Launching a Community Beta Experience

Ideas for validating your community idea, for each of the 4 business types.

Testing and iteration is important in any new business. And for community businesses, the spirit of experimentation is even more important. Starting small and inviting people in before everything is super polished helps community leaders build the right things for the right people and embrace imperfection, a crucial element to connection.

I’ve written previously about how to start a community from scratch and what I did in our first year of building a community business.

Whether you’re starting a community, or introducing a new experience for an existing group, starting with a beta experience helps you launch faster and co-create the community with your people.

What’s a community beta launch?

• A small version of your community experience that still solves a problem for your ideal member.

• A way to validate your idea.

• An educated guess about what your future members want.

• A test of whether this business/experience/offer is for you.

What are some examples of beta community experiences?

To test your community concept, your beta experience should be a small, scrappy version of what you ultimately want to build. Depending on the type of community business you’re envisioning, and your experience with your ideal members, what you choose as a test will vary.

I recommend first determining which type of community business is right for you. This post is a guide to choosing based on your ideal member, your goals, and what you’re interested in. Below are beta examples for each of the four types of community businesses.

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Community Type: Membership Community

Beta Idea: 3-month community experience

A membership community is an ongoing community experience that mostly focuses on connection between members. If this is what you ultimately are heading towards, the best way to test is to design a contained version of your member journey.

Instead of launching an ongoing membership from the start, begin with a contained 3-month community experience as a beta.

For example, for a parenting membership the growth journey might be about parents bringing more joy into their relationship with their kids… a long term, potentially lifelong pursuit. For the 3-month beta journey, it might be about all the challenges and opportunities for joy while parenting during the holidays. It’s a more targeted journey that still addresses your ultimate goal while narrowing the focus. It helps potential members choose whether the experience is for them without a huge commitment.

Here are tips if you’ve decided to build a 3-month beta:

• Have a specific outcome/theme/goal. Ongoing membership communities are more open-ended. For a short-term experience, shorten the growth journey and be clear about what they’ll get.

• Consider adding guest speakers. Often having guest speakers is a shortcut for your members to understand what the community is about, especially if they’re people your members already know.

• Schedule everything in advance. It helps for your first members to visualize what they’re signing up for. So instead of “weekly events” be clear about which events, with who and what time.

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Community Type: Evergreen + Events Beta

Beta Idea: Workshop

The Evergreen + Events option is a learning based community type with pre-recorded lessons that are supported by regular events to answer questions and provide connection opportunities.

It is a type that requires a lot of work upfront designing a course, recording and editing lessons. A beta is an opportunity to focus on the core of the learning experience, without getting distracted by the details of an eventual full course and community experience. Which is why starting with a live workshop is a great option.

Here’s what to consider for a beta workshop experience:

• Pick a topic based on the lessons that are crucial to the eventual course. Getting as many people as possible to go through the content will help improve it.

• Paid workshops will give you more data about your future members, but free ones are lower stakes and faster to set up. Choose based on what you most need to test.

• Ask for feedback from attendees. Surveys are okay, one-on-one outreach will get you better answers.

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Community Type: Cohort-Based Course

Beta Idea: Beta Cohort

Cohort-based courses are short-term learning community experiences. And the best way to test one is to just host a beta cohort.

This means setting a date and inviting people to sign up, even before the lessons are set.

This is what I did at the start of Build a Community Business.

Here’s what to keep in mind:

• Build the course as you go. Don’t wait to have all the content written and all the videos recorded. Sell it first, then build it.

• Include small group coaching. In a beta course cohort, the more you learn about your members, the better your course will ultimately be. In a small beta group, you have the opportunity to deeply get to know your members in small groups.

• Include perks for being a beta participant. You may offer a discount, extra sessions and access to any updates for beta participants. It helps to derail the experience for them.

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Community Type: Group Coaching

Beta Idea: Virtual Retreat

Group coaching communities are small group experiences that can include content and structured regular meetings to help members grow/learn from the facilitator and each other.

If you’re working towards this type of experience, a beta that allows members to get to know you and each other, as well as the coaching experience is a good place to start. For that, a virtual retreat works well as a beta.

A virtual retreat is an opportunity to address a specific member pain point and get them started on the journey that your eventual group coaching community business will address.

Here’s what you need to know:

• They can vary in length from a couple of hours in an afternoon to an intensive week. Choose based on what you need to validate.

• Focus on a problem or transition that is more specific than your ultimate program. They should be able to take a meaningful step during the retreat. For example, for a group coaching experience focused on supporting new managers, the retreat might address just one aspect of leadership like transparency or vulnerability.

• Screen for members that will get along. You’re not just testing your content but how members will interact.

• It can be an intro to other longer term offers. Choose your topic based on what you can eventually cover.

Remember that these are just examples of beta experiences. You can always mix and match and customize based on what you need to learn from your members. The best experiences are the ones that you’re most excited about.

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If you’d like to learn more about the process of launching a beta experience, even if you have no existing audience, I’m hosting a masterclass in a few weeks about how to test your community idea and you’re invited! You’ll leave with clear next steps to launch or relaunch a community. There will be opportunities to ask your questions so that you leave our time together with a clear plan. You can sign up here. (it’s free and we will share a recording!)

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