why:
Firstly, it fosters customer loyalty. When people feel connected to a brand and its community, they're more likely to stick around. Communities also keep users engaged, providing a space for discussions, sharing, and learning, which is a major driver of user retention.
Moreover, communities serve as invaluable feedback loops. Businesses can gather insights, opinions, and suggestions directly from their most passionate users. This feedback informs product improvements, as users often know what they need better than anyone else.
Additionally, a happy community can be your best marketing team. Satisfied members are more likely to recommend your products or services to others, contributing to word-of-mouth marketing.
Lastly, communities can be hubs of innovation and collaboration, fostering new ideas and solutions. In a nutshell, a community isn't just a nice-to-have; it's a must-have for modern businesses. It sets your business apart from competitors and is a win-win for both businesses and their users.
What are you planning now? What's next?
In my career journey, the next exciting chapter involves spearheading growth and community efforts at a high-impact tech startup. I'm stoked to leverage my expertise in forging partnerships, boosting user engagement, and cultivating dynamic communities to propel the company forward. Picture this: a team that thrives on data-driven strategies, innovation, and user-centric thinking, all working in harmony to drive exponential growth and nurture a vibrant user community. My vision? To be the driving force behind the startup's future success, extending its reach, and forming enduring connections with users and partners. It's all about making waves and leaving a lasting mark.
Closing thoughts from the Astha, Founder’s Office - Strategy at Polygon, "I've shared a brief tour of my journey and the learnings i have gathered. With every milestone, I've grown, learned, and been challenged. I'm genuinely excited about what the future holds and the adventures ahead."
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