Hello everyone! Today, I’m thrilled to feature Leah Finch, the force behind Foundr’s entrepreneur community.

Before we dive in, a quick note: if you have any community opportunities or shoutouts you'd like to share, I'm happy to use this space to help amplify your message, completely free of charge. Just reach out at [email protected].

Leah’s Journey of Engagement and Connection

Leah oversees an online community of over 30,000 entrepreneurs at Foundr – a membership platform for aspiring business owners. In 2024 alone, she hosted 82 live events and workshops with Foundr coaches, instructors, and talented ecommerce entrepreneurs; she led a 1-day Community Members Event on “How to Set Up Your Ecommerce Business for Success in 2025,” featuring keynote presentations, interactive Q&A sessions, breakout sessions, showcases of eight amazing Grant Finalists, and one $7500USD Grant Winner; she MC’d 2 three-day ecommerce summits and 4 five-day challenges designed to help aspiring entrepreneurs “Find & Validate Your Product Idea in 5 Days”; and she hosted a meetup event with Melbourne-based Ecommerce Coaching Program students. In addition, Leah spearheaded the migration of the entire community to a new platform, Circle, and launched a Community Rewards Program leveraging Circle’s gamification feature. But numbers only tell part of the story. What truly defines Leah’s work is her passion for bringing people together and fostering genuine connections among members.

As Community Manager (and frequent live event host) at Foundr, Leah’s mission is to provide value to the community and facilitate connections and collaboration. She acts as a bridge between thousands of founders, ensuring that knowledge flows freely and no one feels alone on their entrepreneurial journey. From moderating daily discussions to cheering on attendees at virtual events, Leah approaches community building as both an art and a science – always with a warm, personable touch.

The Art of Community Facilitation

Leah sees community as a space for meaningful connections and continuous learning, embracing her role as a catalyst for engagement and collaboration. Her day-to-day work reflects this mindset. She spends hours each day moderating discussions on the Foundr community platform (now hosted on Circle) and linking members who might help each other. If one entrepreneur posts about a challenge with sourcing suppliers, Leah might tag another member who recently overcame a similar hurdle. In her words, she’s constantly “connecting different people with each other” around shared interests and challenges.

Beyond the forum-style interactions, Leah also organizes weekly workshops and live events to keep members learning and interacting. Every week, she hosts a live session for Foundr’s paying members (often bringing in expert guests or facilitating group coaching). Each month, she helps run larger multi-day events open to the broader community, like five-day challenge sprints or summit conferences featuring successful entrepreneurs. Whether it’s an intimate coaching call or a massive virtual summit, Leah’s goal is the same: get people excited to participate and comfortable enough to share their experiences.

Crucially, Leah makes sure no member’s voice goes unheard. She strives to ensure every post and question receives a response, either from her or from another community member. “Treat every post like there’s a real human on the other side,” Leah advises, reminding herself and others that behind every screen is a person seeking connection. This philosophy drives her to acknowledge each introduction, answer each question (or loop in someone who can), and generally let people know there’s always someone listening. “As a community manager, I don’t always need to know the perfect answer... but I’m responsible for making sure it receives a response,” she explains. By making members feel seen and valued from day one, Leah creates an atmosphere where people are eager to engage rather than afraid of being ignored.

Navigating the Challenges of Community Growth

Leah hasn’t always had the luxury of a unified platform. For years, Foundr’s community conversations were spread across multiple Facebook groups tied to different courses. Many members had spent five or more years in those Facebook communities, so the prospect of moving nearly 30,000 people to a new platform was daunting. Leah and the team tackled the migration carefully: first they invited a smaller cohort (students in a coaching program) into a new space on Circle to test the waters, then they opened Circle to all new members. For a while, Leah found herself juggling activity on both Facebook and Circle, until it became clear that a final push was needed to unify everyone.

That push wasn’t without hiccups. Initially, Leah tried to “rip the band-aid off” by announcing a quick migration deadline. She made a meme-style Facebook post essentially saying we’re moving everything to Circle in 24 hours, don’t miss out! The reaction was immediate - and not in the way she hoped. “We actually got a lot of negative feedback,” Leah recalls. Long-time members were alarmed and resistant to sudden change. This experience was a wake-up call. If she wanted to retain the community’s trust, she needed to bring members along for the journey. Leah shifted gears to patiently educate members on the new platform’s value: an ad-free, algorithm-free space where all resources, discussions, and event recordings lived in one organized hub. By highlighting benefits and guiding everyone step by step, she gradually turned skepticism into excitement for the move.

Once on Circle, Leah put careful thought into structuring the community so it felt accessible, not overwhelming. One of her first steps was creating a prominent “Start Here” section at the top of the forum. This section greets newcomers with a welcome video from Leah and a short guide on how to get involved. New members immediately know where to introduce themselves, which spaces to visit for asking questions or finding event recordings, and generally how to navigate their new digital home. Clear labels and dedicated spaces for different needs (Q&A, event sign-ups, resource libraries, etc.) ensure that even a platform with tens of thousands of people can feel orderly and inviting.

Leah also fosters a culture of engagement from day one. Thanks to Circle’s automation features, every new member receives a personal welcome direct message from Leah with tips on how to make the most of the community. In that DM, she provides a simple template for an introduction post: share what you’re hoping to achieve, mention some strengths or expertise you can offer (to encourage a give-and-take mentality), and list the types of founders or businesses you’d like to meet. This prompt subtly instills a norm of reciprocity - showing up not just to get help, but to help others too. Beyond the automated welcome, Leah and her team often reach out individually: for example, nudging someone to update their profile (so others can find them) or personally connecting two members who might collaborate. By combining thoughtful platform design with proactive onboarding and outreach, Leah navigated the community through a huge transition and laid the groundwork for sustained growth

Building Authentic Engagement

With the community growing, Leah works hard to keep interactions meaningful rather than superficial. In a digital world full of quick likes and generic comments, she emphasizes real human connection. That means balancing tech automation with personal touch. Leah certainly takes advantage of tools (like those automated welcome DMs), but she also injects humanity wherever possible – even in small ways. One quirky method she’s adopted is sending voice notes to members instead of just text messages. If a new member fills out their profile, Leah might leave them a short friendly voice message saying hello, mentioning something she found cool about their business idea, and encouraging them to connect with others. Hearing a real person’s voice – Leah’s warmth and enthusiasm coming through – can make someone feel uniquely seen and welcomed. It’s the digital equivalent of greeting a guest with a smile and a handshake. Leah finds this helps members feel “wow, this is a real person” behind the community, not just an automated system.

Creating a space where members feel safe to contribute sometimes means guiding them in how to engage. Leah recalls one incident where a member posted in frustration. The post’s title was literally “Frustrated” – a venting of negative energy that, unsurprisingly, got zero responses. Instead of leaving the member hanging, Leah took a gentle, behind-the-scenes approach. She privately messaged the member, acknowledged their feelings, and suggested they try rephrasing the post to actually ask for help rather than just express frustration. The member agreed and re-posted, this time titling it “Advice please” and wording their situation as a request for guidance. The difference was night and day: within 24 hours that post received 22 supportive comments. By flipping a negative rant into a constructive question, Leah helped unlock the community’s willingness to jump in and assist. This anecdote highlights a key insight about engagement psychology: people are far more inclined to help when someone openly asks for advice versus when they only see a vent of negativity. Sometimes fostering authentic engagement means coaching members on how to ask the community for what they need – empowering them to invite the support that’s available.

Measuring Community Success

How does Leah know if the community is thriving? She blends data and intuition to gauge success. On the quantitative side, the Circle platform gives her a dashboard of engagement stats – how many members are active, how frequently they post or comment, and other usage metrics. Leah keeps an eye on these numbers to understand baseline activity and spot trends (for instance, an uptick in daily posts after introducing a new event series, or a lull in engagement that might signal the community needs a spark). However, she’s quick to note that raw numbers don’t tell the whole story.

Equally important are the qualitative signals that the community is healthy. One clear sign is when members are comfortable and enthusiastic enough to offer unprompted feedback and cheer each other on. Leah shares an example of a recent members-only virtual event – a day-long business showcase and competition. Throughout the live Zoom session, the community’s energy was off the charts: the chat window was constantly lighting up with encouragement, hearts, and supportive comments as members presented their projects. Fellow entrepreneurs were telling each other, “I love what you’re doing – when you launch, I’m going to buy your product!” In that moment, members became each other’s biggest fans. After the event, dozens of participants felt compelled to message Leah (and even Foundr’s CEO) directly to say thank you and express how proud they were to be part of this community. “That was such an awesome event. I love being a part of this community. I feel really connected and I’m learning so much,” one member wrote. For Leah, these heartfelt reactions are golden. When people are so passionate that they “scream it from the rooftops,” it shows true fulfillment and connection – something no simple engagement metric can capture. In short, a thriving community is measured not just by clicks and posts, but by the buzz of genuine enthusiasm among its members.

Mastering Online and Live Events

If you join one of Foundr’s live online events, don’t expect to be a silent spectator. Leah has mastered the art of making virtual events interactive and fun. As an emcee, she treats webinars more like lively workshops than stuffy lectures. Right from the start, she’s engaging the audience: “Hello everyone! Tell us where you’re tuning in from!” she might say, prompting dozens of members to light up the chat with greetings from Sydney, London, or L.A. She makes a point to welcome newcomers in particular, often asking first-timers to drop a “1” in the chat so others can shower them with welcomes. “Hey Rachel, welcome to your first Foundr event – we’re excited to have you!” Hearing their names called out, new members immediately feel that warm, safe atmosphere. And Leah doesn’t let the energy drop. If the workshop topic is, say, Facebook Ads, she’ll ask attendees to share one word about their experience level (“never tried”, “testing”, “scaling”) to get everyone involved early. Throughout the session, she peppers in quick polls or asks the crowd to type key words (“Type ‘scale’ in the chat if that tip resonates with you!”). These little prompts keep people alert and participating instead of checking their email. By the end of the hour, the chat has become a chorus of high-fives, aha moments, and follow-up questions – a sure sign that learning is happening in a communal way.

While most of Foundr’s gatherings happen online (a necessity with a global membership), Leah has also seen the unique value of in-person meetups. She organized a small offline gathering for local members, and found that nothing quite compares to chatting face-to-face and hearing people’s stories in depth. Virtual events can connect far-flung entrepreneurs on a weekly basis, but real-life events forge deeper personal bonds and serendipitous conversations that continue long after the event ends. Leah believes both formats have their place. Online events offer scale and consistency – anyone can attend from anywhere, and you can host them frequently – but they require an extra dose of intentional facilitation to avoid feeling like “just another boring webinar.” In contrast, in-person events might be rarer and smaller, but they create a tangible shared experience and a sense of camaraderie that’s hard to replicate. By blending the two when possible, and applying the same welcoming philosophy to each, Leah ensures the Foundr community gets the best of both worlds.

Key Takeaways for Community Builders

Leah Finch’s experience offers a wealth of insight for anyone looking to build a vibrant online community. Here are some of the key lessons and actionable takeaways from her journey:

• Make every member feel seen: Go out of your way to ensure no one’s question or introduction slips through the cracks. Acknowledge newcomers by name, and respond (or get someone to respond) to every post so people know there’s always someone listening.

• Be a connector, not just an answer-giver: Embrace your role as a facilitator. You don’t need to have all the answers, but you should know who in the community might have the right insight and connect those people. This builds peer-to-peer support and takes the pressure off you to solve everything.

• Guide your community through changes: If you need to migrate platforms or implement big changes, bring members along for the ride. Communicate early, explain the benefits, and even enlist enthusiastic members to champion the change. Sudden moves can scare people – informed, gradual transitions earn their trust.

• Onboard with intention: First impressions matter. Provide a clear roadmap for new members (like a “Start Here” section or welcome guide) so they aren’t lost. A warm welcome message with tips on how to participate can turn a hesitant newcomer into an active contributor overnight.

• Cultivate a giving culture: Encourage members to share their expertise and help others, not just ask for help. For example, prompt newcomers to mention how they can add value to the group. This kind of reciprocity makes the community richer for everyone.

• Balance automation with personal touch: Automate what helps scale engagement (welcome emails, reminder prompts), but always inject some human warmth. A personal DM, a friendly voice note, or a shout-out can make an online interaction feel wonderfully authentic.

• Set a positive, solution-focused tone: The way members communicate shapes the community vibe. Lead by example and gently coach members toward constructive communication. Transform complaints or negativity into teachable moments (as Leah did by prompting a frustrated member to ask for advice, which opened the door to solutions).

• Make virtual events participatory: Don’t let online meetups become one-way monologues. Use icebreakers, Q&As, chat prompts, and audience shout-outs to keep everyone engaged. When people actively participate, they feel more attached to the community and to each other.

• Measure engagement, both in numbers and spirit: Track metrics like active users and posts, but also pay attention to the qualitative “vibe.” Are members excitedly chatting and collaborating? Do they give you unsolicited feedback or praise? Those emotional signals are just as important in evaluating community health.

• Let your personality shine: Finally, don’t be afraid to be yourself. Leah’s warmth, enthusiasm, and even her background in psychology inform her unique style. By showing genuine personality and passion, you set a tone that encourages members to do the same and build real connections.