The Community Playbook Cheat Sheet
This week, The Community Fund’s LP, Flybridge Capital, released The Community Playbook, a guide to help founders set up their communities and leverage community as their differentiation moat. It’s an awesome playbook (Jesse and I edited it 😉). You can check it out here.
To complement the playbook, in this The Community Playbook Cheat Sheet post, I share a short Q&A + a check-list + my notes to get you started on building your company’s community.
Q&A
Before you launch a community you need to answer a few questions.
Why — Why do you want to build a community? Do you see the community as your product or does the community add to your product development and your company’s growth?
What? — What mission/values will bring your community together?
Who — Who is the target persona for your community? In other words, what kinds of people will it bring together?
Where? — Where will your community come together? Are you planning to leverage a proprietary platform, Slack, Facebook groups, WhatsApp?
Check-list
After you answer the questions above, make sure you check off the check-list below for a smooth sailing community. A solid community has:
1) A community foundation that includes…
a clear purpose + values members align with
a community that’s easily accessible to members
incentives and rewards for participation
2) A community manager with the following skills…
Customer support
Content generation
Social media marketing
PR and branding
Internal navigation
3) A community manager that works with her/his principal to…
be intentional about building community (see Q&A section above)
looks for opportunities to leverage and integrate community into product/service with feedback loops
designs a self-sustaining community that supports itself and where members can create/share value with one another
4) A community manager that measures community return on investment (CROI)
Why do it? To justify spend and lean into the community efforts that are working (and lean out of those that are not)
What are the community benefits to expect? Increase in sales pipeline + deal size, increase in product adoption, product improvement, lowering CAC, developing a differentiation moat, and more
How to measure Community Return On Investment (CROI)? Use this formula: CROI = (value gained — cost) / cost. For details and examples of how to use this formula, visit The Community Playbook, Chapter 4.
CROI = (value gained — cost) / cost
Top Metrics Every Community Manager Must Report
Notes on Community Dynamics
The community manager can sit in different parts of a company
A community manager should help guide community members through 3 stages: awareness of, attention to, and engagement with your community (in this order)
Your community members ideally go from casual to regular to core (integral) members in your community
More Resources
To dive deep into building a community-driven company, read The Community Playbook, and follow along at @thecommunityvc. 😊
Other resources you may enjoy:
Thread — community-driven companies
Thread —community experts
Thread — community builders
Thread — The Community Fund
Book — People Powered by Jono Bacon
Book — Get Together by Bailey Richardson
Post — Community-Driven Companies: What They Are and Why We’re Investing in Them
Post — The Community Fund: How We Source, Select, and Support Startups
Community-Driven Companies: What They Are and Why We’re Investing in Them
The Community Fund: How We Source, Select, and Support Startups
From Instant Pot to Instagram: Critical Lessons in Startup Community Building
B2B Community additional reads include:
The Community Playbook Cheat Sheet was originally published in The Community Fund on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.