Tech moves fast, this Slack community keeps its members on the pulse
Welcome to our second member profile!
In this series we highlight some of the most exciting subscription membership sites running on LaunchPass and the awesome Slack platform. Slack isn’t just an excellent team communication tool, but a powerful community and subscription membership platform as well. This is our opportunity to get to know the people beyond some of the most profitable and innovative communities running on LaunchPass.
So, without further ado, our first profile is with Mr. Paul Armstrong. What follows is a short summary of Paul’s background, his online community and highlights from our recent interview.
Mr. Armstrong runs the technology advisory Here/Forth, but he’s doing so much more. Currently, he’s working on his second book, as his last “Disruptive Technologies” became a bestseller while still in pre-sales! He is an author, strategist, and speaker across a wide variety of technology related topics including mobile innovation and social technologies. Mr. Armstrong launched his online community, using the Slack platform, to expand upon his technology advisory board. He calls it TNN (The New Normal). TNN provides paid subscribers with cutting edge content that is curated daily for his members.
Each day TNN provides a wide array of content including: technology news, analysis, trends, tools, book and event recommendations and plenty of other insights to help his members make sense of the rapidly changing technology landscape.
TNN has such high-quality content that they boast subscriptions from executives at Apple, Shell, Coca-Cola, MediaSense and more. In fact, Jon (an analyst) says “I joined TNN to better understand how things are changing that will directly (or indirectly) impact our business. I’ve met and heard from incredibly smart people I wouldn’t normally have had access to.” TNN is providing fresh and new insight into the world.
We had the privilege of interviewing Mr. Armstrong earlier this month, to find out more about his perspective on Slack, TNN, and what went into launching and growing such a community.
What motivated you to get started?
I love the power that technology can offer the world and that is something I believe strongly in. I have always been interested in the future and making things better from an early age. Something I have tried to bring through in my work with big brands whether on a campaign or overall strategy.
What went into creating your initial community?
You need a good idea or need to fulfill — not a surface one but a deep desire or compulsion to solve something real. For me it was to have a place and a community where quality information reigns. Curated smart stuff from smarter people than myself. I add my 10 cents and listen to the community but overall, I am there to solve their problems. … I love the idea of knowledge networks and creating something that allows people to ask questions but not necessarily clog inboxes or slow people down. The instant feedback and capabilities that Slack gives people is underused by most but I find, with a little training, people find the platform liberating.
What’s your business model, and how have you grown your revenue?
It’s a flat fee subscription model and structure — you’re either in or out / cancel anytime affair. Members pay monthly fee or an annual fee with some quality nudge elements (signed book, 5% to charity, time with me etc.) — thanks to the platform recharging is simple and fast.
What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced and obstacles you’ve overcome?
The biggest challenge thus far is the community element because of the ‘infofeed’ style of the content — I might split out a new channel and just have that for chat, ideas or ‘grenades’. It’s also somewhat of a cultural thing I think.
What distinguishes you from other similar sites focused on the future?
I think it’s a combination. My history of curation projects (@themediaisdying, C_NCENTRATE, Flipboard), mixed with the journalism (Forbes, Reuters, Evening Standard) and strategic positions I have held give me a unique insight, set of skills and and access to smart and important decision makers. I enjoy creating things that add real value rather than simply regurgitate information.
How do you ensure that the content being provided is cutting edge — reflecting the best thinking in the space?
Curation is key. Everything is valuable — even if it’s to show you something you don’t like or agree with but everything isn’t valuable all the time. Knowing when to bring things in (and omit elements) is key in an info-rich but time-poor world many top-level execs live in. Trust is key. Knowing who to trust in areas is imperative right now. Aside from this, boiling down facts from opinions and data is key — TNN is all about giving quality signal and noise reduction.
“Facebook alone made +500 changes last year. Knowing which ones were relevant can mean the difference between success and failure.”
In addition to TNN and Here/Forth, Paul Armstrong has a weekly newsletter called C_NCENTRATE, and an additional subscription service (also powered by Slack) called Social Lens. Social Lens is updated weekly, but also includes a breaking news analysis forum where experts get together to share their insights on what is happening with social technologies. As their website says “Facebook alone made +500 changes last year. Knowing which ones were relevant can mean the difference between success and failure.”
I’d like to extend a huge thanks to Paul Armstrong for taking the time to give us some insight into his community, and the future of technology! If you have any questions for Paul, or if you’d like to learn more you can connect with him on twitter here: @here_forth.
LaunchPass turns Slack into a subscription membership platform, making it possible to charge for exclusive access, content and community in minutes.
If you’d like to know more about how to use Slack and LaunchPass to launch your own subscription based business, feel free to email me at seth@launchpass.com or visit us at: LaunchPass.com
