Interest or geography. Pick one, or hold both honestly.
Claire sees two kinds of community:
- Interest-based: people drawn together by the work they do
- Geography-based: people drawn together by where they live or work
The Melting Pot was interest-based, built around people working in social change. That was a decision, and Claire made it early:
“Put that front and foremost on the marketing materials. This is who I’m trying to attract.”
Most spaces never make that decision. They end up serving everyone who walks in, because saying no to a paying member feels wrong. The freelancer who wants a lunch buddy, the startup that wants a corner to itself, the therapist who needs a quiet room. Three people, three definitions of community, and one space trying to be all of them.
The hard part comes later, when someone outside your audience shows up with cash in hand. Claire’s test:
“When the fifth web developer comes in and says, ‘I want to work from this place because it’s quite cool,’ you’re like, well, who’s your audience?”
If they don’t share your values, they’re not the right fit.
Name your audience on your homepage. “A workspace for people driving social change” tells the right people they belong, and the wrong fit self-selects out before you ever have to say no.
Cat Johnson made a similar point in our conversation on community storytelling (
Part 1 and
Part 2): the biggest mistake spaces make is marketing a community that doesn’t exist yet.
Rosee Shrestha
