Agreed, 100 is too big and yes, I completely understand the need to tightly select the people that are gonna come in, even more so if the group is smaller, but

Agreed, 100 is too big and yes, I completely understand the need to tightly select the people that are gonna come in, even more so if the group is smaller, but maybe the process could be a little more organic, or informal? Maybe having some kind of intermediate level of membership/trust for the new comers? A little bit like motorcycle clubs, who have "friends of the club", "prospect" etc, not the best example but I hope you get the idea, which is to develop those relationship over a longer period of time than a simple application with a yes/no answer at the end like with a job application. Food for thought.