Creating a community with a focus on quality over quantity isn’t something all communities do but Underscore VC focuses on. We talked with Jenni Goodman on the show to hear how they have built a carefully curated community for their VC firm that serves the Boston area. It's called the “Core Community” which is made up of investors, advisors, and founders that Underscore connects together to so they can support each other. She makes a great point in the episode that by focusing on getting quality over quantity she has members who refer each other to the community. They have tried many different types of events and have found that the best format for them have been roundtable dinners. They found that this lead to the best conversations with around 8-12 attendees at the event. They also have an extremely strong incentive for their “Core Partners”- giving them shares in the companies they work with. That a great way for them to keep people engaged, finding new community members as well as helping companies in their portfolio. The most powerful thing about their community is that while they have a small staff, roughly 70%-80% of their portfolio members have come from their community. Even if you have a large firm people only have so many people in their networks but a community never has to stop growing!
Creating a community with a focus on quality over quantity isn’t something all communities do but Underscore VC focuses on. We talked with Jenni Goodman on the show to hear how they have built a carefully curated community for their VC firm that serves the Boston area.
It's called the “Core Community” which is made up of investors, advisors, and founders that Underscore connects together to so they can support each other. She makes a great point in the episode that by focusing on getting quality over quantity she has members who refer each other to the community.
They have tried many different types of events and have found that the best format for them have been roundtable dinners. They found that this lead to the best conversations with around 8-12 attendees at the event.
They also have an extremely strong incentive for their “Core Partners”- giving them shares in the companies they work with. That a great way for them to keep people engaged, finding new community members as well as helping companies in their portfolio.
The most powerful thing about their community is that while they have a small staff, roughly 70%-80% of their portfolio members have come from their community. Even if you have a large firm people only have so many people in their networks but a community never has to stop growing!