Don’t buy a forum or web community

Don’t buy a forum or web community

I just have to write this. I’ve been a part of another community that was bought by some starry eyed investor who had no business buying a forum.

  1. The CMS running a website + forum can be daunting for a non-technical owner. If you’re thinking that you can just keep everything stationary and it will keep working beware.
  2. If the website was founded around a charismatic founder, and they’re selling to you. DO NOT PAY FULL PRICE. A lot of the people on that forum will have been there because of the founder, and if you don’t fill in a similar role they’re going to eventually start leaving as it gets boring.
  3. Web stats can be juiced by the person selling you the site especially if they have an existing network. If they pull support, you’re going to lose an important entry funnel.
A site I used to go to that got bought out by an investor. Apparently the new buyer can’t even keep a wordpress running for 8 months?!?!!?

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