But, the old playbook just isn’t working like it used to anymore. Ads are getting crazy expensive. Social media reach is shrinking. Everyone’s shouting online … and no one’s really listening.

So what is working right now? Community.

We’re seeing it everywhere. Coffee shops hosting daytime parties before work, where locals dance and talk with an iced matcha in hand. Sports apparel brands hosting their own run clubs. Yoga studios building entire lifestyles around their members.

And if you think this is just for the lifestyle brands, you’d be mistaken. B2B companies are getting in on it too. HubSpot turned education into a global following. Notion built an army of superfans by letting users teach each other. 

People don’t just want to buy from you anymore, they want to belong somewhere. It’s about building places where people connect, learn, grow, and yes, spend.

Because once you turn your audience into a community … you’ve got a revenue stream that never runs dry.

Here’s how to do just that …

What is a community?

Before we get into how to create the perfect community, let’s first get really clear on what this means. According to community psychologist David McMillan, a community is really defined by four factors:

• Membership: you actually feel like you belong
• Influence: you make a difference, and the group makes a difference to you
• Integration and fulfilment of needs: you help the group, the group helps you. It’s a two-way street
• Shared emotional connection: you’ve got shared history, shared experiences, and maybe even shared awkward moments

Think about college. Dorms, sports teams, clubs … the whole setup is designed to make you feel included, involved, and like you’re part of something bigger. 

For businesses, these four factors translate into tangible results: belonging drives retention, influence drives advocacy, fulfilment drives growth, and emotional connection drives trust.

Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that your community members need to be best friends. They just need to feel seen, valued, and like they belong. That’s what keeps them coming back.

Why people join communities

People are busy. They’ve got things to do, and the internet already has a million ways to waste their time. So why do they bother? Mostly, it comes down to these things:

1. Connection and belonging

Humans are social creatures. We want to feel seen and included. Right now, that need is huge because over one in five Brits (22%) report feeling chronically lonely. 

It’s why people join book clubs, run clubs, even tiny Slack groups about things they geek out over. It’s not just the topic they care about, it’s the people. We all want to feel like we belong to something bigger than ourselves, to feel like we’re part of a tribe that gets us.

2. Growth and knowledge

According to Circle’s 2025 Community Trends report, the most popular community events are educational workshops and training (78%) and small group discussions (60%).

As well as feeling like we’re a part of something, we also all want to get ahead. 

Psychologists call this the need for competence, which just means that we feel motivated and fulfilled when we learn, develop skills, and see ourselves improving.

So many people join communities to access knowledge and build new skills. 

3. Shared interests

Sometimes, it’s even simpler than belonging or levelling up. 

People just want to be around others who get them. That love of sci-fi, fintech, sustainable fashion, or even weird niche hobbies – it’s the glue that keeps people coming back.

Shared interests give members a reason to join, a reason to participate, and a reason to stay. They create inside jokes, shared experiences, and that “I get this, they get me” feeling that turns a group of strangers into a tight-knit community.

How to build a community people love

It’s now time to get practical. Here are some simple steps to starting your very own community group:

Step 1: Define WHO and WHAT it’s for

Before you start sending out invites or building landing pages, take a beat to figure out who your community is actually for, and why it exists in the first place.

If you skip this step, you’ll end up with a mix of random people and no real sense of purpose. When people don’t know what they’re showing up for, they won’t stick around.

The first thing I did when I began building my own community group of finance founders was create character profiles for my ideal members. 

You see, I wanted to create something that felt like being part of the inner circle, a trusted space where entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators could swap insights, access opportunities, and support each other’s growth. 

To do this I sketched out my dream members:

• The ambitious founder: always looking for ways to scale faster, meet investors, and learn from people who’ve already built successful companies.
• The investor: curious about emerging startups, eager to connect with founders early, and always on the lookout for fresh ideas and partnerships.

This helped me get clear on who I was building for and how to make the space genuinely valuable for them

Step 2: Build your offering 

Now that you know who your community is for, it’s time to get clear on what you’re actually giving them, and how it could potentially make money. Because, After all, this series is about ways that startup owners can start some additional revenue streams.

Ask yourself: what’s the core value of this community? What do people actually get when they join? That could be:

• Workshops and skill-building sessions
• Mastermind groups or peer-to-peer problem-solving
• Mentorship from experienced founders or investors
• Founder spotlight sessions
• Insider content or curated resources
• VIP experiences or exclusive networking
• Themed meetups (wellness mornings, art walks, cocktail nights)
• Fitness or wellness classes 

Next, think about how you want it to sustain itself financially. You could do this by charging a subscription or for premium events or programmes. Or, you could find sponsorship opportunities. 

Step 3: Pick a home

Social media is amazing for finding your tribe. But it doesn’t build a community. 

Real connection is what turns casual scrollers into ride-or-die members. It happens somewhere dedicated. WhatsApp. Discord. Circle. Even your own platform. Somewhere people can actually talk, share, and show up for each other, without being distracted by ads or cat memes.

If possible, you’ll also want to find times where your group can meet in real life too. Even a few hours spent face-to-face builds trust and loyalty that no online thread can match. 

So here’s the move. Use social media to draw people in but then move them to your own space. That’s where the engagement sticks and yes … that’s where the recurring revenue starts.

Step 4: Make it exclusive

Why are the most popular members’ clubs (your Soho Houses, your Annabel’s) so admired? It’s not the cocktails. It’s not the parties. It’s the exclusivity. People want to feel like they’ve earned their spot. Like they belong somewhere special. 

Your community works the same way. Limit membership or use a vetting process so that everyone in your community fits your criteria, and they know that others do too. This’ll create trust, signals quality, and makes members feel safe, inspired, and motivated to participate.

Forty-seven per cent of community builders now use applications or vetting processes to create high-trust environments. Almost half! So, when accepting members, remember you want quality, not quantity.

Step 5: Keep members engaged

Have you ever joined a gym in January with the best intentions … and by February, your membership card is gathering dust? 

Communities work the same way. People will join once, maybe twice, and then fade away. Unless, of course, you make showing up a habit.

Here’s how to do it:

• Create recurring touchpoints: set up weekly or monthly rituals, like a “Monday check-in” thread or a monthly member spotlight
• Encourage small, consistent actions: gamify participation with simple wins like posting in a thread, sharing a tip, or celebrating a milestone. Little actions add up
• Foster accountability: pair members in buddy systems or accountability pods so they have a reason to log in regularly and check in with someone else
• Make engagement social: comment on posts, celebrate wins, feature members in newsletters so participation is recognised and rewarded
• Seed conversation: don’t wait for members to start talking. Ask questions, spark debates, and share prompts that make responding easy

When members know there’s a rhythm, social pressure, and reward for showing up, logging in becomes a part of their routine.

Final thoughts

If you’re a startup business owner looking to make an additional revenue stream, starting a community is one of the smartest moves you can make.

A space where the right people show up, connect, and stick around. A space where you get paid, but also build your network and your influence, all at the same time.

It doesn’t have to be huge. Ten, 20, 50 members who actually care is more than enough to start. If you do it right, they’ll bring others in. Your community grows on its own.

Start small and build with intention. Communities that prioritise genuine connection over scale see stronger engagement, higher retention, and more sustainable growth over time.

Part one of a six part series.