🔥 From homeless to $9B: In Community #100

Your weekly spark centering leaders, creators, and culture-makers from the rising majority

In partnership with

🙌🏽 Welcome to In Community.

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🎉 The 100th edition: For the builders, the boundary-pushers, and the brave

“Life will try to break you in so many ways. I just had a will that would not break.” — Everette Taylor, CEO at Kickstarter

One hundred newsletters. That’s wild.

Not because of the number — but because of the moments we’ve experienced across those hundred editions. You’ve shown up through career pivots, brand shifts, resets, reinventions, identity work, community-building, and the kind of soul-searching that most professionals (especially those who look like us) don’t often get permission to do.

Today, I want to talk directly to the entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial spirits inside companies — the people who create momentum where none exists.

The ones who build the thing even when the org doesn’t see the need yet. The ones who ship ideas out of persistence and love.

Because whether you own a business or you build inside someone else’s, you’re doing something that matters: you’re shaping culture from the inside out.

And honestly? That’s harder than ever.

The landscape has shifted. People want meaning. Teams want purpose. Brands want soul.

And you — the builder — are stuck navigating the tension between what needs to be done and what your gut knows is right. You’re balancing vision with practicality, creativity with bureaucracy, ambition with rest. You’re trying to lead without losing yourself.

💥 So this edition is for you — the person brave enough to architect something new, even when the blueprint doesn’t exist yet.

The work now: Craft with intent, not just speed

One thing I know about entrepreneurial leaders is that we have a natural bias toward action. We want to move. Build. Launch. Ship. Iterate. Disrupt. Win.

But the next chapter — this post-100 phase — isn’t about speed. It’s about discernment.

It’s about asking:

👉🏽 What deserves my energy — and what doesn’t?
👉🏽 What work feels aligned with my values — and what’s just beige work in a nicer font?
👉🏽 Where am I building community — and where am I performing it?
👉🏽 And who do I want to become as I keep rising?

This is the era of intentional ambition. Ambition with consciousness. Ambition with community. Ambition that doesn’t burn you out — but builds you up.

You’re not just here to make things happen. You’re here to make things matter.

🔊 A bold ask: Join me on YouTube

I’ve just launched something you’ll want to lean into.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel now — it’s where real conversations happen. I’m kicking things off with Everette Taylor, CEO of Kickstarter — a visionary who doesn’t just talk about community, he’s built platforms where communities shape destiny. We dive into risk, dismantling gatekeeping, and why brands built for community don’t just survive — they thrive.

He went from being homeless to leading a platform that’s funded $9.3 billion in projects. And he did it with kindness.

Tune in. Subscribe. Because this isn’t a broadcast. It’s a movement.

📌 The ALIGN Model: a framework for the season ahead

You know I love a framework — something simple, soulful, and actionable. So as we step into the next 100 editions, here’s one for the road:

A: Audit Your Reality

Not the glossy version. The real, unfiltered truth. What’s working? What isn’t? Where are you lying to yourself because the truth feels inconvenient?

L: Listen to Your Resistance

Your frustration, envy, boredom, or discomfort aren’t flaws — they’re data. What is your body telling you about the work you should no longer be doing?

I: Invest Where It Matters

Energy is currency. Spend it on the projects, people, and communities that actually expand you — not drain you.

G: Grow with Intention

Growth isn’t always about scaling. Sometimes it’s about refining, narrowing, deepening. What is one thing you can sharpen instead of adding more?

N: Name Your Next Bold Move

Clarity requires declaration. Say it out loud. Write it down. Tell someone who will hold you accountable. Your next chapter starts the moment you name it.

What I want for you next

I want you to move into a season where you’re not just surviving the pressure of leadership — you’re directing it.

I want you to build from alignment, not exhaustion. I want you to stop contorting yourself for rooms that don’t deserve you — and cultivate rooms that rise to meet you.

And I want you to remember that community is not a strategy. It’s a lifeline. A mirror. A multiplier. A compass.

The next 100 editions won’t be about more noise. They’ll be about more truth. More clarity. More intention. More power reclaimed.

And if you’re here reading this, you’re already part of that shift.

Let’s get to work — I know I’m ready for it. Are you?

Now hiring ✅

What you asked for, delivered.

Is someone you know considering what’s next for them? Here are a few roles with people hiring across the network. I’ll be adding roles here every week, so stay tuned and make sure to spread the word.

And before you go, consider who else might value this newsletter and what’s coming up on YouTube. Make sure to fwd this newsletter onward to them too. They can subscribe here for more directly in their inbox. 🔁 

In community,

Fahad