Building Community Before Launch: 300 Beta Users from Investors and Press Coverage

Most startups struggle with the cold start problem: how do you build an initial user base when you have no existing community? João Neves and his team at Bloop solved this challenge by turning their fundraising process and press strategy into community building tools, creating 300 engaged beta users before they even launched.

In a recent episode of the Levels Podcast, João shared how they strategically built their initial community through investor engagement and organic press coverage, creating a foundation of motivated users who were personally invested in the platform's success.

Turning Investors into Beta Users

Bloop's unconventional crowdfunding approach created an immediate solution to the cold start problem. By raising €400K from 126 individual investors, they didn't just secure funding—they built their first community.

"126 investors. Of course, they have to be the first experimenting what they invested on. So those were part of this initial beta group."

This approach created a uniquely motivated user base. Unlike typical beta users who might try an app once and forget about it, these users had financial skin in the game. They were incentivized to not just use the platform but provide feedback, share it with others, and contribute to its success.

The Psychology of Investor-Users

Having investors as initial users creates powerful psychological dynamics that benefit community building:

Financial motivation: Users who invested money are naturally more engaged and likely to provide detailed feedback.

Network multiplication: Each investor becomes a potential evangelist within their own social and professional networks.

Quality feedback: Investors often bring business expertise and product intuition that leads to more valuable feedback than typical beta users.

Retention commitment: Financial stake creates stronger commitment to continued platform usage and testing.

Organic Press as Community Building

Bloop's press strategy focused on earning coverage rather than paying for it, creating authentic awareness that translated into community growth. João described their results:

"We did a press release at the beginning of this year, which was also above our expectations. We were featured in 31 media articles, entire one Portuguese media outlets. We got invited to some interviews."

This organic approach worked because their story—democratizing influencer marketing through social shopping—naturally resonated with journalists and readers interested in e-commerce innovation.

Converting Coverage into Community

The press coverage didn't just create awareness; it built a waiting list of genuinely interested potential users. João explained how they captured this interest:

"We had a landing page. We advertised it in social media. And so that reach had the rest of the users subscribing to our waiting list in our landing page."

By having clear calls-to-action and a simple way for interested people to join their waiting list, they converted press coverage into community members rather than just momentary attention.

Building Before Building

Bloop started community building well before their product was ready. This early investment in community paid dividends when they finally launched:

"And the rest was from a waiting list that we have been building since last year as well."

Starting community building a full year before launch allowed them to:

• Validate market demand before investing heavily in development
• Gather input on features and positioning from potential users
• Create anticipation and excitement for the eventual launch
• Build relationships with early adopters who could provide detailed feedback

The 300 User Sweet Spot

Bloop's initial beta community of around 300 users represents a strategically chosen size. João mentioned:

"Yeah, so we have around 300 users already. Half of it came from the crowdfunding, like I mentioned before. So 126 investors."

This size is large enough to:

• Generate meaningful usage data and feedback
• Create network effects within the platform
• Test various user behaviors and use cases
• Provide social proof for new users joining

But small enough to:

• Maintain personal relationships with users
• Respond to feedback quickly and meaningfully
• Make product adjustments without affecting huge user bases
• Gather detailed insights from each user interaction

All Organic, No Paid Marketing

One of the most impressive aspects of Bloop's community building was achieving these results without paid marketing. João emphasized:

"Right now we didn't do any marketing in the form of social media ads or influencers or anything like that. It was all organic."

This organic approach created several advantages:

• Higher quality users who found them through genuine interest rather than paid targeting
• Lower customer acquisition costs
• More authentic word-of-mouth growth
• Better product-market fit validation since users weren't incentivized by ads

Using Beta Feedback for Product Development

The beta community became an integral part of Bloop's product development process. Beyond the shake-to-report feature that generated 500+ feedback points, the entire beta experience was designed around learning and iteration.

"So it has been super successful so far and it was intentional so that we can get this early feedback, creating this early community, making some adjustments, ensuring the product is good enough."

This feedback loop allowed them to refine their MVP based on real user behavior rather than assumptions about what users might want.

Preparing for Scale Through Community

The beta community also served as preparation for larger-scale growth. By testing systems, gathering feedback, and refining processes with 300 users, Bloop positioned itself to handle larger user volumes when they opened the platform more broadly.

"Our MVP is good enough to now invest into marketing and accelerate our growth."

This approach minimizes the risk of overwhelming their systems or disappointing users when they begin paid marketing and influencer campaigns.

Creating Anticipation for Public Launch

Having an engaged beta community creates natural anticipation for the public launch. Beta users often become evangelists who help spread awareness when the platform opens to everyone.

The closed beta also creates a sense of exclusivity and desirability that can be leveraged in marketing campaigns when the platform opens publicly.

Lessons for Other Startups

Bloop's approach offers several insights for startups building initial communities:

Use fundraising strategically: Consider how your funding approach can also serve community building goals.

Start early: Begin community building well before your product is ready to launch.

Quality over quantity: 300 engaged users are more valuable than 3,000 passive ones.

Organic first: Focus on earning attention through genuine value rather than paying for it initially.

Create investment: Whether financial or emotional, give early users reasons to care about your success.

Feedback infrastructure: Build systems to capture and act on community feedback systematically.

Network effects: Design your community so members naturally invite and engage others.

João's experience demonstrates that with the right strategy, startups can build engaged communities before launch that serve as both feedback sources and growth engines for future scaling.

Key Points

• Turned 126 crowdfunding investors into motivated beta users with financial investment in success

• Generated 31 media mentions through organic press release strategy rather than paid coverage

• Built waiting list for over a year before launch to capture interested potential users

• Reached 300 beta users total: half from investors, half from press-driven waiting list signups

• Achieved all growth organically without paid social media ads or influencer marketing

• Used beta community for systematic product feedback and iteration before public launch

• Created anticipation and exclusivity that supports future marketing efforts

• Demonstrated that strategic fundraising can serve dual purposes of capital and community building

Listen to the full conversation with João Neves on the Levels Podcast to learn more about community building strategies and organic growth tactics for early-stage startups.