Absolutely fantastic post Sam! I find that good writers have a way of putting in words something you’ve been trying to say for a long time. That’s how I felt reading this post. Thank you for the time you have taken here to describe the tension between rapid scale and the friction-filled work of community building!
Bravo. I think in the summary you clarified the issue. Relationships, if they are truly healthy, are not transactional. They do not exist to create market opportunities and the crisis we are having will not be solved by those whose intention is self-interest. Loneliness is solvable. But it requires we go across the street or across the hall to our neighbor and intentionally get to know him or her. That we share time in space. For no other reason than we become more whole from the experience and our communities strengthen. Our society improves. Those seem like greater "value adds." Mutually enhancing relationships, on the other hand, allow productive society to take root but, as you pointed out, those types of relationships grow over time with the sincere work of getting to know one another. Or what we call at Community Renewal, the regenerative value of "purposeful friendship".
You’ve done a great job articulating why I’ve felt so skeptical about startups solving loneliness.
The third pitfall also does a good job of explaining why it’s so difficult for venture backed businesses to build customer / user communities. For the most part they can’t even effectively build community amongst their teams. The models just clash in too many ways.
I’d be curious to get your takes on what you’d see as potential solutions to the cultural causes (individualism) that you refer to here. Something I’ve been contemplating is what are all the different lanes for reducing loneliness (social health services, mental health services, policy, better and more third spaces, better and more community leaders, etc)
Bootstrapping is a great approach. There are other capital sources that can support slower and more thoughtful growth as well. Foundations, family offices, and impact investors for example. A bigger question arises though regarding how to prioritize and measure the real impact, the merit that can be created when a business addresses social or environmental issues.
This article came at such a critical time for me and my co-founder to reflect on as we navigate this extremely early stage of a bootstrapped project hoping to help bring meaningful connections to our local community. (https://www.aroundthecorner.today). I love your contrast between Next Door and Front Porch Forum and fully agree with all of your points. I think we, as founders, feel a great deal of pressure to both find a path to sustainability, but also to avoid all of the pitfalls you mentioned. As a request, I would love to see highlighted many bootstrapped impactful projects in this area. Examples to follow in terms of the business model would infuse confidence and help society greatly. Thanks for your work! -Nicholas
Absolutely fantastic post Sam! I find that good writers have a way of putting in words something you’ve been trying to say for a long time. That’s how I felt reading this post. Thank you for the time you have taken here to describe the tension between rapid scale and the friction-filled work of community building!
fancy seeing you here ;) love this too
Fancy seeing YOU here Leslie :) Enjoyed this article and also Teju's article in the New Public newsletter. Small world 😀
Bravo. I think in the summary you clarified the issue. Relationships, if they are truly healthy, are not transactional. They do not exist to create market opportunities and the crisis we are having will not be solved by those whose intention is self-interest. Loneliness is solvable. But it requires we go across the street or across the hall to our neighbor and intentionally get to know him or her. That we share time in space. For no other reason than we become more whole from the experience and our communities strengthen. Our society improves. Those seem like greater "value adds." Mutually enhancing relationships, on the other hand, allow productive society to take root but, as you pointed out, those types of relationships grow over time with the sincere work of getting to know one another. Or what we call at Community Renewal, the regenerative value of "purposeful friendship".
You’ve done a great job articulating why I’ve felt so skeptical about startups solving loneliness.
The third pitfall also does a good job of explaining why it’s so difficult for venture backed businesses to build customer / user communities. For the most part they can’t even effectively build community amongst their teams. The models just clash in too many ways.
I’d be curious to get your takes on what you’d see as potential solutions to the cultural causes (individualism) that you refer to here. Something I’ve been contemplating is what are all the different lanes for reducing loneliness (social health services, mental health services, policy, better and more third spaces, better and more community leaders, etc)
Bootstrapping is a great approach. There are other capital sources that can support slower and more thoughtful growth as well. Foundations, family offices, and impact investors for example. A bigger question arises though regarding how to prioritize and measure the real impact, the merit that can be created when a business addresses social or environmental issues.
This article came at such a critical time for me and my co-founder to reflect on as we navigate this extremely early stage of a bootstrapped project hoping to help bring meaningful connections to our local community. (https://www.aroundthecorner.today). I love your contrast between Next Door and Front Porch Forum and fully agree with all of your points. I think we, as founders, feel a great deal of pressure to both find a path to sustainability, but also to avoid all of the pitfalls you mentioned. As a request, I would love to see highlighted many bootstrapped impactful projects in this area. Examples to follow in terms of the business model would infuse confidence and help society greatly. Thanks for your work! -Nicholas