Uniting People Around A Platform

A platform without people is just infrastructure. A platform with people but without unity is just a crowd. A platform that unites people around something shared – that’s a community.

I’ve been building platforms for a long time. Events, online communities, church congregations, Like Minds. And the thing I’ve learned is that the platform is the least important part.

What matters is:

1. The shared thing. What do these people have in common? What unites them? If you can’t answer this clearly, you don’t have a community. You have a list.
2. The invitation. How people are brought in matters. A warm invitation from a trusted person is worth a thousand cold emails.
3. The experience of being there. What happens when people show up? Do they feel seen? Do they connect? Do they leave with something they didn’t have before?
4. The reason to return. Community is not a one-off event. It’s a repeated experience of belonging.

Build the platform last. Build the people first.