Paid or Free Community Launch Plan
Plans a community launch or relaunch: audience math, founding cohort, seed members, opening week, and rituals that keep members.
Before & after
Same prompt, same agent — the only difference is the skill.
Launching a community is a big and complex project with many moving parts. You'll need a platform - something like Circle or Mighty Networks or Discord can work. You need to recruit founding members and get them excited. Think about what content or value you'll provide to members. Pricing strategy matters and affects growth. Marketing the community effectively is important for success. Having a launch event can help build momentum. You might start with a small founding group initially. Moderation and community guidelines are needed upfront. It takes significant planning and preparation to do right. Would you like help thinking through any specific part of this, or should I walk through the phases systematically?
COMMUNITY LAUNCH PLAN - 12 PHASE BLUEPRINT FOUNDATION (Weeks 1-2) Phase 1: Brand foundation interview - community name, mission, your unique angle vs existing communities Phase 2: Audience definition - creator niche, entry skill level, geography, member size goals (typical: 50-500 founding members) STRATEGY (Weeks 3-4) Phase 3: Monetization model - subscription tier pricing ($19-99/month range typical), annual vs monthly, early-founder pricing structure Phase 4: Value proposition - exclusive content library, 1-on-1 network access, events schedule, tools included - what justifies price vs free Discord MARKET (Weeks 5-6) Phase 5: Competitive landscape - 3-5 comparable communities deep analysis, your differentiation thesis Phase 6: Go-to-market sequencing - founding cohort recruitment strategy, launch channel prioritization (email, YouTube, social) FINANCIAL (Week 7) Phase 7: Unit economics - member acquisition cost projection, lifetime value calculation, break-even timeline (typical 8-12 months) SALES (Weeks 8-9) Phase 8: Launch offer - founding rate (typically 30-40% discount for 6-12 month lock-in), call-to-action test Phase 9: Pitch framework - messaging document tailored for each marketing channel and audience segment MARKETING (Week 10) Phase 10: Launch content - 4-6 pieces introducing community vision, founding member testimonials, day-in-life content PRODUCT (Week 11) Phase 11: Platform setup - community tool selection (Circle, Mighty Networks, Custom), onboarding flow design, moderation playbook documentation OPERATIONS (Week 12) Phase 12: Launch execution - final go/no-go checklist validation, founding member intake workflow, first welcome event scheduling OUTPUT DELIVERED: Structured .md files with frontmatter metadata, full interview transcript, launch checklist, onboarding docs - all version controllable via git.
About this skill
You opened your community, posted a welcome message, and then nothing happened. Twelve people joined, nobody posted, and the space started looking dead within a week. This skill plans the launch so the room is already busy before the public arrives, and so members come back after day one.
What it does
- Works out how big your founding cohort can realistically be, starting from your actual list and following, before you commit to a launch
- Turns a vague "place to connect" into a one-sentence promise members can't get from your free content
- Builds a founding-member offer with honest scarcity: a seat cap, a close date, and a price lock
- Plans how to hand-pick 8-15 seed members, gives each one a role, and has them posting before you open
- Schedules opening week day by day and sets one weekly ritual on a fixed day and time
- Tracks activation and renewal instead of total signups, and diagnoses communities that have gone quiet before planning a relaunch
What you get
A launch plan covering the promise, audience math, offer, platform, space layout, a timeline from T-6 weeks to day 30, seed members, rituals, metrics with trigger points, and the top risks. You can also ask for a single piece, such as a waitlist email or a seed-member DM.
Best for
Creators, coaches, and educators launching a paid or free community on Skool, Circle, Discord, Mighty Networks, or similar platforms, plus anyone whose community has gone quiet.
SKILL.md preview
---
name: community-launch-plan
description: Plans the launch of a paid or free online community from zero, or the relaunch of a stalled one. It covers audience math, a specific membership promise, a founding-member waitlist, hand-picked seed members, a small space layout, a scheduled opening week, and weekly rituals measured by activation, not headcount. Use when the user says "help me launch a community", "I want to start a paid Discord/Skool/Circle", "plan my founding member launch", "how do I get my first 100 members", "should my community be free or paid", "my community is a ghost town", "nobody posts in my group".
---
# Community Launch Plan
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