Community

Originally published on Tumblr.

The great thing about being Jewish is that you’re never alone.

Walk into any synagogue, anywhere in the world on a Friday night, and you’ll be asked if you have a place to eat and a place to stay. I’m only exaggerating a little. Jews help each other. It’s a community with a capital “C”. Knowing you have the support of the community means you can try a little harder, and take a little more risk. If you fail, someone will help you, without expecting anything in return.

The bond between the individual and the community is permanent and can’t be severed, by either party. This is ideal community.

I mention all this because, lately, I’ve had community on my mind. Not so much the Jewish community, but the TechStars community and even sometimes the bigger startup community, but I have to start somewhere, so I start with my ideal.

That TechStars was a community wasn’t immediately obvious to me. During the three month program, it was very hard to get enough perspective to notice anything beyond our immediate circle of concerns.

OP3Nvoice was part of the first London cohort. During that time, people from America kept showing up: MDs from other cities, Associates, HackStars, and even people from companies who’d been through the program elsewhere. The oddest thing about these visits is that all these people wanted to help. And a lot of them did. This didn’t make a lot of sense to us, but we were too busy to give it much thought.

Near the end of the program I took a trip to NY, Austin, and Chicago. That’s when I first realized that I wasn’t dealing with an ordinary business network.

I went to NY for some meetings, and the TechStars Kaplan program manager invited me to their Demo Day. The NY program manager offered to let me work out of their space in the East Village, so I went there when I got to town. He wasn’t in, and didn’t tell anyone I was coming, but the people there welcomed me. They didn’t just welcome me, they offered to help. Once they found out what we did, they connected me to every NY-based TechStars company that might have an interest in what we were doing. Potential suppliers and potential customers. I met with several, and they in turn offered to help. They offered more introductions, advice, and support. In many cases I wondered what was in it for them, and couldn’t come up with a good answer.

I went to Austin and the people there were so welcoming it would take me several lifetimes to repay them. The TechStars crew introduced me to the whole community: other companies, mentors, bankers, and VCs.

I went to Chicago for FounderCon – an annual TechStars founder get-together – and was overwhelmed by the community. Everyone seemed to care, and not in a superficial way. They asked questions and listened to the answer. If they could help in any way, they did. No one ever turned away when they realized I couldn’t be useful to them.

The funny thing is, the people who run TechStars, David Cohen, David Brown, and Mark Solon all talk about “the network”. They talk about its strengths, and the fact that it will be one of the most powerful resources in our careers. They’re right of course, but I think they’re being self-consciously modest about what they’re building. A network is passive. It doesn’t actively change in response to need. It doesn’t actively change in response to new members. I have no doubt that if I showed up needing food or shelter, most members of the TechStars community wouldn’t turn me away.

Two months ago we moved our company from London to Austin. We knew we had to move to the US, but when we sat down to figure out where we’d move, we started with the list of cities in which TechStars had a presence, because we knew they’d help us land on feet.

We moved to Austin. There’s almost nothing related to the move that wasn’t facilitated by someone in the TechStars network.

I spent last week in Singapore, meeting with potential vendors and clients. I’ve never done business in Singapore. I stayed at an AirBnB (another community in the making) and setup work camp at the Joyful Frog Digital Incubator (JFDI). Why? Because JFDI are members of the Global Accelerator Network (GAN), which is a global network of mentor-driven accelerators. I heard about the GAN when I sat next to their Community Cultivator, Sarah Coffey, at FounderCon.

I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived at JFDI. I’d contacted them ahead of time, so I knew I’d have a desk, but I had no expectations beyond that.

When I arrived I was welcomed by their Community Manager, Fannie Kue. She told me everything I needed to know to survive in the neighborhood. Within an hour, one of JFDI’s founders, Meng Weng Wong, was offering help. He took the time to understand our technology and understand what I was trying to accomplish in Singapore. He immediately offered to introduce me to people he thought I should meet. And throughout my stay, one of the JFDI partners, Chiah Li Ong, helped me navigate the unfamiliar culinary landscape. I left with a list of food and restaurants to try when I’m next in town.

I don’t think any of this is normal. I know that lots of business networks exist, but I think there’s something special going on here. TechStars isn’t a just a network, it’s a true community. Judging from my experience at JFDI, GAN may be as well. The fuel for these communities seems to be a contagious generosity, a generosity that exists for its own sake. I don’t known where it comes from.

Jews build community to establish an environment welcoming enough for the Messiah. What we’re seeing today, within TechStars and within other parts of the technology world, doesn’t feel so different. In this case, the Messiah must be future humanity. This is wonderful, and worthwhile.

Let’s keep building.