Newsletter #41

hard truths, new culture machine, feature drops — email blasts, multiple club hosts and more ...

Build IRL

and

Saumya Gupta

Jun 21, 2025

hey fam — we’re back.

Fresh off accelerator szn. Deep in the next phase of building.

This drop’s all about hard truths:
what does it actually take to build IRL?
what’s not working? what might?

Also:
new feature drops — yasss — email blasts, multiple club hosts …
IRL Builders Club sneak peek👀

1) How to build IRL (for real) 🛠️

This week’s Connective Tissue newsletter by Sam Pressler really hit home for us. It’s the reason we exist.

Spring accelerator momentum was insane — but it also showed us some hard truths. Three things we know are true:

1️⃣ people are hungry for clubs
low-stakes, regular hangs are in.
every time we drop a club list or run a fair, it’s chaos. waitlists. DMs.
people show up an hour early just to get into the club fairs.

2️⃣ so many natural-born IRL builders out there
they just need a nudge. and some infrastructure.
we see it in every club application, every builder call,
every “how do I start something?” DM.

3️⃣ but… we’re failing at resourcing this
only a few club builders in our cohort asked for dues.
most builders don’t feel comfy asking for contributions.
most joiners don’t even think to offer.

so:
💥 we have the demand
💥 we have the builders
but without a new culture of contribution — this movement stalls.

Can we change that? Hell yes🙌 This is what we’ll be attempting in our next phase.

How you ask…

For builders: share the costs out loud 🧱

imagine this:

you want your old college crew to meet up monthly.
you find a cozy café willing to host — but they need a $450/session minimum spend. plus $150/month of overhead — swags, your time, supplies …
so you launch a $600/month contribution campaign.
you hit $600/month target with 30 founding members at $20/month

boom. now you’ve got a recurring hang. same time, same place, fully funded.

plus. you’re not building alone anymore — you’ve got 30 other people who want this just as much as you.

For joiners: ask yourself this 💭

how much do you spend monthly on Netflix, HBO, YouTube, Spotify?
$20? $50? $100+?

now ask:
how much do you give monthly to support your local club, group, or IRL space?

…crickets? exactly.
most of us contribute zero. And then wonder why we can’t find consistent places to make friends IRL. 😬

… so if you love a space, ask how you can contribute.
don't ghost. don’t just consume. help build it. grow it. keep it going. contribute with funds 💸, time 🕐, stuff 🧃, or your talent💪.

The contribution culture 💡

why this works:

builders openly share the real resources needed to build irl
people feel invited to co-create it, not just consume
members feel proud to support, build or keep the a space alive
local businesses feels excited (and not overwhelmed) to support groups with more predictable funding

Can we unleash the creative collective power to build irl?
Start the flywheel?
Spin. Spin. Spin.
Let’s go.

That’s what we will attempt — making it insanely easy to unleash this flywheel. You have an IRL idea. Get people who want to build with you. Then, build it.

Can we crack this code? Let’s find out.

New feature Drops! 🎉👩‍🍳

We heard you — and we shipped.

👯 Multiple Club Hosts

give more members the power to lead and contribute:

Assign multiple lead roles from your People panel (see demo here)
Leads get the access to
- manage the club applications, members, grant/revoke other leads
- get full club admin powers (minus Stripe access, which needs separate login)
- get all key email alerts

📣 Email blasts

Send emails straight to all club members via Build IRL (demo here)

draft as many blasts as you want
edit + send when ready
view a full send log

[Bonus] withdraw application flow

sometimes people change their mind after applying to the club — and now they can notify you (demo here).

applicants can view status + withdraw anytime
self-serve, no awkward emails
you’ll get notified when it happens

Reunion szn + Builder’s Club sneak peek🥳

It’s reunion szn 🎉
1 year since our very first club cohort.
3 months since our second cohort wrapped.

Time to bring the gang back together. We’re gathering our favorite humans — club builders, supporters, and behind-the-scenes legends.

BIRLies, see you there? 💛

Also… this is the pre launch for ... IRL Builders Club. 👷‍♀️👷‍♂️
A dedicated ongoing space + curated network for IRL builders and culture-shapers — to grow, launch, and lead this movement together.

Coming soon to all builders beyond our cohort clubs …