Scott Heiferman: The story of Meetup
Scott is the founder of Meetup, the platform for people to host and join real-life meetups in their area.
The co—matter podcast 028 | November 25, 2019
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Describing Meetup is almost like describing the social web: it's been around since 2002, connects millions of people and is often named in the same category as Facebook, Twitter and other global social networks.
Scott has been running Meetup for more than 16 years (he moved into a chairman role shortly after it got acquired by WeWork) and remains one of the most prominent advocates for community in the digital space.
It was therefore a special moment when we finally met at a WeWork in New York City in October 2019, sat on the floor and had a chat about the past, present and future of connecting people online. We talked about:
- The story of Meetup: how it started in the early days of the social web in 2002 and grew into a global platform used by millions
- What happens when people meet in real life. Why the stories that Meetup enables are more important to Scott than milestones achieved
- Sustainability: How Scott navigated Meetup over 16 years and sees sustainability as part of the fabric you engrain in your company
- The next 10 years of bringing people together. Why we need to deepen our connections, increase our sense of belonging and lean onto each other more
Follow Scott at @heif on Twitter. Host or join a Meetup via www.meetup.com.
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