Leaving Silicon Valley after 3 years, I’ve come to learn something I didn’t know I didn’t know. It’s the reason why people hold living and working in the Bay Area to be so important. It’s the difference between someone sitting alone at their computer and someone making impactful change. The difference is community.

Community is what builds momentum. Community is the difference between a side project/hobby and a movement. Community is the difference between success and moving on the next idea.

Community breeds opportunity. When others are invested in your success they are crutches and bridges that create outcomes that you didn’t know were otherwise possible.

Fledgling communities become movements and eventually institutions. These groups and the mutual support are what drive change, not the unyeilding drive for 10x returns.

The energy around projects that seem so arbitrary and silly is amazing to see. A tumblr blog and a mailing list morphs into an organization that tours infrastructure otherwise closed to the public. Community turns a DIY project into a globe spanning educational endeavor.

Community is it’s own reward.