How I Accidentally Built a Community at UIUC

While I was a junior at the University of Illinois, I started to build a community for all our entrepreneurs on campus. And I had never intended to do that.

It Started with Interviews

My sophomore year, I started an interview channel — "School of Hard Knocks" style talks with student founders and creators. The format was simple: find someone building something interesting, ask them about it, put it on the internet.

After dozens of interviews, I realized something: these people had no idea who each other were.

The startup founder in engineering didn't know about the content creator in business school. The agency owner in the dorms had no idea there were other agency owners three buildings over.

The campus was full of builders who were building alone.

So I Started Hosting Hangouts

Nothing crazy. I'd get a friend's apartment key for some random apartment, tell everyone to meet there, buy some drinks, and tell people to pull up.

The guest list was simple: content creators, agency owners, startup founders — anyone working on something cool.

Over time I would see them make viral videos together, start working together, and even become close friends.

The Last One

When I came back from San Francisco, I hosted my last one of the year.

What made it special was being able to invite newer members to hang with the biggest creators on campus. And it wasn't because they had reached millions of dollars in revenue or had millions of followers on Instagram.

It was because they were doing the thing.

That was probably the highlight of my year.

What I Learned About Community Building

1. Communities form around shared identity, not shared interests.

"Entrepreneurs at UIUC" was an identity, not just an interest. People wanted to belong to something. The hangouts gave them a place to be that version of themselves.

2. The bar for entry should be action, not achievement.

We didn't require a certain revenue number or follower count. The only requirement was that you were building something. This kept the energy high and the pretension low.

3. The best communities are built on introduction, not instruction.

I didn't give talks or run workshops. I introduced people to each other and got out of the way. The value was in the connections, not the content.

4. Consistency beats scale.

Six hangouts across the year. That's it. But because people knew there would be another one, they stayed engaged between events. They'd text each other. Collaborate. The hangouts were just the catalyst.

Taking It to SF

Now that I'm in San Francisco, I'm applying the same playbook. Different city, different people, same principle: find builders, put them in a room together, and get out of the way.

The format scales because it's fundamentally human. People want to be around other people who are doing the thing.