Chapter 9
Build Your Community Foundation
This exercise takes you from community concept to founding member invitation. Complete each part before moving to Chapter 10. The community you design here will become one of the most valuable long-term assets in the Veyaarh portfolio.
The questions
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01
Define your community concept in three sentences. Who is it for? What shared problem, values, or identity brings them together? What does membership enable that members cannot get anywhere else?
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02
List the ten to twenty specific people you will personally invite to be founding members. Name them. For each one, write one sentence about why you are inviting them specifically and what you believe they will contribute to the founding culture.
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03
Choose your platform and explain why it is right for this specific community given the nature of the relationships you want to create and the communication preferences of your founding members.
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04
Design your initial programming calendar. List three recurring elements you will run in the first ninety days. For each one, describe the format, the frequency, and what value it delivers to members.
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05
Write the founding member invitation. Make it specific, personal, and honest about what you are asking them to commit to. Do not make it a marketing email. Make it a genuine invitation to help build something.
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06
Write your community norms document using the first person plural framing from this chapter. Cover what the community values, what behavior is encouraged, and what will not be tolerated and why.
Answer these in whatever you already use. The PDF is the same questions with room to write, and the Notion template is the same again if you would rather type.