Founder applications are not open at launch
This is the most important thing to know up front. Founders are the leadership layer of In Eden — they shape the rooms, host the gatherings, and represent the platform in their cities. We're being deliberate about who joins that layer in v1.
For launch, every Founder on the platform was either personally invited by Amaya or claimed a group that was pre-seeded for them. That cohort is closed for now. If you'd like to lead a group later, you can join the waitlist and we'll open public applications in stages after launch.
The waitlist is real, and we use it
Settings → About → Lead a group in your city. You submit your name, city, and a few sentences about why you'd be a fit. We don't sit on the list — when we open a new cohort of Founders (planned cadence: quarterly after launch), we work down the waitlist in order, prioritizing cities with the strongest demand signal.
What makes a strong demand signal: existing community presence in your city, an existing class or gathering you host, an existing audience that would follow you here, or a city we're trying to open and you happen to be there.
If you were pre-seeded — the claim flow
Some Founders have a group waiting for them that we built ahead of time. If that's you, one of two paths applies:
You got an invite email. When Amaya seeded your group, she added your email. You received a one-time claim link. Tap it, sign in (or sign up if new), and the group transfers to your account with you as Founder. The email is the fastest path.
You found yourself in the public claim search. If you didn't get an email but you know your group exists, Settings → Claim a group lets you search by name or city. You submit a claim request, an admin reviews (usually within 24 hours), and once approved the group is yours.
You only need to do this once per group. Once claimed, you're the Founder of record, the group activates publicly, and you get full Studio access.
What "full Studio access" includes at launch
Five capabilities, all live on day one:
- Member roster. Names, photos, cities, interests, joined dates, last active. You can DM any member of your group without a connection handshake — being in your group is implicit consent on her side.
- Blasts. Push + email + in-app card delivered to every member of your group, all at once. Rate-limited to 5 per group per 24 hours. See Your first blast for the details.
- Events. Create events directly to your group. They appear in the Home feed of every member in your city. Paid events route through your external ticketing platform (Eventbrite, Luma, Partiful, SweatPals) — In Eden never handles event payments.
- Resources. Publish devotionals, ebooks, audio, video, templates, and classes directly to your group's Resources tab. Instant. No admin review required. (Only if you want a resource to appear in the cross-city global Library does it route through admin first.)
- Analytics. Read-only dashboard: member count, week-over-week growth, blast open rate, event RSVP rate, top engaged members. Calm, useful, not a vanity scoreboard.
Plus group settings — edit your group name, description, photo, and interest tags any time.
Leading more than one group
A single member can be a Founder of multiple groups. The first group is included in your Paid subscription. Each additional group adds to your bill:
- Second group: +$19/month
- Each group beyond: +$9/month
The pricing is tiered on purpose. Adding a second group is a real commitment — moderate friction. Adding a fifth is usually a Founder running an established business with multiple offerings — lower friction.
When you add a group via Studio, you pay upfront at submission. An admin reviews within 24 hours. If we approve it, the group activates. If we reject it, you're refunded automatically — no email back and forth required.
What's expected of a Founder
Three things, in order of importance:
- You actually show up. Founders who post once and disappear hurt their members more than no Founder at all. We're looking for women who'll be present.
- You hold your group's voice. This is your community — you set the warmth, the rhythm, the etiquette. We don't dictate content beyond the community guidelines.
- You respect the safety floor. Every blast, event, and resource is reportable by members. Two reports in 30 days against your content auto-pauses you pending admin review. We do not negotiate this rule — it's the foundation that lets members trust the platform.
If you step back
Founders can pause or cancel any time. If you cancel your Paid subscription, your groups go into a "paused by Founder" state — members keep visibility of the group, the roster, and past content, but no new posts, events, or blasts can be made until you resume. After 90 days paused, we may offer to transfer or archive the group.
Transferring ownership of a group to another Founder is an admin-only action at v1 — email support@ineden.app if that's the right move.