Never Underestimate Community Support

Signal vs. Noise has a post today linking to the results of a community site startup’s fundraising efforts.

In 3 weeks, 3,457 Ravelers gave donated a total of $71,000 to Ravelry. Not only did we receive an amazing financial boost, we also received a flood of love. About 800 people wrote up really wonderful and amazing notes in the 10 Lousy Bucks group’s “Why I gave” thread.

While it’s interesting that in 3 weeks they received $70K I find it even more interesting that the founders seem just as excited about the feedback and “love” they received as they are the cash. It’s a good reminder to entrepreneurs and business people in general about how beneficial and valuable a strong community is. No one is creating in a vacuum.