Build IRL Newsletter #34
What is a club?, Club Microgrants powered by Hinge One More Hour, the accelerator begins, Women’s History Month ...
✨ Hey Besties!
Saum & Colt from Build IRL, back at it! 🛠️
This week’s extra special 🔥—
we’re launching our first-ever microgrants for IRL clubs (thanks Hinge One More Hour)
AND
kicking off our second accelerator cohort of 30 SF clubs!
As we start our second cohort, it felt right to revisit — what we mean by a club and how to build one. So we’re also getting back to basics today.🏛️
In this week’s edition:
🔑 A club, what dis?
🔥 Build IRL Microgrants, supported by Hinge One More Hour – Apply NOW!
👩🎤 Women’s History Month @ SHACK15
Let’s go! 🚀
🏠Back to the basics: A club, what dis?
As we kicked off our second cohort this week, it felt right to get back to basics.
🏛️ What we mean by clubs (and what we don’t).
🔑 What we’ve learned so far about what truly makes a club.
🚀 And how to build one.
Think of this as a quick cheat sheet for ideas and common language for our accelerator. This is not, by any stretch of imagination, the only or the right path to building a club.
A club, what dis? 🤔
Somewhere along the way, words like “clubs,” “associations,” “guilds,” and “leagues” have faded from our modern vocabulary. We talk about social clubs all the time, but what do we really mean?
Here is what we mean:
Clubs aren’t just one-off gatherings or fleeting experiences.
The Key Difference?
In clubs, it’s about who you’re with, not just what you do.
Clubs can come together for many reasons …
🎨 creativity,
🎾 play,
🔥 fandom,
💡personal growth,
💛 mutual support, or
🌍 changing the world
… And those reasons can evolve as members evolve.
But … what never changes
Focus on deeper bonds and real care among members.
How to tell if it’s really a club?
How to build an IRL club?
There are a million ways to answer this.
Here’s our simplest take. Answer these 3 questions:
Who you are (or Club Identity)
If you know us, you know this is our #1 mantra: who you gather matters more than anything else.
The more clearly you share your vibe and your values with your people (members and potential members), the more magnetic your club becomes.
So say it right, say it often, and say it like you mean it.
🔍 Questions to ask:
Who you are for? (and who are you NOT for?)
What’s your vibe? Values? Culture? Norms?
How do you curate who joins?
How do you celebrate your people?
🔨 Ways to Put This in Practice:
Words (manifesto, blog, lingo, website)
Visuals (logo, color)
Badges & Merch 🎽
Invitation or intake …
Unique practices or rituals ...
Norms, Rules, and Practices …
📖 Great Resource We Love: Get Together
What you do together (or MVE)
You club isn’t just events. It’s the primordial soup to break open relationships.
But it’s not all magic — there’s a mix of core elements that increase the chance of a thriving community.
We call this — Minimum Viable Elements (MVE).
Rhythm — what do you do regularly? 🔄
After Space — where does the convo continue? 💬
Key Moments — Welcome, Disagreement / Repair, Farewell … 👋
Offshoots — how you curate what emerges? 🌱
🔨 Ways to Put This in Practice:
Community’s rhythm — regular gathering habit (place + practice)
After Spaces (e.g., WhatsApp, Slack, Ice-cream hangs post events)
Onboarding (First 30 sec - 30 min - 30 days)
New sub-groups or initiatives
Most people think club = gathering. Nope. It’s everything before and after the gathering.
This is why 90% of the work of an IRL builder is invisible—unless you look closely.
📖 Great Resource We Love: Relationality , Designing for Belonging, We should get together
How you co-create (or member contributions)
Great clubs aren’t just for members—they’re by members. Contribution from members & supporters builds resources to keep the club running. And it fuels belonging.
🔍 Questions to ask:
Contributions — Do members contribute? Does the club feel comfortable asking? Do you partner with a wider support network — like sponsors, partners, or venues — beyond your members?
Empowered to act — Do people feel excited and clear on how to contribute? co-create? lead?
Evolution — Do members shape and celebrate what emerges?
🔨 Ways to Put This in Practice:
Member Dues and Non-monetary Contributions 💰
Sponsors, partner and non-member Contributions🤝
Member Roles, Volunteer Tracks, Rotating Hosts
Member-run sub-groups or initiatives
Rules, Norms, Wiki of club’s gathering templates for people to act on … 📝
Creating a fertile ground of contribution and co-creation is hard work. You need structures, norms, processes to keep the magic flowing smoothly. ✨
The bigger the club grows, and more this question becomes important. This is no different than building a great organization — just more fun 🔥.
📖 Great Resource We Love: Relationality
Hot Takes 🔥
Counter-intuitive ideas across the 3 questions —
Who You Are (Club Identity)
People value “Who” you gather more than “What” you gather for or even “Why” you gather. If you get only one thing right, make it this.
Bigger and faster isn’t better. 5 passionate contributing members are more powerful than hundreds of one-offs attendees. Communities grow exponentially—5 members attract 5 more, who bring 5 more... What starts slow can snowball. Take your time and build a solid foundation.🐢➡️🐇
Be like Sven. Boundaries aren’t about exclusion—they keep the space intentional and safe. 🚧
Be weird. Be you. 🦜 Unique communities attract stronger bonds. Celebrate your quirks! 🎉
What you do together (MVE)
What you do together matters less than you think. What you do before and after matters more than you think. Be intentional, but don’t stress over making every gathering flashy or unique. Onboarding, after spaces, offshoots — give time to where the magic happens.
Simplify. Do it over and over. Community is a habit. Repetition builds it. Toastmasters has stuck with the same format for 100 years; what started as a handful people helping each other grew into a nationwide movement.
How you co-create (member contributions)
Just ask. People want to help build something they love more than you think.
Rules help people act. Setting boundaries gives permission for people to act more than saying “Do whatever you want.”
Make it easy to contribute. Give paths to act but don’t overwhelm. Celebrate every contribution, big or small. Showing up is a contribution too!
Loose control. Celebrate the chaos. You won’t always be in control. That’s part of building a great club. Be transparent, honest, and embrace the growth. Be a gardener, not a CEO.
So start small. Be quirky. Have fun. Build IRL.💪
Here are some snaps from the first gathering of our incredible Spring Cohort builders who are already making it happen!
💸 Build IRL Microgrants, supported by Hinge One More Hour (Spring 2025)
🚨 Calling all SF Bay Area IRL clubs! 🚨
We’re offering $2,000 microgrants to 25 awesome in-person clubs in the SF Bay Area that bring people together and are exploring ways to become sustainable.
$1K seed grant
$1K follow-on grant based on progress
Quick, 10-min application. 🏃♀️ Deadline: Mar 24, 2025.
All IRL clubs in the SF Bay Area are welcome to apply — including current and past Build IRL Accelerator cohort clubs.
👉 Learn more here and apply here 👈
🎉 A HUGE shoutout to Hinge One More Hour for making this possible. Thanks for helping clubs bring people together, one hour at a time! 🙌
👩🎤Celebrating Women @ SHACK15
Per usual, we love to highlight amazing events and clubs happening around us. 🌟
This one is extra special as we celebrate Women’s History Month.
And it sounds dope! 🔥
🎉 Women's History Month @ Shack15 - Panel + Comedy Show [RSVP here]
🗓️ Thursday, March 20 - 2:30 PM
Celebrate the incredible women in the Bay Area—from authors to artists, founders, and yes, even comedians!
The afternoon kicks off with panel discussions, followed by an all-female stand-up comedy show. You won’t want to miss this! 🙌
That’s it for this week!
Catch you soon, Besties!
Let’s gooooo! 🛠️Build, Build, Build!
Saum & Colt
Great post - and thanks for the resources! Lmk when you expand to Seattle ;)