The Third Place Is Intentional

I think discord, more than any that i can tell from using the product, sort of has that third place type feel to it. And even beyond games, obviously. We were intentionally trying to create a communication service that felt like your friends were around. It was only four years later when we started really realizing that people were using corts fore so much more than just playing games with their friends. I love how it's progressed from there.

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Today, we are re-sharing our conversation with Jason Citron, CEO and founder of Discord, from October last year.

Discord is one of the largest and fastest growing social networks in the world. It started as a place for gamers to congregate online, but thanks to how easy it makes community building and its offering of text, audio, and video as means of communication, it has expanded far beyond gaming. It has the potential to become the default digital “third place” that we go to find belonging in a variety of online communities. With over 100 million active monthly users, it’s also one of the most interesting communication services since the original social networks rose to power.

Our conversation focuses on his background prior to Discord, Discord’s founding and growth, its business model, how it has evolved over the past 8 years, and what the future holds for Discord. As we talked, I had this sense that I’d be willing to go work for Jason, and I think you’ll see why. I hope you enjoy our wide ranging conversation.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Show Notes

(3:17) – (First question) – Lessons from his time as a video game developer

(7:58) – Going from game developer to game development platform

(12:23) – From his first startup to Discord

(16:33) – Expressing the hypothesis of discord

(20:10) – How to know what signal to build upon

(22:11) – Early adoption of Discord

(26:17) – Getting the word out about Discord in the early days

(30:43) – Creating more than just a platform, but creating a third place for people to congregate

(32:38) – The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community

(32:55) – The evolution and expansion of the types of community using their platform

(37:27) – Discord’s business model and how it’s evolved