they don't want your newsletter
they want to belong.
seth godin said it plainly: tribes aren’t built by introductions or polite networking events. they are built by working side by side on something that actually matters... usually under pressure. community isn't a "strategy" you put on a slide deck to impress investors. it is what happens when people look at the same broken problem and decide to build a solution anyway. it is the esprit de corps that only shows up when the work is hard and the outcome is uncertain.
bitcoin didn’t grow because of clever newsletters or marketing funnels. it grew because a few people kept building the code while they were being mocked, attacked, and ignored by every major institution on earth. they were under pressure and they found each other in the dark. ai didn’t advance because of tech meetups or fancy picnics. it advanced because researchers kept pushing through long "ai winters" when belief was scarce and funding was even scarcer. robots don’t get built because people like the idea of them. they get built because engineers stay up until 3:00 am fighting against the laws of physics and torque.
the problem with most people trying to build "community" today is they are looking at metrics instead of meaning. they want engagement rates and open counts. but if you can’t answer two simple questions, you don’t actually have a tribe: who is this for? and what is this for?
if your answer to "who is this for" is "everyone," then it is for no one. you are trying to be the average of everyone's expectations and that is the fastest way to become mediocre. real communities form around a specific worldview. they are for the people who believe what you believe. they are for the heretics who want to change the status quo.
the strongest communities don't need massive platforms or billion-dollar marketing budgets. they don't even need a finished product yet. people show up because the work itself matters more than the reward. they show up because being part of the "us" feels better than being part of the "them." the real question you should be asking isn't how to build more buzz or how to get more subscribers. it is what are you building that is actually worth showing up for?
what is the change you are trying to make? what is the tension you are willing to create to move things forward? people are starving for a sense of agency and a sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves. they don't want another email in their inbox. they want a mission that respects their time and honors their contribution.
are you building something that matters? or are you just sending another newsletter into the void? the hero of this story is the person who decides to stop waiting for permission and starts building the cathedral. i am just here to tell you where the bricks are. the work is the only invitation that actually counts.
