Season 1 : Episode 1
Playing the Long Game – with Scott Heiferman
At Ouishare I took the opportunity to sit down with Scott Heiferman, CEO and a co-founder of Meetup, a service that helps people organize local community groups with local offline meetings using the Net.
Scott took time to talk about the growth of Meetup over the last thirteen years and the way his early expectations of how Meetup would work changed once the community got their hands on it.
One of the takeaways I got from our conversation is just how much Scott was telling stories about the democratization of culture through digital innovation. Meetup, coupled with a desire to take action, enables us to become instigators, impacting offline events and bringing people together. You want to meet up with new moms ? Start a Meetup. Just want to play soccer in the park but don’t have a team to join ? Start a Meetup.
The democratization of culture through digital innovation is, of course, not unique to Meetup; but Scott’s story is an insight into how one company has found its way working hand in hand with those that embrace the platform, knowingly or unknowingly part of the sharing economy.
Scott also generously opens up about Meetup’s business goals, monetization and his thoughts about exit strategies. It’s an important insight for those of us working in the sharing economy to get, touching on the future of business and our vision for the future of work.
Finally, Scott, being the passionate thinker that he is, makes a rallying call to the smartest thinkers out there right now. He is challenging them to tackle the big issues we’re facing in the world today, empowered by the autonomy of digital and the strength and power of community.
