Building Community-focused Apps with Rails Dan Benjamin

cork'd - developer & designer working together
500 users after a couple of hours, up to 20k users
acquired.

cork'd startup data center - mac mini in friend's computer closet

stay agile: resist big infrastructure

build right team

have a revenue stream - ads don't count

focus on simplicity

don't release public beta (do private beta)

resist cool features

web design - make sure all the action is "above the fold"

avoid user-entered data (misspelling, etc)

real-time collaboration (not real-space - the two founders met each
other during acquisition discussions)

re-use plugins
- attachment_fu
- acts_as_taggable
- ym4r_geocode

Google makes a big difference in getting noticed
- wine community didn't find out about it through blogs etc
- cork'd is high on google
- make sure metatags and description are appropriate

sign up should be obvious and minimal - ask for everything but ask for nothing!

keep non-members from doing the cool things to force signups

keep the coming back for more

make frequent improvements, and avoid "big releases"

respond positively to your members - be nice!!! always!  apologize first

share your api

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