[Newsletter #42] Back our IRL Future: An Open Call to Investors, Sponsors & Supporters

Hey fam,

Money talk is awkward. We know.

We tell every IRL builder the same three things:
- build in open.
- bring people along.
- make the ask in open.

We’ve built in open. We’ve brought you along. Now, it’s time to ask - in the open.

Speaking of bringing people along: we’re thrilled to announce

• Scott Heiferman (Meetup founder) as our first investor and advisor. His passion for IRL connection and hard‑won wisdom is humbling. Honored!

• Hinge’s follow‑on sponsorship to amplify more IRL clubs. Their support has already fueled: 25 club micro‑sponsorships, multiple club fairs and more. Inspired by company’s commitment to doing well by doing good.

This newsletter is an open call to investors, sponsors, philanthropists: build with us. We’ll share what we’re building and answer the tough questions.

Our hope? You’ll get it. Share it. Invest in it. Back it. Build it with us.

Why we’re building

We’re in the middle of a once‑in‑a‑generation chance to rebuild the offline world.
A world where IRL connection is as accessible as URL agents.
Where humans have real human friends - not just AI companions.

Our counter‑intuitive bet: IRL becomes more valuable as AI booms.

We’re not alone in thinking this. Mark Cuban gets it. Alexis Ohanian sees it.

Meanwhile Zuck is spending hundreds of billions building personal AI to drive our culture, entertainment, and relationships. We’re asking for 0.001% of that to build the IRL infra to accelerate real human culture and relationships.

Make no mistake: if humans don’t fund this, it won’t exist.

Our take: IRL Clubs are the answer. We’re powering them.
Clubs bring humans together IRL.
Break open friendships. Drive culture.
Help us live longer, healthier lives.
Create civic trust. Make cities come alive.
Revive retail; get footfall to brick-and-mortar stores, restaurants, bars, and cafes.

Our work: Building IRL doesn’t have to be ridiculously hard or financially unviable.
It can be much easier, sexier, more rewarding, and everywhere.

We’ve proven it: From a 2024 manifesto, Build IRL today has accelerated hundreds of clubs, thousands of joiners, oversubscribed club fairs, a platform to crowdsource funds, and a growing network of venues, sponsors, and supporters.

IRL builders need superpowers: To attract their people, crowdfund resources, find spaces to gather. That’s what we’re building: IRL builder’s superpowers.

What we’re building, really

Y’all know our goal:
make it 10x easier to start, fund, and run IRL clubs.

Tactically, that means radically simplifying:

• Launching a local club. And finding your humans (members).

• Easily crowdsourcing funds to make the club real and thriving.

• Finding an affordable space to gather, turning local spots into true third places.

So you can go from:

“I wish there was a board games club near me.” to “We just built a board games club where 30 locals meet every Wednesday at our neighborhood café.”

So we’re building:

• financial plumbing for resources to flow into IRL communities

• network of spaces and vendors to make on‑ground execution seamless

• new wave of club builders who support, collaborate, and grow together

What we’re not building: yet another group messaging app or group tech tool.

Our business model: 100% aligned with our mission.
We succeed only when IRL clubs thrive. When humans build, join and contribute to clubs. When people spend IRL time. When local merchants get increased footfall. When the IRL economy blooms.

3 Questions we hear all the time

From investors: “Is this an investable business? What’s your TAM?”
From sponsors, supporters, philanthropists: “How can our funding fuel IRL impact?”
From everyone: “Why are you building a company? How will you stay true to your mission and not be warped by growth or profit‑at‑all‑cost?”

Investors: “Is this really investable? What’s your TAM?”

If you’re an investor bullish on next-gen consumer, the IRL thesis, culture-building, experience economy, tackling loneliness, offline creators … this is your lane.

4 reasons why:

• IRL Clubs can rebuild the $1T+ offline economy: breathing life into retail, restaurants, and downtowns with recurring foot fall.

• A new workforce: clubs create the next generation of human connection creators — the most valuable skill in the AI era.

• IRL connection is essential for human survival, more than Google (knowledge), Amazon (stuff), or Netflix (entertainment). We want humans to invest as much on real‑life connection as they do on digital subscription.

• Power of quality clubs: only 10K+ clubs needed with this business model to build a large business. Even if 5% of Americans join clubs, that’s 300K clubs - Meetup has already shown that this scale is achievable.

We know early markets can be hard to see. And we are building something new that no IRL tech company has tried. We’ll gladly walk you through details. DM us.

Sponsors & Philanthropists: “How can our funding fuel IRL impact?”

If you care about culture-building, civic revival, social cohesion, trust, health, and grassroots community, mental health or human flourishing - this is your lane.

We want clubs to be resilient, not reliant. Memberships and grassroots funding are foundational (as Sam Pressler points). But when done right, external funding can amplify grassroot communities without dictating (as David Jay reminds us).

Your capital can:

• Amplify grassroot efforts – match funds for member‑backed clubs, supporting what communities already value and want. Hinge’s micro‑sponsorships to 25 clubs are an example of that.

• Build shared infrastructure – like Build IRL: seeding experiments, growing the builder workforce, and creating networks that make every club’s work easier.

Companies, brands, philanthropists, and governments all share the responsibility of shaping cities where their employees, customers, and citizens thrive. Build with us.

Everyone: “Why a company? Won’t growth warp your mission?”

Because business can be a force multiplier for good WHEN incentives align with the people it serves. If clubs don’t find value, we fail. If they thrive, we grow - and if we thrive, more clubs grow.

We’re not here to preach; we’re here to execute on the ground. Solving this problem means creating new financial models that can sustain and scale the IRL work. Business can channel capital into new spaces, scale impact, empower a new workforce, take risks and make it all self-sustaining.

But we know what happens when business models misalign with people’s wellbeing. That’s why we’re very intentional about our model, our investors, and our principles.

And the real why? We care. A LOT.
We want a world where humans - and our own kids - thrive in community, not die in loneliness. We’re parents who left cushy jobs because this matters more than anything right now.

The dream: This is bigger than clubs.

This is one of the decade’s biggest problems. It calls for a bold bet. Game on.

We’re building a new culture: Thousands of IRL clubs. Millions of IRL friendships. Sparking connection, creativity, play, humanness and community in the world.

Culture change isn’t quick. Market building isn’t easy. And it doesn’t happen by chance. It takes a village... to build a village.

We’re dreaming big. Build with us.

(P.S. - Speaking of dreaming big: Anyone know Mark Cuban or Alexis Ohanian?)

Ok. Now back to building 🛠️

Reach us at team@buildirl.com