What running DNA taught me about keeping people together

Most of my work now flows into DNA. All the amazing people I've met over the years are in one room: founders, creators, artists, writers, architects, doctors, VCs, engineers, designers.

Mixing fields sounds like a nice idea until you try to run it. Here's what I actually learned.

Mixed rooms need translation

A doctor and a designer don't share vocabulary, but they share problems — attention, trust, standards, burnout. The host's job is to find the problem underneath the jargon and put it on the table in plain words. Do that and the room lights up. Skip it and everyone talks to whoever does their job.

Small is not a limitation

Every instinct says grow. Nearly every good thing about a community comes from being small enough that people remember each other's names and last month's news. Depth is the product. Scale is the tax you pay for wanting a bigger number.

Someone has to host

Communities don't self-organise for long. Somebody has to notice who's gone quiet, who needs an introduction, who's about to leave and hasn't said why. That work is unglamorous and it is the whole job.

Say no more than yes

The fastest way to lose a good room is to let in people who are there to extract. One extractive member costs you three generous ones. Curation isn't gatekeeping — it's protection for the people who already trusted you.

If any of this resonates, DNA is at wearethedna.com, and the Friday dinner is where a lot of it gets tested in person.