What’s broken in community building? Pt II Money with Carrie Melissa Jones + special guest Bilyana Freye
Last time CMJ joined Remote Daily we discussed how the community space feels broken to many, and ways to begin rebuilding the profession. One roadblock to rebuilding is lack of access to capital.
Our continued conversation with CMJ this time will focus on FUNDING.
💥 How do people in the community space make money?
💥 What business models can support community builders? What models are common?
💥 How to ask for money if you’re an in-house community person?
💥 How do community builders secure funding for community field research and programming?
Carrie will share her own journey with re-branding The CMJ Group and how she made the decision to create a paid membership program.
We will then speak with Bilyana Freye, CEO & co-foudner of Orbiit, on how she built a successful community platform!
Carrie Melissa Jones
Carrie Melissa Jones is an award-winning author, community builder, and researcher of online communities. Her work has influenced communities for startups, non-profits, solopreneurs, and the world's leading brands, including Airbnb, Google, Microsoft, and two U.S. presidential campaigns. She is the Founding Partner of CMX, co-author of the book Building Brand Communities with Charles Vogl, and holds an M.A. in communication focused on virtual communities and belonging.
Bilyana Freye
Bilyana Freye is the Co-Founder and CEO of Orbiit, an AI-powered, matchmaking SaaS platform, powering curated connections at scale. Orbiit works with leading startup, VC and professional communities looking to scale peer-to-peer networking and knowledge-sharing through real, relevant and regular 1:1 conversations.
After graduating from the London School of Economics, Bilyana had a diverse career: from investigating organized crime in Bulgaria to international finance in London and Hong Kong and now, technology in New York.
Bilyana has been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, Thrive, Crunchbase, Inc. Magazine and more; is a Nasdaq Milestone Maker, People Tech Partners (PTP) and Rent The Runway/UBS' Project Entrepreneur alumna; and was one of the pitch winners of the Uber x Girlboss competition for disruptive businesses in the US.
