Andrew Chen reminds us this morning to design our community along with our product. This design, as design thinking teaches, should be thoughtful and iterative.

The design should not be accidental. Because accidental design is what gets us a customer or user base that looks like the famous Indian telephone pole.

Customers on the pole will be fickle, prone to churn, and will be constantly hammering you on price or terms. Everything, from lead generation to contract negotiations to service, will be a chore.

Design your customer or user community deliberately. Or have it designed accidentally for you. The choice and the consequences are yours.