Building a Community of Early Adopters

As a serial entrepreneur, I’ve reached many crossroads in my professional life. Several years ago, I had just sold my marketing agency and knew it was time to venture into an industry I was passionate about. While cruising on my boat at Lake of the Ozarks, I realized that the boating industry felt like home. The only problem? I didn’t have a problem to solve. I created a Facebook group with a simple purpose: bringing together people who love boating at Lake of the Ozarks. I started by inviting a handful of boating friends. Before long, a few thousand boaters had joined the group. That was just the start of it, though. We now have tens of thousands of users, millions in funding, and we are building the first AI-powered platform that connects boaters with local marine professionals that maintain, fix, and clean boats. Hear the story of how I used a Facebook group first to validate my startup idea and then to create a community of passionate early adopters.

This keynote session takes place at Heydays HQ, located at 3139 Olive St, St. Louis, MO 63103.

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