It's been a few weeks since my last email (sorry!), I'm in the thick of building something new with my dear friend Angel.
We're working on a community based business focused on creating curated, intimate connections between impact founders, builders, and operators.
We've tested our initial value proposition and have received promising feedback.
Now we're in the brand building stage and I'm obsessing over one question.
How do you grow a community without losing the connection, curation, and intimacy that makes it special in the first place?
I knew just the person to learn from.
Jem is the co-founder of brandkind, a low-bono branding community for social enterprises.
She's been building community in everything from social enterprise to venture capital, here's what I learned from her.
1. You're measuring the wrong things
My first thought with communities is that they need to be PACKED with activity.
I'm in so many Slack groups that are ghost towns and something just feels off.
But in chatting with Jem, I learned that activity isn't always the best measure of success, it could just be empty noise.
brandkind doesn't measure comments or engagement, they measure how their community connects and shows up for their branding clients.
I think this is super smart because part of community overwhelm (for me) comes from the obligation to always be engaged, always be "on".
This is a way smarter path to take.
Figure out what drives the most community value and optimize for that, not just vanity engagement.
2. Turn vulnerability into your strength
I have this fear in building a business that (at least in part) is focused on community.
What if community members connect, hit it off, and cut us out of the equation?
We lose those amazing people and our community suffers.
Through talking with Jem I found that this thinking needs a reframe.
When community members connect and start something of their own, that's a major proof point that our community has delivered massive value.
For example: in just a few months of testing our value proposition, we've had:
- 2 global members meet up in London
- 2 global members meet up in Bangkok
- 1 impact startup investment
These aren't just "We live in the same city let's catch up". This is people actually traveling and seeing each other. Huge win!
This is literally what we're designing for, and wanting to "keep it all in the community" was honestly just ego getting in the way of a good thing.
3. You actually have to use your values
brandkind's values are to create fun, fulfillment, and flexibility.
If they ever let those 3 criteria fall they haven't fulfilled their promise to the community.
Angel and I are trying to be really intentional about this one.
We're focusing on the "human" in human experience, business being a force for good (but not the only force), and genuine belonging within the community.
We have to continually make sure we live these values, but I'm proud of what we've done so far.
4. The little things are actually the big things
Little, intentional design decisions actually make a huge difference for users, community members, and partners.
For brandkind, that looks like intentionally making their wordmark lowercase, creating a softer, more approachable feel.
For our project, we're really trying to create a space that feels like home for people, not just a networking meetup or remote meeting.
These small choices are what we've been getting most of our positive feedback on.
The little moments when people join a call to make them feel welcome.
The intention setting in sessions to create a common language.
The openness to feedback and experimentation throughout the community.
Are they "efficient"? Not really.
But they make us, us, and we're betting on that.
5. You need to give up some control in order to scale
brandkind has scaled by having core community members who really understand the brand's mission, vision, and values, and act as advisors on all of their projects.
This is a really smart approach, and one Angel and I are looking at.
Those early adopters make perfect stewards as the community grows.
One thing we are very intentional about: creating equal value for anyone who's helping our community.
There are a lot of communities who rely on volunteering (e.g. Creative Mornings), we want to make sure anyone who contributes to the community gets more out of it than they're putting in.
This will help us grow with intention, maintaining our values, and helping our community members grow.
If Jem taught me all of this in an hour, imagine what she and brandkind could do for you in a day!
I highly recommend giving her a follow or reaching out for a chat, you'll leave energized, and have a few community tips to implement immediately.
Have a few seconds to support the work I do?
Forward this newsletter to your impact community, it is very much appreciated 😄.
