Building Community Through Events: Our Journey at Treasury

When we started Treasury, we knew we were diving into uncharted waters. As an early-stage startup in the spatial computing realm, we faced a unique challenge: not only was our product relatively unknown, but the wider spatial community itself was small and dispersed. We needed a way to bring attention to this new market and widen our audience of potential users and clients. Our solution? Events.

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The Why: More Than Just Networking

Our goal with these events wasn't just about awareness or brand building—though those were certainly part of it. We wanted to create a space that offered valuable content and could become a cornerstone in the spatial community. We envisioned a place where ideas could collide, where experts could share insights, and where newcomers could get a taste of the exciting possibilities in this field.

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The How: From Concept to Reality

We kicked things off by defining two types of events:

1. Sessions: These were our more formal, informative events. Think panel discussions with industry experts, helping to further define the market for potential clients and investors.
2. Demos: The informal counterpart. These networking events were designed for the more technical members of our community to showcase their latest spatial projects.

With our concept in place, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. We leaned heavily on our local network, tapping into our advisors and cold-emailing interesting people in the industry to be VIP guests and speakers. It was a grind, but it created a flywheel effect. Word-of-mouth spread, coupled with some strategic social posting, and before we knew it, our events were ballooning to over 300+ signups each.

The cherry on top? We expanded to London with the help of a few partners. Not too shabby for a startup, right?

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What Worked: The Good Stuff

The events quickly became well-attended and well-known in the community. We even started charging for tickets, turning them into a revenue stream. But more importantly, we were achieving our goal: creating a vibrant, engaged community around spatial computing.

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What I'd Do Differently: Lessons Learned

Look, no project is perfect, and we definitely had our 'learning opportunities'. If I could go back, here's what I'd change:

1. Be More Discerning with the Guest List: We had a few hiccups with guests who seemed more interested in partying than professional networking. In hindsight, being more strategic about our target audience from the start could have created a more upscale, professional vibe from day one.
2. Tighter Alignment with Business Outcomes: While there's value in "doing things that don't scale", especially in the startup world, I think we could have benefited from metrics that tied more closely to our business goals. It's a delicate balance—you don't want to stifle creativity or miss out on potential moonshots, but a bit more strategy could have amplified our success.
3. Content, Content, Content: We had so many fascinating conversations happening at these events, but we didn't always capture them effectively for future use. It's a missed opportunity that still makes me wince. Going forward, I'm putting more emphasis on turning these event conversations into scalable content marketing pieces.

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The Takeaway

Building Treasury Events was a wild ride, full of late nights, cold emails, and more than a few moments of "what have we gotten ourselves into?" But looking back, I wouldn't trade it for anything. We created something valuable, not just for Treasury, but for the entire spatial computing community.

As we continue to iterate and improve, one thing's for sure: the community we've built is at the heart of everything we do. And that's something worth celebrating.

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