The Playground Manifesto for Founders

When a founder finds their calling, it can be all-encompassing. A full-body commitment to the cause. They live and breathe their project, and they channel every resource into getting it off the ground.

Nobody understands the life they lead. That is, except other founders.

Founders are raising investments, building teams, and shipping MVPs. They're staring down imposter syndrome while running on a "hustle harder" philosophy that nobody around them fully gets. These aren't topics you can bring up at the dinner table with your family. Because if you do, you risk facing the demoralising question of why you chose to do it in the first place.

And then there are the nights. Lying awake doing founder-maths, adding, splitting, dividing it all different ways to see if you missed something the first time. Hoping the third re-run of the numbers works out differently.

The thing that helps most is being around other people who are building something too. People who already understand, without you having to explain.

The challenge is finding that community, and getting in the door.

I've been in search of community and have come up against gatekeeping of extraordinary proportions. Mum of 4, over 40, having not cracked the elusive 7-figure annual revenue — when in reality, only 4%–9% of SMEs will ever hit that — meant that my options for community were limited. But my desire for community was no less than a CEO under 30 with a personal salary of $500k.

Just like all good founders do when they can't find an existing solution on the market, I decided to build it myself.

Playground is a private membership community for founders. We gather on the last Thursday of every month in every city we call Home. A member opens their space, welcomes the room, and the evening belongs to whoever's in it. There are no name tags, no panels, no pitching.

This is Playground Social, and it's the centre of everything we do.

I needed a predictable rhythm. A face-to-face event that happened every month, in my city, with people I'd actually get to know over time. Not a networking event. A room where you could show up, be honest about how things are going, and leave feeling less alone in it.

Everything grows from that rhythm. Showing up together, once a month, in the same room. Between Socials, the community continues on the Playground platform and offline through smaller gatherings. Coffee catch-ups with a handful of members. Intimate dinners for twelve.

I needed to own the platform, too. I've seen too many people lose their entire community because they built it on someone else's infrastructure. Accounts shut down overnight. Follower count gone. Playground is built on its own foundation, with an online platform that supports in-person experience, because the community is too important to risk. It's where members find each other between Socials, keep conversations going, and share what they're building.

These are the ideals that underpin the Playground community.