Capitalizing on Community

April 6, 2022

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Whenever a female friend is looking for a new gig, business coach, or graphic designer, I always direct her to the Ladies Get Paid Slack channel. It’s where I found this job working for PrivCo as a freelance writer and how thousands of similar connections have been made for women online. Claire Wasserman, an ex-corporate employee who, shocked by pay discrepancies between men and women, set out to change that dynamic by providing negotiation skills for women (hint: never accept the first offer). The community she created from webinars and informal coffee meetups ballooned online and now boasts over 100,000 members globally.

Chief founders Carolyn Childers and Lindsay Kaplan

The trick with a large network of evangelists like Wasserman’s is how to monetize that community. She has released a book, sells online classes, and hosts a conference. Other companies, like LaunchPass, will turn an active community on Slack or Discord into a paying one.

Community Capital
Now there’s another model from the C-suite and executive networking club for women, Chief. Last week, Chief raised a $100MM Series B making it the fastest female-founded company to become a unicorn. Founded in 2019, the company is an invite-only community of women at the peak of their careers at top companies worldwide. Membership has swelled to 12,000 business leaders paying between $5,800-7,900 annually.

The company’s vision is to change the face of leadership, and with the $1.1BN valuation given by Alphabet’s growth fund CapitalG, Chief is well on its way.