When I reached out to Charles Broskoski, co-founder of Are.na, it was largely because I kept hearing mention of the service he'd built increasingly entering the zeitgeist among young, creative technologists.

What I thought would be a conversation about the tension between creativity in technology ended up being a much more nuanced conversation.

Some takeaways —

Arena has been operating for 13 years and has taken a slow, steady approach to growth. Arena initially struggled with fundraising but found success through a crowdfunding campaign and charging for their product. They prioritized profitability and user feedback over rapid growth or chasing trends. That trade-off leaves potential money on the table, but allows the community to flourish into its own unique place.

More Artists should start businesses — entrepreneurship provides an endless stream of problems that need solving through creativity and ingenuity. Focus on genuine passion and interest rather than chasing what seems “cool” or trendy with investors. Charging users early to validate the product and gain meaningful feedback.

Charles & Are.na have long been critics of traditional social media, for better and for worse. They’re critical of algorithmic recommendations and AI implementations that remove human discovery and idiosyncrasy from products. He believes in maintaining a human relationship with topics and interests, rather than optimizing for efficiency.

Charles and I had crossed paths several times in years past as he and the team had been working to bring Are.na to life. With each interaction, I was impressed with his vision, earnestness, and commitment to serving a community he cares deeply about.

The parts of this conversation I haven't been able to shake are the need for role models for creative technologists to follow and the trap that many fall into, chasing what's cool instead of creating something that's uniquely theirs to build.

There's something in here for everyone.

I hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed recording this one.

As always, if you or someone you know is working on something that could be a fit for indie, don't hesitate to reach out.

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