Make It So: What I'm Testing This Summer
On practicing futurism without proximity
I’ve been inside enough communities now to recognize the failure mode before it arrives.
Two, three years in, the energy shifts. Content stays the same. Host is still present. But you’re there out of habit, not because you’re genuinely getting something. I let go of a couple this year. Harder than I expected — because I actually liked the people.
What communities get wrong: they’re designed for groups, but belonging is individual. The long intro post, the shout-out, the group prompt — none of it tells you that you specifically were read, heard, noticed. The gap between joining a group and entering a relationship is where retention dies.
I’ve also made peace with the proximity problem. I’m two hours from Toronto. The current wave of “in-person is what’s reliable now” thought leadership assumes a different geography. My stronger connections have come from people I’ve never shared a room with — someone in Singapore or Germany who understands my thinking better than most people I’ve met at events.
This summer I’m running an experiment.
Make It So is eight weeks, asynchronous on Telegram, built around everyday futurism — what assumptions are you actually operating under, right now, about work and direction and what’s coming? The AGA as a living practice, not a framework you apply once and file away.
But it’s also a test: what actually creates belonging inside a group container when you remove proximity entirely?
I’m designing it with care. The basic tier belongs fully — they just don’t get my time. The 1:1 tier gets direct access and the quarterly AGA conversations starting June 15 — the founding member conversations you’ll recognize from here. And the founding cohort layer is meant to mean something beyond “you paid early.”
The capitalist tension is real. I want people who’ll show up whether money is on the line or not. I’m not sure you can design for that. But I’m trying.
I’ll document what I learn.
What have you been treating as settled about how people connect across distance?
Twenty people. Enrollment closes Sunday. Starts June 1.
Founding cohort pricing: $800 / $1,200 / $1,600 USD. The September cohort pays double. Plans also available in Canadian dollars. Message me if another currency works better. US dollar has been the online standard for so long but I know that’s changing.
Program + 1:1 ($1,600) includes the quarterly AGA conversations — small group, 75 minutes, four times a year, starting June 15. If you’ve been watching the founding member tier here on Substack, it’s included.
Not sure yet? The 4-minute Futurist Readiness Assessment tells you where you’re starting from.