[Humanifesto] - The Future of Social Media & Community Building

Hi friends, I'll cut straight to the chase before diving into details—I'm building a new social media platform named Humanifesto.io - It’s designed to help us strengthen the bonds we share with our friends, families, and the communities we’ve encountered. Think of it as your own personal Human Manifesto (you’ll find Platform v1 pics at the end).

Each of us has crafted a life story—or, more accurately, multiple stories—shaped by our experiences, the purpose we’ve found, and the communities we’ve built along the way. Here’s the spark: we want to share these stories with those very communities. Isn’t that what posting on social media is all about? To keep the people in our lives updated on what’s happening? We try, but there’s a gap in the market—a chance to dive deeper and tell the longer, fuller stories behind our posts.

With Humanifesto you'll be able to bucket people into custom update groups so you can share your experiences with the relevant communities. The essence of this platform is to help people nurture their relationships, rather than focusing on growing new ones.

The Business Why

Most platforms allow us to give a glimpse into our lives, but none let us tell the in-depth stories or share the emotions behind the pictures we post. There’s no place for blog-style updates, with the added ability to curate custom communities based on our relationships. Soon, there will be.

We’re in the late stages of development now, and our launch site (Humanifesto.io) is live now while we finish up the last details. In the meantime, check out the business plan below to get a sense of what life at an early-stage startup is like, and learn about what it takes to build, develop, and grow a company.

How Humanifesto is Being Built

When building a SaaS company, there are several key factors to consider to get it off the ground: how it will be funded (company model), how it will be built (engineering), and its business model (how it will generate revenue).

1. Funding/Company Model

   I’ve chosen to bootstrap Humanifesto. It’s a 100% self-funded company, and I’m not seeking outside money—angel investments, venture capital nor otherwise—at this time. My goal is to maintain full control of the platform’s future and eventual exit strategy, and to allow myself and our Board to learn, build, and most importantly, grow this platform in a way we see fit. I considered other options like angel investments and venture capital, but this felt right for now.

   
   

2. How it’s Being Built/Engineered

   Initially, Humanifesto will be built on a no-code platform to validate the business idea, fine-tune the user experience, and generate revenue early enough to justify further investment in developing a proprietary code base. This route allows us to maintain maximum ownership, understand the developer background we’ll need in the future, and save money on development so we can reinvest in marketing and growing our user base. I started with a demo of Humanifesto using Google Slides, and over the past few months have been working with an outsourced team to transition the design into Figma and now into the no-code platform, Bubble. We’re on track for a Fall launch! 🎉

   
   

3. Business Model

   Humanifesto will operate on a two-sided, subscription-based business model:

   • The viewer side will be free, allowing users to view their friends' posts based on the communities they’ve been invited to, and to write and save their own manifestos.

   • The writer side will have additional functionality, enabling users to curate custom communities and share their manifestos.

   
   

   +Both sides of the platform will feature a map, with writers being able to share their maps and associated posts.

Competitors

As mentioned earlier, most social media platforms today only offer glimpses into our lives. Humanifesto differentiates itself by providing deeper, more curated connections & the ability share blog style updates + pin them to your map. Below are the key competitors and how they compare to Humanifesto:

• Substack:

  • Focus: A newsletter platform that enables creators to distribute long-form written content + charge for subscriptions. Substack is fundamentally built around newsletters, optimizing for commuinity growth rather than more intimate, personal connections.

  • Limitations: While it allows for long-form content, Substack lacks the ability to curate custom communities based on personal relationships. It’s primarily a one-to-many broadcasting tool used to help creators generate money, rather than a space to foster personal, intimate connections with different groups of people.

• Medium:

  • Focus: A platform for writers to share long-form content and articles, aiming to reach wide audiences.

  • Limitations: Medium prioritizes virality and discoverability, often emphasizing broad reach over close-knit community building. Writers often aim for trending topics & providing knowledge, rather than sharing life updates.

• X (formerly Twitter):

  • Focus: Short-form, text-based content designed for quick thoughts and viral moments.

  • Limitations: Limited in terms of storytelling due to the character count. The platform is highly public, with the primary goal being to engage in quick, often reactive conversations rather than building or nurturing intimate communities. Emotional depth is rare in such a fast-paced environment.

• Xanga (historical competitor):

  • Focus: A blogging community where users could create and share blogs, and join various interest-based groups.

  • Limitations: Xanga’s downfall came from its inability to raise sufficient funds which led to its shutdown in 2013. They attempted to shift their business model, but charging users to write posts ultimately proved unsuccessful. Humanifesto users on bothe the free & paid sides of the platform will be able to curate blogs.

• Instagram:

  • Focus: Visual storytelling, primarily through photos and short videos.

  • Limitations: Lacks long-form content and depth, with the emphasis on visually-driven posts that often lack context or emotional storytelling. The platform is highly curated for public perception, leading to superficial connections rather than deep engagement.

• Reddit:

  • Focus: A community-driven platform where users gather around specific topics, interests, or hobbies.

  • Limitations: Reddit is primarily designed for discussion and interaction within interest-based communities rather than long-form, personal storytelling. The content tends to be conversational and short-form rather than focused on deep emotional connections. Privacy can also be a concern, as conversations are often visible to large groups or the public.

• Facebook:

  • Focus: A platform for wide-reaching social connections, largely aimed at maintaining relationships across long distances.

  • Limitations: Its user base skews older, and it has become less relevant for younger generations(hence the acquisition growth strategy). Also not focused on long form content.

  
  

Finally—My Why

Family is incredibly important to me. Mine loves to stay up to date on my life—really up to date—but few of them have social media. And as a salesperson, I can only take so many extra hours of phone calls before my brain shuts down. This left me feeling like there’s so much more going on in my life than my extended family knows about. I want a way to share those experiences in a format they’ll understand. The heart of this project for me is community and learning.

While this isn’t the first company I've built, it is my first SaaS company. It will be an extraordinary learning experience as I discover how to build new platforms. It will also help me implement these learnings when I build my future VC-backed Edtech company and change the way students learn about careers.

Thank you for joining me on this journey. I wouldn’t have built Humanifesto without the amazing community behind me, inspiring me every day. Check out some demo platform pics below, and follow our journey at Humanifesto.io.

Cheers!

-TNT