3D Cloud’s Community-First Approach: How They Built the 3D Commerce Summit to Own Their Category
Creating a new market category isn’t just about technology – it’s about building a community. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Beck Besecker revealed how 3D Cloud identified and united an emerging class of professionals through the launch of the 3D Commerce Summit.
Spotting an Emerging Professional Class
The first sign of category formation came from their retail partners. As Beck explains, “We started hearing from our retail partners, which are like Macy’s and Lazy Boy Bob’s furniture, Miller Knoll, that they started hiring people with roles that were like head of visualization.”
These professionals found themselves in a unique position – pioneers in their organizations but often isolated. “They would say, oh, I don’t know anybody else who has my job. And I go, oh, I actually can introduce you to somebody.”
The Cross-Functional Nature of 3D Commerce
What made these roles particularly interesting was their hybrid nature. Beck notes, “These 3D commerce roles have kind of similar because they work with merchandising, marketing, digital stores. They have this function that’s kind of floating around the company.”
The complexity of these roles created an immediate need for community and knowledge sharing. As Beck explains, “Sometimes these roles are in marketing and digital and sometimes they’re in IT. So it’s really starting. Their formation is still happening.”
Testing Market Interest
Before fully committing to an event, 3D Cloud took a strategic approach. Beck shares their methodology: “The first thing we did is we faked it, which I think is a great strategy for all entrepreneurs, which is that whenever you’re trying to test the market for something, just fake it and see how much interest there is.”
Their process was simple but effective: “The first thing we did is we dropped a website and said, we’re running this event, and said it was invitation only. Kind of like you had to sign up. And then we just were trying to see how many people showed genuine interest.”
Building the Event Strategy
The existing landscape of industry events didn’t adequately serve this emerging community. As Beck notes, “There were some events like there’s the VRA virtual reality augments reality, but that was like, which is a great show, but it’s too broad. And then they had some stuff at CES, they did some stuff at NRF and the retail show in New York. But there really wasn’t like a [focused event].”
Making the Economics Work
3D Cloud approached the event with clear business metrics. “We said, okay, if we get a deal out of this, it’ll pay for the event,” Beck explains. “And that’s enough to make the justification and then try to be break even on your first one and then get some confidence and go to the next one.”
The Impact on Category Creation
The summit played a crucial role in establishing 3D commerce as a distinct category. “3D commerce is our space. So buying things through a 3D enabled experience that just got coined a couple of years ago,” Beck shares. “We just started the 3D commerce summit last year, February. So that’s the first industry event for our space.”
Looking to the Future
As the category continues to evolve, Beck and his team face an interesting decision about expansion. “Our current decision that we have to make is, do we want to stay focused vertically in the home category and kind of move out in concentric circles, go to maybe real estate or new home builders, or do we want to go sideways and start looking at other categories?”
For founders working on category creation, 3D Cloud’s approach to community building offers valuable lessons. Instead of simply marketing their product, they identified an emerging professional class, created a space for connection and learning, and positioned themselves at the center of this new ecosystem. The 3D Commerce Summit wasn’t just an event – it was a strategic move that helped solidify their category leadership while providing genuine value to their target market.