Build IRL 2025: Here We Go! 🚀

What's next, Spring cohort applications open, Club microgrants, Build IRL crowdfunding platform, Our big dream and more...

What a week! No matter which candidate you backed, it's clear — we need better ways to come together as citizens.

While the craziness unfolded, we were heads down, cooking up plans for 2025.

Ya’ll know that we believe in building in open.

So here it is: our plans, our asks and our dream.🚀🧑🏽‍🚀

This week’s edition:

• Our Big Bet 🎲

• The Plan 📝

  • Next Build IRL Cohort - Spring 2025 (Applications open!)

  • Club Microgrants

  • Crowdfunding Platform

• Our Asks 🆘

• The Dream 💭✨

A quick recap

9 Crazy Months! 🚀

In March 2024, we published our manifesto and the response was unreal. By July, we wrapped our first cohort of social clubs with an epic showcase.

Since then, we travelled across the country to talk to hundreds of clubs, IRL builders, thought leaders, supporters, sponsors and more .

What we realized.

We struck a cord. Why?

Because social clubs are rapidly re-emerging as people crave IRL.
AND
Because IRL builders are deeply struggling.

Building IRL clubs is EXTREMELY hard today.

• No funding💰 80% can’t cover costs.

• No blueprint📋 70% are overwhelmed by endless tasks—programming, ops, tech...

We have defunded our social infrastructure. 📉

IRL builders tell us the same story, over and over:
“People love this community. Yet, we struggle to cover basic costs.”
“Asking feels awkward. I don’t want to appear extractive or transactional.” 
“We are perpetually broke with no funds to run events, invest in our leaders or volunteers” 
“What looks like a thriving community on its surface, is very fragile and unsustainable.”

Builders feel under-valued, under-resourced and uncared for.

If we change that: we can power the second upswing!

But how?

Here is where we landed.

Our (long-term) Goal.🌟

Make it 10x easier for anyone to start, fund & run social clubs.

That requires rebuilding our IRL social infrastructure i.e.

• a new funding engine for IRL clubs (w/ dues, contributions, sponsorships)

• a new connection workforce of IRL builders and innovators

• a common infrastructure to make club ops easier

• a new culture that celebrates IRL builders

This is an audacious goal.

Audacious goals need small focused steps.

So where do we start?

Our 2025 Obsession 🎯

Make it easy for builders to ask for funds, and for members & supporters to chip in.

We want to normalize member dues.
We want builders to feel proud to ask for support.
We want members to co-create and contribute to IRL clubs they love.
We want organizations, companies and individuals to invest in their local social fabric.

This is our BIG bet in 2025.

We’re betting on the power of our collective action to fund social clubs — built by locals, for locals, and supported by those who care.

The plan. 📝

Our 2025 plan has 3 pillars:

1. Build IRL Cohorts - Applications open for the Spring Cohort!

2. Club Microgrants & Sponsorships

3. Club Crowdfunding Platform

TL;DR We’ll continue the magic of Build IRL cohorts with a focus on unlocking dues & contributions. We’ll offer club microgrants, supported by companies and orgs who care. And we’ll run crowdfunding for SF clubs next summer to make their asks publicly.

Lets get into the deets.

Build IRL Cohorts - Spring 2025 Applications Open!

For SF club builders to experiment, learn, and build with passionate peers. Get hands-on support to tell your story, make your asks and design for belonging.

In 8 weeks - over nights and weekends - you’ll land your first contributors, your first dues-paying members and test new tactics.

Want more info? Check out our FAQ here.

Apply now for the Spring Cohort!

Club Microgrants & Sponsorships

In Spring of 2025 we’ll offer microgrants to select Bay Area clubs, supported by sponsors who care. A big thanks 🙏🏽 to Hinge for leading the way (more on this later)!

Calling other SF-based companies, organizations & individuals who care about tackling social disconnection and building culture in this city we love. Sponsor a thriving ecosystem of IRL clubs revitalizing SF’s social fabric!

Club Crowdfunding Platform

We’re building an open & transparent platform for locals to support the social clubs they love.

Where:
Builders make asks. Publicly.
Joiners pay dues. Publicly.
Sponsors and supporters contribute funds. Publicly.

This is the essential plumbing needed for resources to flow into IRL communities.

We want clubs to be resilient, not reliant.
External funding can elevate, but shouldn’t dictate what the community does. We want clubs to have member dues and contributions for long term sustainability.

We want to empower builders to co-create clubs with committed members who invest in their communities — and to inspire locals to co-build the IRL world they want to see.

It takes a village to build... a village. 🏘️

We know we can't do it alone.

As always, we will build with others who share our vision of a more connected world.

That’s why we’re excited to share that we’ve received a generous sponsorship from Hinge🌟! This gift from Hinge will support our programming and events for builders. Plus, a portion of these funds will directly support microgrants to clubs in the Bay.

Build with us. 🤝

Want in? Here’s how YOU can be part of our journey:

Know IRL Builders in SF? Send them our way!

Got a friend who's building something amazing IRL? Tell them to apply for our next cohort or just send them our way!

Become a Sponsor! Join the alliance of orgs leading the way in IRL building.

A big thank you to Hinge for leading the way! If your brand or org wants to join the crew of companies that care about building IRL culture and connection. Reach out!

Help build our rockstar team!

We’re looking for a third core founding member: A tech maverick, who is ready to radically rethink how tech can unlock IRL building. Know anyone? DM us.

Invest in us!

We’re gearing up for a small pre-seed round from mission-aligned investors. Rarely do you find an opportunity to build a business that does well by doing good. If that excites you, or you know someone who would be interested - DM us.

Our Dream. 💭✨

Cultivate thousands of IRL social clubs that spark connection, creativity, play and community in the world.

Culture building isn’t quick.

It isn’t easy.
It isn’t predictable.
And it doesn’t happen by chance.

We need to design the right environment to land into this new reality.

It is possible.
One builder at a time.
One gathering at a time.
One social club at a time.

Keep building 🛠️

-Colt & Saum 👷🏽‍♀️👷🏽‍♂️