Fred Wilson has a great post about community. It captures the sentiment of DemoCamp, Founders & Funders, and StartupNorth, which shouldn’t be a surprise given the related nature of these vehicles to the communities that read Fred’s blogs. But more importantly you can see the sentiment in my posts:
It’s about building the connections between the people. The greater the number of connections between different nodes allows more opportunities for the exchange of value. Whether this is because the group is large, or because the opportunities are more valuable. DemoCamps are events. But they bring people together. They give them the opportunity to connect. To take the stage. To learn. But it’s supposed to be about the connections with others, it’s about the beers in the bar afterwards. It is a social event. Founders & Funders is a social event. There is no stage. There is no pretension. It’s about the realization that their is an opportunity to connect socially with the people that start high potential companies and the people that fund them.
Read the poem in Fred’s post.
A couple days ago my son “graduated” from 8th grade and in the moving up ceremony his teacher read this section of a poem called The Low Road by Marge Piercy. As she was reading the poem, it made me think of this community and what it means to me. So this is for all of you.
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Alone, you can fight, you can refuse, you can take what revenge you can but they roll over you. But two people fighting back to back can cut through a mob, a snake-dancing file can break a cordon, an army can meet an army. Two people can keep each other sane, can give support, conviction, love, massage, hope, sex. Three people are a delegation, a committee, a wedge. With four you can play bridge and start an organisation. With six you can rent a whole house, eat pie for dinner with no seconds, and hold a fund raising party. A dozen make a demonstration. A hundred fill a hall. A thousand have solidarity and your own newsletter; ten thousand, power and your own paper; a hundred thousand, your own media; ten million, your own country.