My hypotheses for FoundersAround failed. What would you do next?
Hey PH đź‘‹
I spent last month testing some assumptions like: founders want to meet others in-person. These assumptions failed as it's not as simple as that. There are some intricacies.
Well, I think will come back to the original asusmption that sort of worked. People liked being on the map, sharing their profile, and getting discovered.
But growth has slowed, as I was expectingl.
I’m now asking myself:
• Should I double down on self-promotion as the core use case?
• Should I add companies to the map (e.g., Vercel in SF, Deliveroo in London) to make the map more of a “startup ecosystem view”?
• How could I reach more founders without spamming cold DMs?
If you were me:
• Would you focus on individual founders only, or mix in companies?
• How would you grow the base of active, visible profiles?
• Any clever growth suggestions or outreach strategies you’ve seen work in niche founder communities?
Would love to hear your brutally honest feedback.
I want to make this map something founders must be on.
Replies
I think it's hard to make any concrete statements about founders as a whole. Everyone is so different, personality-wise, industry-wise, location and personal bandwidth. I would honestly say to keep experimenting and keep taking action, a month isn't enough time to have any conclusive results.
FoundersAround
@sethmonk cheers for that. Those comments make me want to keep going!!!
Why should they be on it?
FoundersAround
@chrismessina that's the unanswered question.
Why should they be on in?
They added themselves to promote their product
What I don't know though is how to make them come back. I need to create something that makes founders come back often. What?
I don't know......
@leonagano hmm. I guess I would just return to my first question though: why do you need to create something that brings founders back? What problem are you solving for them? Just listing them on a map isn't necessarily solving a problem for anyone, right?
Did anyone meet for coffee after you added this?
It seems like something to think about is the frequency of touchpoints... i.e. how often do founders need to 1) update their own location/needs and 2) how often or how likely are they to go seek out other founders via the map?
I think @vasan is also on to something — maybe consider building a map for 1-2 smaller founder communities (500, YC, etc) and get traction in those contexts, where founders want to meet but they're busy — and the map is a way to facilitate connection for people who are actually nearby.
FoundersAround
@vasan @chrismessina thank you.
Yes, some of them met IRL even before having the “open for coffee” status
After that, only a few have met. Less than 5 out of 20 or so connections sent.
I like this approach of building a map for smaller group like 500 or YC!
I think will do it and see how it goes
FoundersAround
@vasan thank you for that. Agree that focusing on one region can make it easier to grow
Serand
Give every profile a shareable link founders want to post.
FoundersAround
@rukhsar_amjad it exists. There's a share link when you click on a profile (it can be yours or someone else's).
Promomix
I wouldn’t underestimate the value of niche founder groups on LinkedIn or Slack. A few well-placed posts with an interesting screenshot of the map might spark organic sharing.
Serand
Run small city challenges to get local buzz going.
FoundersAround
@richard_b_bautista Seems like running a group (city, common-interest, YC founders, etc) first is the way to go
Serand
My gut says keep the focus on founders first, because that's the unique angle you already have. Once there’s a strong base, then layering in companies could add extra value without diluting the core.
Serand
Self-promotion works if you make it feel like a badge of credibility. Framing being on the map as a way to show openness to collaboration might encourage more signups.
Appreciate the raw honesty, this is the kind of iteration that earns founder trust. The map-as-discovery tool clearly resonates, so doubling down on self-promotion feels right. Adding companies could enrich the ecosystem view, but only if it amplifies founder visibility, not dilutes it. For growth: lean into founder-led sharing (badges, embeds, social proof), partner with niche communities (Slack groups, newsletters), and spotlight real connections made through the map. Make it feel like being off the map means missing out.
I think that tool should offer some added value. E.g. when there is a huge concentration of founders at one spot, why not to reach out to some café, coworking or so and organise meetup for them and reach out to them like: Hey, you are so close to teach other, here is networking with other fellow makers here from the surrounding, this will be speaker etc.
But this kind of activity is not so easy to organise, you need to come up with venue, activities, program, etc. But it can start small, just with table reservation.
TL;DR: Offer a proposition value to be listed there.
I honestly can't tell what the value proposition is. Another place to post online to promote myself and/or my company to other founders? I'll pass as they're not my target audience. A way to find and meet with individual founders over coffee? Arranging to meet in person can be taxing and there is always a chance to be ghosted. Perhaps something that more closely resembles a community calendar that lists networking events and other resources for founders by city would better accomplish your goal of connecting founders in person.
FoundersAround
Thank you all so much for the feedback. I'm going to do 2 things, based on the very helpful feedback you've been giving me:
- Add DMs
- Promote among a certain group first (YC, 500 or any other common-interest group)
Hopefully adding these will make FA more like a painkiller than a vitamin!
Combine founders with companies to add context to the map and make discovering new connections more meaningful. To attract growth, reach out through places where founders gather like Slack, Discord, or niche online forums. Post short “founder spotlight” features to grab their interest. Make them feel like they’re missing out if they’re not part of it, since creating FOMO gets better results than sending cold DMs.