I’ve been a member of the Hacker Dojo for several years now, and it has quickly grown into my home away from home. 

I am a solo-entrepreneur, which can be a very lonely life. The Dojo allows me to bounce my ideas off of other entrepreneurs, and I’ve learned so much and made many new friends in this way. Here I found new users and testers of my SaaS software, which has improved my product and my thinking about things like go-to-market, the user experience etc. The Dojo also encouraged me to give back to the startup community, and I started mentoring other entrepreneurs.

Attending the events unexpectedly broadened my horizons, and I discovered several interesting groups that I never even knew existed. This expanded my social circle even more. I think I met over 500 new people just this year, some who became close friends. Now I can always count on an interesting conversation when visiting the Dojo.

In the beginning of my Dojo journey, I was mostly a “passive consumer”, but as time went by, I became an event organizer and an “active contributor”, something which I never did before. Things really snowballed from there, and by now I’ve probably hosted 20 or more events this year. It is a lot of work, can be frustrating, but extremely rewarding. 

You realize quickly that a lot of people need your help, and you can do simple things to help them, and change their journey in life. Sometimes it just takes one conversation. I am now fortunate to have experienced several highly-emotional “breakthrough” conversations, therapy essentially, which likely changed a life, and made a lasting impression on me. It made me totally re-evaluate how I should contribute to my community.

Today, I see the Dojo as a massive inflection point generator, the effects of which go way beyond the Dojo. The connections that are made here can truly change the world, and there are many stories of how small events here influenced people all over the world. The Dojo is a perfect example of the Butterfly Effect.

Your Dojo journey might not be the same as mine, but if you are open to it, the Dojo could change your life, and more importantly, the life of someone else.

It would be absolutely tragic for the Dojo to go out of the “inflection point generation business”. It’s been doing it for 10 years now, and deserves its place in the community for the next 10 years, if not 100 years.

Please help the Dojo with a donation, even if it is a small amount. Or join as a member to participate. 

And if you had a windfall of inflection points in your life, please consider passing it on.