A letter from the founder
Hi Friends,
If you're reading this, then you and I have one important thing in common - we both crave deep, meaningful human connection. I hope you will join me in building this movement to create a more beautiful world full of connection, community, and friendship.
My work with Tribe is rooted in two core beliefs. First, I believe that conscious, people-first businesses can be a force for good and serve the world in powerful ways by pushing us toward a better future. Second, I believe that the key to building a less lonely world lies in empowering community builders to bring people together through meaningful gatherings that unlock authenticity, vulnerability, and play.
The vision:
I want to build a world where people feel like they belong, where cities feel like villages and our neighbors feel like our tribe. Walking the streets of our cities should feel as intimate as a college campus or a small town, where we constantly run into people we love and who love us back, where we know the names of small business owners and they know ours, and where neighborhood establishments become community hubs after hours for strangers to gather meaningfully and become friends.
The problem:
Cities today are far from feeling like a village or a campus. Every time I've moved to a new city, I've experienced the pain of being lonely and having to leave the number one source of fulfilment in my life, i.e. community, to chance. Even when I've managed to avoid starting from scratch in a new city, the pandemic meant that many close friends moved away, leaving me to start over even if I didn't move myself. Finally, as someone who values relationships with people who are willing to be authentic, vulnerable, generous, and playful, I've often stumbled into gatherings of people who either don't embody those values or are not allowed to fully express them (think urban nightlife). I know you can relate, and I also know that you and I are not alone in experiencing this. A whopping 1 in 2 people in big cities report feeling lonely. We are surrounded by millions of people in cities, yet feel more isolated than ever before.
I refuse to believe that we are all doomed to suffer through this epidemic of loneliness forever. And I believe the answer to how we can change things lies in looking at how and when we gather.
The solution:
“Gatherings crackle and flourish when real thought goes into them, when (often invisible) structure is baked into them, and when a host has the curiosity, willingness, and generosity of spirit to try... The way we gather matters, because how we gather is how we live.” - Priya Parker, author of The Art of Gathering
I've been gathering people as a host in my community for many years, and along the way I've experienced and witnessed the profound magic of the friendships that develop when people come together with a shared purpose and an open heart. From dinner parties and women's wine nights to park days and game nights - I've practiced the art of gathering in different contexts and learned that the key to making new friends doesn't lie in swiping on Bumble BFF or hoping to run into someone cool at a bar, but instead in attending thoughtful, intentional, and often intimate gatherings with like-minded people who are also seeking community. Tribe is the manifestation of that wisdom.
In order for cities to feel like villages, they need more intentional gatherings. For cities to have more intentional gatherings, they need more gatherers. Yet our most artful gatherers who have the heart and gift for bringing people together are stuck working uninspiring desk jobs instead of performing one of the most important functions in society. This is why I'm building a new economy of community seekers and community builders - so that gatherers can earn a living from helping people find their tribe. I dream of the day when "Community as a Service" (CaaS) is a vibrant new sector. Just like we once enabled professional therapy to rise as an industry to meet our mental health needs, we can now empower professional gatherers to rise and meet our community health needs. Help me make this a reality.
Who can join Tribe?
"Things move at the speed of trust." - Brian Chesky, Founder of AirBnB
I'm building Tribe for people who have the courage, vulnerability, and playfulness to allow themselves and others around them to be their most authentic selves. We can only give such people a safe space to connect meaningfully if we practice generous exclusion and keep our community closed to those who do not share our values. This means that our platform must take on the difficult responsibility of being the gatekeepers of trust and safety, by vetting members and excluding those who either do not yet have the capacity to participate meaningfully in our experiences, or who seek to exploit our platform for their financial or professional needs. By excluding well and purposefully, we hope to establish trust that Tribe is committed to serving our members and our purpose.
Join our movement:
If you are a community seeker, join Tribe as a member. If you have the heart and gift of a community builder, join Tribe as a host. If you are neither but my vision resonates with you, pass this letter on to someone who needs to know about us. I believe that if everyone who is passionate about human connection and social transformation works together, it's only a matter of time until we reclaim our cities, restore our villages, rebuild our tribes, and repair our world. Let's get started.
With love,
Rafat Khan