From Follower Trap to Peer Economy: How Gina Bianchini Is Redefining Connection at Scale

In the past 12 months, we have hosted networks on Mighty. So that's community, that's courses, that's challenges, that's events that have generated $500 million. So a half a billion dollars for our hosts, which is what we call the people that are setting those communities, Courses, challenges, and events up and running those networks. So $500 million has been running through Mighty Networks. And that's just in terms of the ones that are charging.

Hello, everyone. We're talking with Gina Bianchini. Hello, Gina.

Hello. How's it going, everybody?

Now, listen, you know, listen. That little innocent voice of hers. You're listening to one of the most powerful voices in social media and American business today. Because Gina has tapped into what I think is the nerve center, you know, this whole thing, Gina, the 8020 rule. There's so many directions I want to go with you, but you. I should tell everyone for full disclosure how you've ruined my life for the last nine months. Because when people are right, they're right. That's one thing about truth. When you speak the truth, it's just reality. And truth really the only thing that gets people to change their minds, because we're all full of ourselves. We're all heading in a direction. But you went into the thing about community, and so what people should know about you more than anyone else on the planet. Probably over the last 20 years or so, you have studied and obsessed about community, and as a result, you know, everything is cascaded from that. I've studied for 50 years, morning and a night, winning. And because. Because I was never that. You know, I was smart and I was a little bit of athletics, but not that much. And so. But I got enough to be. Get a taste of winning. And the one thing I learned from my athletic and academic achievements is just so much more fun to win, and you never get tired of it. And the thing about you with communities, you locked in on, you know, you saw. You know, somehow you saw from your vantage point. And I think maybe you had an unfair advantage, you know, growing up in Cupertino with all of these Silicon Valley gurus advising you. But you're right in the middle of this thing where you. You had a vantage point.

Let's just say that they love it. Larry, you're like. You're like a legend to them at this point.

Because if I get something in my mind, I know, you know, it's like for my. I went out of Georgia Tech building houses, and I got this responsibility thing. I've got to move a family into A house. I'm going to show up with an 18 wheeler and all their life's possessions. The kids going to want to start school and that house has got to be ready to go. And I'm responsible. And the fact that there was 25 subcontractors and involved in building this house, they didn't care about any of that. They didn't care about the subcontractors problems. They did suppliers, they didn't care about the inspectors. They wanted to move into their house. And so the thing is, it all came on me. So I have that inside me. Like when we do this community, it's like I have trust, but I have to ask questions, I have to keep stay updated. But what's happened is that from that kind of the conference call with you and I mean the podcast with you, and then also the experience in Keystone, Colorado, we, you know, I've got to do this thing, which I didn't want to do this thing because, Gina, I'm a professional photographer, I'm a professional artist. I've got 50,000 people in 500 offices in financial services offices all over the United States and Canada. You know, I, you know, among other.

Things, you got things to do. You know what's funny, Larry, is one of our, one of our design goals at Mighty is that. And we talk about this where it's like, somebody experiences a community and they experience a community on Mighty and they're like, oh, shoot, I'm going to have to start a community. Like, it's not, we're not designing for like, inspiring people. We're not designing for like, we're not designing for any of those things. We are literally designing for that moment where it's like, I can't unsee the value, I can't unsee the potential. And I have to do this. And I don't want to, but I know I need to. And that's how we think about our, you know, the bar for the quality of our product, the experience of our product, the things that you can do on our platform. And because community is so important and because it's so powerful.

Well, the fact that you've done it so long gives you an, and your experience gives you such an incredible advantage in putting together and it's successful. I want to talk about the success, but what happens is that you're able to put together something that. What I love about Mighty Networks is not the competency of it as much as which, you know, once you get in and work in, you got to have that, you know, you Got to have the backbone, and you got to improve, got to keep up the fact that people should know more than anybody that Gina, for 20 years, is obsessed about building communities. And, you know, as you know, that is a unique, unique thing. And as a result, things come from that. You know, the deal is the thing about learning and growing is you want to compound of, you know, trial and error is great. Just you're never going to be a brain surgeon with trial and try, you know, maybe you can learn how to tie a shoelace, trial and error, but not become a brain surgeon. And so if you want to do anything complicated, you got to piggyback off the experience of somebody else, and you got to be smart enough to piggyback off the experience of someone who's actually been successful. And let's. Let's talk about the success of Mighty Networks right now. So, people, you're thinking, should I start a community? Will it pay off for me? It's gonna, you know, it's not gonna be an easy thing, but nothing's easy. The thing is, it's going to make things easier, and it's gonna make things more productive. The way to look at it is, and I'm sure you saw this, it's like it allowed. We're always looking for things that allow us to compound faster. And so look at how big you are. I want you to, you know, let your hair down and brag about what you built right now. Brag about how big this thing is.

In the past 12 months, we have hosted networks on Mighty. So that's community, that's courses, that's challenges, that's events that have generated $500 million. So a half a billion dollars for our hosts, which is what we call the people that are setting those communities, courses, challenges, and events up and running those networks. So $500 million has been running through Mighty Networks. And that's just in terms of the ones that are charging. There's also a tremendous number of nonprofits, a tremendous number of customer communities. So where the value is coming from, the impact that they are having on their members that are, you know, either buying, donating, or taking advantage of services independent of paying. Although we're very big believers in paid memberships and paid courses because people pay attention to what they pay for. And even watching. One of the things I've been working on recently is watching and really observing when even nonprofits can start to charge for membership. And what does that look like? Or where customer communities can charge for membership or charge for something more than, you know, going to a conference or an event. So that half a billion dollars is a really important number to us because it does validate at least 95% of the lovely things that you've been saying about us and me. And then the other thing that is a really important number for us is we have seen more $1 million communities created in the last, certainly the last year, but certainly over the last five years than any other platform. So our ability to help people create the foundation. Oh, and by the way, when you have that many $1 million communities, hopefully it also makes sense that there's lots of communities of different sizes and scales, some much bigger than a million, some much smaller, and really happy with what they're doing and how they're doing it. So those are the, you know, those are the data points, I would say, that suggest, aggressively suggest in some cases that we actually have built both the strategy and the software that lets you people unlock communities that need to exist in the world and that are really powerful and really important.

Just for clarity, when you say a million dollar community, that means a million.

Dollars of revenue is being generated by that community per year right now.

Wow. And of course, Gina, as we project the, you know, those 1 million, the first million is the hardest, right? The first sales are hardest, the first millions, the hardest. And so as you project forward, you're going to be the home base for the most $10 million communities, $100 million communities.

Certainly our goal.

Yeah, and that's certainly our goal.

And the best place to start, like, the best place, like, because if, if, if we are able to get those kinds of, of results for people who, you know, are showing up, you know, with an audience, for example, it also means the numbers are absolutely fun. I'm not going to call them crazy, I'm going to call them fun. Because, for example, we see really clearly that the, the, the magic number, the unlock is getting 30 members in 30 days. And, and honestly, some of the data that we're starting to see right now, it's like that number's even lower. It's like 10 people, you get 30. But I'm going to stick with a little bit higher number. So we keep the bar high here on the Big hitters podcast. So 30 people in 30 days. That's it. Open your phone and look at your contacts and you can find 30 of the right people to bring together. Whether it's your contacts or your network, I like to think about as your people or their people or their people's people. That is all you need, is all you need to get started and to create something really successful.

Does that matter if that's pain or non pain or is that pain?

It doesn't matter. What matters is what is the purpose of the network? So we break down a big purpose into two pieces. What is the transition or the people that you are bringing together and what are they going to, you know, what are they going to navigate together and then your best year ever. So what are the results and transformation that they're going to get from, you know, from being a part of the community? And when you have those two things, you can charge. And we see greater engagement with networks that charge versus those that are free. But that 30 members in 30 days is really this very, very nice foundation for something that can be very successful.

So I hope we've got some wheels spinning out there with people thinking about the possibility. I mean, if you don't start it this year, there's next year. But the thing is, you can like put this in your hat to start thinking about and start moving toward, because the deal is, you know, it's kind of like money, Gina. It's not how much you make, it's what you keep. And it's not a matter of, you know, the audience you build is how the, you know, the thing is, like, how many people can you reach but then also retain that are still working with. Because the longer if you connect with someone and then like, you know, you're in the same groove like you and I, you know, right from the beginning, I think we hit it off. But the thing is that when you find those people in your life that like, we connect and it's a benefit for us, you know, to stay in connection and talking and communication, then over time, like if that your first strike of the match is like, okay, we click. I got some things there. This is going to help. If you could stay in touch over time, you can compound that benefit. You know, the people with the greatest mentors will have people that, you know, we all have the people that said something that made a difference, the teacher or something early on. But the greatest mentors are people that you stayed in touch with over your life.

That just really makes me think about the fact that, you know, one of the things about where I'm from here in Silicon Valley and just even Cupertino is what has always been a part of Silicon Valley's culture is mentorship, just people being able to share with each other. And I was just rereading some stories of Steve Jobs and, you know, the way that he sought out Andy Grove or Bill Noyce or some of these, you know, just. Just absolute godfathers of Silicon Valley to learn and the. What he then did for others as well. That's a community. That's a community. And you're, you know, and these were relationships that lasted 20, 30 years. Isn't that. It's just. It's one of the things I'm the most proud of in terms of being from here and being a part of this community.

You see that in athletics. You see the music where, you know, like Jack Nicklaus when he was young, you know, his, his coach, you know, he still has the same coach, you know, he's now pretty much retired from, but, you know, his entire life. But what, you know, the mark of genius is to be able to take. See a pattern and automate it, turn it into a system, take the thinking out of it and make it available where more people can do it. You know, the great thing about systematizing your business as you're growing is you make it easier for people to be a part of and make a contribution to your business without just being geniuses at 400 different things. You know, just come in and learn. You know, you can say, okay, you could be on the team if you just do this. Like, if I'm a long snapper in football, you know, I could make a national football team if I'm a great long snapper for punts, you know what I'm saying? Just one sneaking skill, you know, they take, you know, go down, hike the ball. And if you could do that reliably, you can be on the team, you can get a Super bowl ring. And so the thing is that you've gone and done that idea of community, the whole thing of mentoring and getting that nurturing over time and also learning from each other, you've turned that, you know, made systematize that. And as a result, Gina, you're having incredible impact. I just want a lot of people know, and I want to let you know you're having an incredible impact probably beyond far you can even keep up with, because just hours, just, you know, just hours, we're small. In fact, I shut mine. I think I opened it up in March, April, and then we shut it down in June to kind of reorganize. So we're, you know, now we're going into October as we're recording this, and we probably will be reopening it, but I haven't even let anybody in over the summer. Yeah, but still, the stories that are coming out of it, the transformations Just from that little bit. And that, you know, that's to you, Gina, you know, because these are people that I would have not been interacting with. And so if you add up, it's one thing to have the 500 million, but the number that you probably can't keep up with is how many members in all of the communities are in there. I don't know if that's a number that could even be tracked, but it would be. It would be.

Yeah, it's interesting. It's a number. It's a number that we look at, and it is a large number. As you can, you know, as you can imagine, for us, what's interesting is that we. We look at something like that as what we call a vanity metric, because what's more important to us is the relationships that are being struck between members. So. So really. And this is something that, like, we haven't fully nailed it yet, but we're spending a lot of time thinking about how do we. How do we quantify and value the. The kinds of connections that are being made within mighty networks? Because at the end of the day, that's why we exist. Not for, like, the number of people that we serve necessarily, but really it's the. Can we give each individual member faster and faster value, Faster and faster, amazing people to meet and stories and experiences and ideas to be able to consume and explore together and. And that's why we exist.

I'll give you a little feedback from my standpoint.

Great. I'm my notepad ready?

Because I'm thinking about, you know, as we open this thing up, how can we get the people in and get them excited? You know, how can we get them. How can we get them excited beyond the fact where they thought they would be excited to where they'll spontaneously talk to their friends about it and when they bring their already existing friends in now, you know, now you have a strong network. And so that's really how they got Facebook off the ground like a rocket ship. Early on. They got to a billion million members or something. But the thing is that. Are a million members anyway with. But I. I would just say, you know, keeping simple things simple. I think when people come in, they're wallflowers. And, you know, the thing is, they're wallflowers. You know, you go to a party, you go to a reunion. You know, I had my relatives one time say, well, we went, you know, we went from the west coast to the east coast, and nobody really made us. You know, we just felt awkward. I said, yeah, if I'M in the east coast. And I said, if I went to your family reunion, I'd walk in the door. I'd feel awkward, too. Until you make some friends, all it takes is one friend and then to kind of show you around the room. That's when you go to a party, you look for somebody, you know, who knows everybody, and they could take you around and introduce you. Like, here's where the liquid refreshments are, here's where the buffet is. Here's what we're going to do. You're like, okay, now I know. So one friend. So I would say wallflower to friend. And then, you know, like, who's wallflowers when they come in, who's a friend? And then active friendships to where they, you know, have some kind of active back and forth. That's just one type of thing that I've thought about.

Great minds, Larry. Great minds.

And so you've been there, but you're also on the, you're on the board of a major media company, Tegna. And so the thing is that we, as these exposures that you go, you come back, you know, you're like a bee going and, you know, picking up pollen and going back and forth. And those exposures you're bringing back into the community. I don't know if any other communities out there, you have competition, you have competitors. There's not a lot of them. But inside, Mighty Mighty has a chance to benefit from this background, this insight, this friendship. You know, it's a way we can tap into the knowledge or insights as if we grew up in Cupertino in Silicon Valley and had that network of people or if we were on the boards. And so, you know, there's a plus to that. I think that shows up because little, I think it shows up in little things that you've been able to do. If you've taught five people how to create communities where it's generating half a billion dollars, there's a lot of learning for that one Gina Bianchini, about in teaching that much less what you had to go through to create that, is that a decent way of looking at the thing?

I think I have definitely found my lane, and it is something that I am very clear on. I am clear on why I do what I do. I am very clear on and really invest the time, which is, I think, probably more important than anything. Invest the time in where do I want to go and where am I taking this platform and where am I taking this team and where do I want to take our Hosts and their members in terms of where I believe that the world is going and that the role that community has to play in that world is actually only going to become more and more important. And it's going to shift in terms of what any of us are expecting from a community as we live in a world with more and more technology and voices and just stimulus. And so I just. I think the only way to have any kind of impact is by picking a lane and being very intentional about what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, what matters to me and what. What we're trying to accomplish. And I think that that's super important as a leader, because I am asking people on my team, I am asking our hosts to trust the direction that I'm able to articulate or try to set up. Because we are. We're building something that hasn't been built before. We are building the very best of community that has existed for millennia, but we are doing it with modern technology that really hasn't existed before. And what is now possible for us to go build next is different than what we could have even built six months ago or 12 months ago. And as somebody who's lived and breathed technology from a very early age, that is unprecedented in terms of the speed and the power and the potential of this moment. And so how we harness that power for community is what I feel like I have been put into this moment to be able to bring to others.

Could you do a quick comment on branding? The thing on branding? Because what you have is a company, mighty networks. And then you have a person, Gina. And so they say on branding, don't build the company, don't promote the company. Because Tesla has on Instagram so many followers. And then Elon Musk has got brilliancy. And the thing about Richard Branson with Virgin, yet Richard Branson as a person, people will follow people. And so the deal is, how do you look at that? But as you and I both know, there's no easy answer. That's why I hate. That's why I like talking with successful people, because they know the complexities of situations. Everything's right at the right moment, at the right time in the right situation. And. And as my son's work, I've got a thing with my younger son that all his life, he'll ask me a question about something. And he said, okay, don't tell me. I know your answer. It depends.

It's true.

And so it's true. That's the piece of advice that people could Go out and they're following right now, you know, they're wanting to promote themselves. And so, you know, do we have, you know, you've been on the COVID I mean, you have been promoted. You know, you are out there. You are a TED speaker, you were keynote speaker, you're this, that, the other. So there's no, you're not a wallflower. But going forward to drive this thing, what's your imperative? You say, what's the best fast track for me to drive? If I'm the spear, the head of the spear in taking this community from half a billion to a billion to a trillion, if we could all follow Elon Musk income package, we'd be great. But how can we take this thing forward? And where should I be? Where's my efforts should go?

My reaction to that question, which I think is a great question, is fundamentally it's not about you or me. It is about how do we bring people together and how do we make people feel so that when they come together and they're able to meet people beyond being a consumer. Like, I, I, I hate the word follower. I think that that fundamentally has created this dynamic where the followed is viewed as being more important than the follower. And I think it's very hard as human beings to get away from that. So one of the things that's I think so important in the work that we're doing is how do we create peers? How do we create a level of respect for every single person who comes into a community as a human being with something to offer and something to give and something to ask. And that is, that is the true value of human connection is the, is the relationship and the give and the ask, the relationship being reciprocal is so powerful. So I struggle a little bit. Like I've kind of just taken a break from social media. Like I haven't posted in like a couple months and I did it on purpose. Yeah, I just was like, screw it, I'm not gonna post for a couple months and I'm going to take a step back and I'm just going to like watch and figure out if I care. And you know, the verg's still out. I love that. But because the thing for me is I want to bring people together such that every single person feels incredible and feels like they are the best version of themselves to meet other people who are on the same path. And to me, that is the, that is, that is my personal priority right now in a way that, that probably, probably is, is controversial or at least isn't is contrarian because I think there is value in having an audience. There's no question there's value in having an audience, but it's also very empty. It's very empty. And I just compare that to a community where it's like, how am I bringing people together? How am I introducing people who are going to have an impact on each other's, on each other's lives in ways that, you know, somebody that I meet is like, oh, my God, Gina, you introduced me to somebody who made a huge difference in my life. And that right now is the focus I have, in part because some of the new technology that we are bringing out at Mighty Networks over the next six to 12 months is all around, how do we do that at scale? How do we do that at scale? So how do we bring into your community a even more natural and powerful way of connecting the most relevant members to each other, of breaking the ice, of bringing people back because they're on. They're on a quest together. And how do we do that in ways that haven't been done before? And so that's where I'm. I'm spending the majority of my time. Now. Let me answer the question of individual versus brand. I think that what matters more is what is the value that you are bringing to the people that you are asking for attention? And I think that one of the things that has happened is that people are. Are inherently more interesting than a inanimate object of the brand. So it's hard for a brand to make a connection to an individual. It's easier for an individual to make a connection to an individual, even in parasocial ways, where it's like, oh, you're watching a video I've made, or you're listening to me on a podcast or whatever. So I. I think that I. I truly believe it's a combination of both. But even if it's. You, like, the. The wrong lesson to take away from that, Larry, or the wrong kind of, you know, opinion, I guess, is that it's about individual or brand, Brand or individual. When the reality is what. How are you making people feel? What are you offering them that is different than anything else out there? And who is it that you want to reach who you like? Who are your superfans? Who are the people that are the ones that are going to be the first people in your community that are the most excited to meet each other? That, I think, is the. The really important question from where I'm sitting.

Yeah, it's almost like you want people to come but not be a follower, be a friend. You know, I've always had this. You know, you go through this.

Well put, well put.

You go through life. I had this joke with my staff. You know, most of the people you get along great with, everybody loves you. There's always somebody doesn't like you, doesn't like your company or whatever. And so in my life, I've always divided them into fols and non. Fols. Friends of Larry and non.

Okay, okay, okay.

Yeah. So if you're an fol, you're a friend of Larry. And so the thing is, like, rather than a follower, like, you're looking for friends, really, that you can interact with, you know, because when they come in the community, I'm looking for someone to be a friend. I may not be able to be on the phone, call with them all the time, but they're going to be able to make a contribution, give me feedback to what. The thing is, they're going to operate and interact with me like a friend. You're going to become a friend of Larry when you join. I've got to figure out a way to communicate that, because that's what I'm looking for. You want to expand your friend network and you don't. See, I got friends all over the place that I might hardly ever talk to. But when we do, it's just like, we've been. We never left.

And that's how you show up for them, too, which is like, hey, we're not gonna like everybody. Here's the deal. Like, I have this. I have the same deal with my friends. I'm like, we may not talk for a few months, but when I see you, I am going to be paying attention to you. I'm not going to be on my phone. I'm not going to be distracted with other things, or if I am going to be distracted, I'm going to tell you what they are. So, you know, and. And we're. We're.

We're.

We're creating that closer relationship, and that is why we're here. That's why we're here. And there are different flavors of friendships, but that ability to, like, jump in where. And this is actually reminding me, as soon as I get off this. This interview with you, I'm gonna go call my. I'm gonna go call my best friend from college who was my college roommate. She called me, like, two days ago, and I haven't called her back. And I'm like, oh, my God, how am I on this podcast talking about, try to be a good friend. And I haven't even called her and back so I got to go do that. So I just, I want to say that for the record, Larry, I'm going to say that for the record I did not call my friend and back. So but I, I think that, I think the friend over follower followers scaled more easily than friends. Technically, like, technically it's, it's, it's, it's like you are just reading what I'm writing. So it's, it's one to many. It's actually much more challenging to build a community where everybody is reading and writing. There, there, there like there's mutual connections. And so what, what happened in the earliest days of social networks is everybody started with like oh it were peers and we can connect. And then it turned into followers and, and following because it was ego driven. It was meaning the people that like if you knew you could get followers and you knew you could get attention, you and you wanted that you could post more. But it's really kind of a very antisocial behavior. And then the other thing is that it's just, it's technically easier to do to get large numbers of people to consume content from other like a smaller number of people. And so what's been fascinating to me over the last few years is just how social media companies have basically said, well that's just the way it is. That's what people want. And I'm sitting there, I'm like, no they don't like that's what you want. And like now what is possible is, and it's not going to be easy. This is, this is not easy software to build, Larry, but it's absolutely essential that we build software that makes it easy for people who start as strangers to become friends and to nurture and develop those relationships such that they can go on quests together, they can navigate transitions together, they can achieve, achieve results in transformation together and build those bonds in all of the messy human ways that we build bonds. And that is, that is the point that is fantastic.