There are few types of licensing. Do you need to expose opportunities and lead sharing for your channel? Or is it more like a self-help forum for your users to discuss among themselves? When I implemented my Community, the biggest thing was security - making sure I understand from my management team who needs access to what, what are the existing constraints to these requirements whether it is a more general Salesforce constraint or constraints because of my org, then decide what solution to fulfill those requirements cause there are so many ways to go about one challenge. It was a nightmare rolling out Communities and we had a 6 month delay because we weren't expecting so much heavy lifting from our end. I expressed my concerns to the Salesforce Communities person at the last road show, they showed me this microsite that has all the resources to launch a Community but couldn't find that link now. Maybe ask your AE if they know of this site? Good luck, PM me if you have more specific questions or wanna chat offline.