A call for community-driven companies

What should a new community-focused $5M fund invest in?

I’m buzzing after hearing the news about thecommunity.vc:

lolitataub @lolitataub

🥳AWESOME NEWS! Today @srcasm + I soft-launched The Community Fund, a $5M fund focused on early-stage community driven-companies. Yeah, I'm a GP now! Thx all. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 And, we’re looking for founding members for our investment team! Learn more + apply. thecommunity.vc /2

🥳 Let’s goooo underestimated mission-driven founders building for their communities!

Big question for this audience: what type of community-driven companies would you fund? In addition to seeing communities of underestimated groups get supercharged with funding, here are a few dreams of my own:

🌈 A new social network for all built by women, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, POC, and/or people with disabilities.

This may be Cindy’s dream, but I co-sign!

Cindy Gallop @cindygallop

@lolitataub @srcasm The community founders you're looking for 🙂'Those of us who are at risk every single day—women, Black people, people of color, LGBTQ, the disabled—design safe spaces, and safe experiences.' @FastCompany fastcompany.com/90539655/dear-…

fastcompany.comDear Prince Harry: There’s a simple solution to design safer, more inclusive social mediaEntrepreneur Cindy Gallop argues that founders from underrepresented groups are uniquely able to design and build safe spaces on the web, but they’re often overlooked for the resources they need to scale.

🎨 Unbundling Etsy

What if full-time makers had a better place to build their entire business with the support of their fans and community? A place to sell subscriptions, products, content, tutorials, and community all around them?

daniellexo @daniellexo

Passion economy. Empowering Creators. Community-first companies. Not a WHISPER of @Etsy. A little heartbroken that Etsy lost its mission-driven spirit. Don't sleep on makers, my friends. I think it's time for an Etsy unbundling.

🐵 Mailchimp for Communities

Mailchimp gave email marketing chops to small business owners. Right now community building feels magical. You need the right kind of person to spark and scale a community. I happen to think our community tools are limited and it shouldn’t take a unicorn to create and grow a community. We need tech that guides community creators to manage and track all of this:

lolitataub @lolitataub

Tactics for building community by @rrhoover via @CMX 🛣 Bring community into the journey 🙆🏽‍♀️ Integrate feedback loops 👋🏽 Be welcoming ✨ Add value 🌐 Create interconnectedness 💁🏽‍♀️ Meet 💎 Err on the side of transparency /6 cmxhub.com/ryan-hoover-on…

cmxhub.com[Video] Ryan Hoover on How to Launch and Grow a Community-Driven Content Platform | CMXProduct Hunt’s Ryan Hoover on growing a user-generated content platform for your online community

✨ More digital spaces dedicated to play

Beyond gaming and future-of-work solutions, where can communities explore, create, collaborate, improvise and play? (This is how deep bonds between community members are formed!)

Have anything else to add? I want to know! What type of community-driven companies or solutions do you want to see funded?