a16z Podcast a16z Podcast: You Just Thought You Were Building a Software Company. It's a Community.
6 snips
May 30, 2014 
Jim Gilliam, Founder of NationBuilder and veteran of political campaigns and documentary filmmaking, shares his profound insights on the transformative power of community. He recounts how an online network helped him through a life-threatening health challenge. The conversation explores how technology is redefining community dynamics and the importance of personal storytelling in business culture. Gilliam emphasizes that tech companies like Lyft and Airbnb thrive by fostering authentic connections, shifting away from traditional user acquisition models.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Community's Diverse Power
- Jim Gilliam used community organizing to achieve diverse goals like political campaigns and even a double lung transplant.
- This experience shaped NationBuilder to focus on the power of community at scale.
Internet Transforms Community Bonds
- The internet transforms community from solely physical proximity to broader, varied connections.
- It enables both strong personal ties and weak, distant ties, each with distinct community power.
Community at Business Core
- Large internet-based businesses function by organizing communities rather than just users.
- Sharing economy models like Airbnb essentially rely on community collaboration at scale.