For online communities to grow, users need a platform they can trust

Getting a business up and running is a huge ordeal, and it’s especially challenging for startups with limited resources and small networks.

For these firms, each aspect – from incorporation, funding, to finding the right services and talent – can pose a massive challenge, says Nishit Purswani, the founder and CEO of enterprise-focused social platform Aasabie.

Nishit Purswani, founder and CEO of Aasabie / Photo credit: Aasabie

“In my own journey, I saw how important it was to have the right advisors,” recalls Purswani, a serial entrepreneur with four businesses under his belt.
Aasabie is a marketplace for companies to find any kind of service they need. It was specifically designed to cater to the needs of MSMEs, which are a major engine of India’s economy.

“We are trying to create a one-stop ecosystem where we can help [these companies] if they need an advisor, mentor, coach, or any kind of support,” he shares.

With this goal in mind, the business’ emphasis on creating a trusted ecosystem and fostering community building is pivotal. Building a secure and reliable environment for all users is the foundation of success for Aasabie as a service discovery marketplace.

Managing the complexity of online identities

For a community builder like Aasabie, having a robust approach to validate accounts and eliminate possible fraud is essential to protecting its users. Strong online communities are built on a bedrock of trust – without it, users are unlikely to engage with others on the platform and foster the kinds of relationships that startups need to grow.

At the beginning, Aasabie had a conventional account onboarding process, but imposters began creating fake accounts to cause mischief or spam the platform.

“We were seeing a lot of people pretending to be someone they’re not, like students claiming they were investors,” says Purswani.

The Aasabie platform / Photo credit: Aasabie

Aasabie is not alone in dealing with this problem, especially given the proliferation of bot accounts and scams online today. In the first half of 2023 alone, LinkedIn reported that it had removed almost 58 million fake profiles and over 105 million spam posts and scams.

That’s all contributing to an overall decline in trust in digital platforms, says Giriraj Daga, director of solutions architecture at data and identity management firm Affinidi. Businesses need better ways to understand users, and consumers want more transparency and confidence in how their data is shared and managed. This mutual push for transparency is key as users become more cautious about data collection practices.

“Users can tell when a company is looking out for their interests over protecting users’ privacy. That’s eroding their trust and willingness to engage with a platform,” he explains.

At the same time, traditional due diligence checks and conventional approaches to identity management are also unable to capture the complexities of our identities today.

Giriraj Daga, director of solutions architecture at Affinidi / Photo credit: Affinidi

“How can you tell if someone is an investor versus a founder? You could be a founder who is also an investor in other companies,” Daga says. “In different contexts, we play different roles.”

A chance encounter between Purswani and Daga at an incubator meet-up led Aasabie to experiment with the Affinidi Trust Network, a suite of products centered around a new approach to data privacy.

From the beginning, Daga realized that Aasabie’s and Affinidi’s missions were aligned: leveraging technology to create deep, meaningful customer relationships and experiences and bring real value to customers. For Aasabie specifically, this would allow it to differentiate itself and stand out in building a service discovery marketplace.

Users would have the ability to share endorsements from others to establish their reputation, empowering the community with information to build trusted relationships based on the user’s identity. This approach creates deep, meaningful, and trusted customer relationships and experiences that bring real value and genuinely benefit the customers.

“When you propose something new or disruptive, you get loads of reality checks, and Nishit’s team posed a lot of questions about how businesses can actually use these technologies,” Daga recalls.

Building the foundations of trust

To start, Aasabie integrated Affinidi Login, a passwordless authentication product to streamline how users log onto the platform. Rather than relying on traditional passwords, Affinidi Login uses alternative methods such as verifiable credentials and the use of cryptographic keys accessed through biometric data like facial or fingerprint recognition.

This allows Aasabie to seamlessly onboard account owners and validate that people are who they say they are, reducing identity fraud and enhancing safety.

The Aasabie platform with Affinidi Login as a login option / Photo credit: Affinidi

“This goes beyond login. You’re sharing key parts of your identity with a single click, allowing apps to understand you better and build trusted relationships,” says Daga.

Not only does this help plug potential security loopholes, Purswani notes, it also keeps the system flexible enough to accommodate the platform’s diverse customer segments, be it founders, incubators, investors, or mentors.

This identity verification process also allows users to securely store personal information. This is done through the Affinidi Vault, where users can collect, store, share, and even monetize their personal data, an important step as Aasabie enhances its systems with Affinidi’s technology to propel its expansion plans.

Affinidi Login and Affinidi Vault are integral parts of the Affinidi Trust Network, designed to interoperate seamlessly to enhance user trust and safety.

“With the Affinidi Trust Network, we are able to revolutionize these innovative data collection methods on the internet, ensuring users enjoy convenience without compromising their safety and privacy,” says Daga. “This not only simplifies the authentication process but also ensures that personal data is captured with utmost accuracy, embodying the Affinidi Trust network’s core principles of reliability, privacy-first, and user empowerment.”

Setting a “trust flywheel” in motion

By letting users share only what’s relevant, Aasabie enables its community to take control over all aspects of their online identity. For example, an investor could choose to proactively share information about their portfolio preferences or a founder could highlight the kind of mentorship they’re looking for.

This allows Aasabie to tailor-fit its services and recommendations, actively fostering trust and relevant connections.

Over time, this creates a “trust flywheel” where users become more confident about sharing more data about themselves, deepening their relationships on the platform and allowing for the creation of more unique experiences.

“By having control over my data, and sharing only what is needed to build contextual experiences, I’m encouraged to cultivate long-term relationships with brands or individuals,” shares Daga.

Photo credit: Affinidi

The building blocks of digital life

In the long-run, this trust flywheel attracts diverse users, which enriches the community.

“We bring like-minded individuals together into a community so there’s a diversity of people and segments,” says Purswani. “That enables startups to better understand different customers’ needs and desires so they can improve their retention and acquisition.”

This process is reflective of Affinidi and Aasabie’s own relationship as well. Affinidi gains feedback from real-world situations from Aasabie’s platform to improve its products and help it create a comprehensive suite of solutions for robust data and identity management across the board.

“Ultimately, we want to provide the building blocks to bring these improved customer experiences to life. By lowering the cost and friction of establishing trust, we create greater value together,” Daga shares.

Affinidi is a technology company dedicated to changing how we think about data ownership. By placing control back into the hands of users, its solutions strengthen trust to foster strong communities.

Find out more about Affinidi on its website.

FIND OUT MORE

This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.