# Understand a community (/docs/ways-to-use-smb/understand-a-community)



**For:** State offices, chambers, and economic developers

## Start here [#start-here]

1. Choose a representative Business already known to your team.
2. Review the Business information available to you.
3. Use a valuation as one input to a broader community analysis.

## Capabilities to use [#capabilities-to-use]

| Job                                | SMB capability                                       | Available through |
| ---------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | ----------------- |
| Review one representative Business | [Get a Business](/docs/api-reference/get_business)   | API · MCP         |
| Add it to the team's Workspace     | [Add a Business](/docs/api-reference/add_business)   | API · MCP         |
| Organize community work            | [Create a Room](/docs/api-reference/create_room)     | API · MCP         |
| Define a community outcome         | [Create a Goal](/docs/api-reference/create_goal)     | API · MCP         |
| Estimate a representative Business | [Run a valuation](/docs/api-reference/run_valuation) | API · MCP         |

## Example: value one representative business [#example-value-one-representative-business]

Use one `business_id` per call when studying independent businesses. A geographic cohort is not a portfolio, so do not set `combine_as_portfolio` merely to aggregate a community.

```json
{
  "reference": "community-representative-business",
  "items": [
    {
      "business_id": "biz_123",
      "details": {
        "annual_revenue": 950000,
        "employee_count": 9
      }
    }
  ]
}
```

Published Business data and valuations do not by themselves prove community
outcomes or the needs of a specific owner.