Gina Bianchini, CEO and Founder of Mighty Networks

Announcer 0:06

This is Martech Interviews, a podcast from DK New Media, publishers of Martech, the leading publication for sales and marketing professionals to research, discover and learn how technology is driving business results. Your hosts are Douglas Karr and Harrison Painter.

Douglas Karr 0:20

Hello and welcome to another in our interview series. I am Douglas Karr and I have on the line with me. I have Gina Bianchini. She is the CEO and Founder of Mighty Networks. Hi, Gina. How are you?

Gina Bianchini 0:36

I'm great. How are you doing?

Douglas Karr 0:37

I'm doing fantastic. And so people know, for people to know why we're having this conversation today, Gina's software is actually the software that is the platform behind our Martech community that we started. And we have been just huge fans of the software and love that we're finally, you know, making a transition with our audience to building this great community where people are sharing so much information. So the first thing I should say, Gina, is thank you so much.

Gina Bianchini 1:12

Oh my gosh. Well, you are more than welcome. You know, whenever I get to talk to somebody who's using our software and I'm sure all of your folks feel the same way, it's such, it's like, it's so fun because so much of startups and entrepreneurship and, and building is, you know, toiling away, you know, in the privacy of your home or office and hoping someone will use your product. Um, so the fact that you do Douglas really makes me incredibly happy and I'm grateful.

Douglas Karr 1:42

And, and we're, and we're definitely giving it, it's a, well, one, it's been flawless. So we haven't had any problems at all from day one. So kudos to you for that. Cause I know growth is always a tough thing and, and growing infrastructure and everything is tough. So how, how long has Mighty Networks been around?

Gina Bianchini 2:00

We have been around for a few years. Um, we just sort of took the, the finishing touches off of it a few weeks ago, um, and introduced ourselves to the world as Mighty Networks, uh, with our product kind of in the way that, that we started working on it a few years ago with the goal of how do we create communities? We think about them as social networks, um, because we're, you know, technical nerds over here, but, um, really around building meaningful connections and specifically building meaningful connections around your deepest interests, whether that's, you know, your profession, uh, and, and, you know, how you make a living or whether it is a condition that you're navigating or, you know, a hobby you've had for 10 years or something that you're recently obsessed with. Uh, and so for, for me, you know, what, what motivates me and, and I've been working in this whole area for about a decade, over a decade now is how do we fulfill the promise of the internet, which was, be able, no matter where we lived, um, no matter how small of a town or big of a city, we would be able to find the people who enriched our lives, helped us make better decisions, made us feel supported, uh, and encouraged and challenged, uh, around, you know, the, the, the life we want to live.

Douglas Karr 3:25

Oh, wow. Well, geez, uh, podcast over.

No, I, I, I love that because, you know, and I should explain to everybody from a business standpoint, why did we make the decision? Right. And, and we, we knew, um, with a 10 year old site, we had an incredible audience, great subscriber list. Um, but we didn't have interaction with the people that we were talking to. And, and, um, I think a long time ago we did a podcast where someone had explained to us, you know, that there's, there, there really is this evolution. Um, you know, when you're trying to get, uh, when you're trying to move, let's say a prospect, you know, all the way through a customer into a raving fan, one of those is obviously talking. And a lot of people make the mistake of thinking they have a community just because they have followers instead of, you know, having a community where they're literally, you know, assisting one another and, and making connections, you know, between themselves. And so we, we knew that we had this incredible community of professionals in the Martech community, and we were holding them kind of hostage where they couldn't help themselves. And, um, and so just what you're saying, you know, that we have this, these incredible people. And by the way, I'm going to go ahead and promote it. If you go to join.martech.zone, you can sign up and I'll approve, um, your, your invitation. But, um, we had this incredible group of people where we knew that they had great thoughts, great ideas, great podcasts that they were doing, awesome software that they were figuring out. And we're sitting there going, why aren't we letting the community tap into themselves? Why should we be the purveyors, if you will, you know, of, of knowledge there. And so we've had, we've had some real fun, um, with the community and, and, uh, we do a thing every two weeks. We ask everybody what they're working on and the array of projects that we get from videotaping kids for, you know, online videos for retailers to, um, you know, people utilizing software in the most incredible ways, you know, to one guy was developing, developing a, you know, single sign on solution using LDAP for his CRM or something. And, uh, and so it's, it's, you know, when you hear what your audience is working on and what they're doing, it's, it's been an, it's just been a real eye opener for us. So, um,

Gina Bianchini 6:04

I, I mean, so much of what you just captured Douglas is why I do what I do and why my team and I do what we do. The, you know, I, I saw this 10 years ago when at my last company, um, we launched a similar kind of, you know, your own social network for anything. Um, but it was on the web. And now, you know, what we're doing is, is really sort of mobile focused, uh, here at mighty obviously a full ability to do it on the web as well. Um, but the thing that you just captured that I think is so important is that, um, a lot of people assume that creating your own community is like, it's a ton of work. It's going to be so hard. It's going to be a ton of work. You know, what if, you know, people aren't talking to each other and, you know, I, I've had a very different experience, which is, um, which is fundamentally building a community, building your own social network for your deep interest, for your brand is actually much less work than any other social media channel that is out there today because, um, people want to meet each other and, and, you know, yes, our software is absolutely fantastic. Um, and mighty networks, but, you know, that like, I have to, as the person who people are following push out, you know, post after post, after post, after post, um, you know, and, and cross my fingers, hoping somebody will, you know, maybe reply or retweet, you know, that's not a community. That's not even a social network.

Douglas Karr 7:46

Right.

Gina Bianchini 7:46

That is a lot of work without a lot of reward. Um, whereas if you utilize social media, but I actually think it's, it's more important, you know, in, in the way that, that I'm, I'm sure, you know, most savvy marketers are focused on how are we building an email list so that no matter what the channel, what, you know, what's hot, what's not, I actually have a, a, you know, base of people with whom I can communicate with a hundred percent confidence. They're going to see it. Um, that ability to take what is, you know, a static subscriber list and turn it into a thriving network, you know, is incredibly powerful. It also is a heck of a lot less work.

Douglas Karr 8:29

Yeah. Yep. I, I totally agree with you.

Gina Bianchini 8:32

And I feel like that's the part that, um, you know, is, is sort of the, the really well-kept secret of people who see the value of creating communities. They're actually less work. It's the difference. I always think about it. It's the difference between, you know, when you're asked to like a keynote or, or a talk, you have to actually prepare and it's hard work. Whereas like if you have a party or like a meetup and you're actually able to like have really great conversations, um, and they're organic and authentic and, you know, in the moment, it's a lot less work and it's a lot more valuable.

Douglas Karr 9:05

I totally agree. And I think, um, one of the things that, that you guys did with the software that was just, uh, incredible, you know, from the start was that you didn't just about writing posts that you added the ability to do polls, questions, uh, publish events, uh, and then even, you know, segment your, you know, your community based on topics and channels. And I think all of those, all of those kinds of dimensions, you know, to, to mighty networks makes it a place that it is easy to really open a conversation rather than, you know, driving it, like you said, where, where it takes so much work and effort. I can, I can post a question today and I will get, you know, 20 people talking about it. And that's a lot easier than me researching and going online and writing, you know, a 1200 word article about it.

Gina Bianchini 10:02

That's exactly right.

Douglas Karr 10:03

Yeah. And the number,

Gina Bianchini 10:04

the number of times I have like pulled my hair out trying to write something, you know, I'm like, wait a second, I graduated from school. Why am I still writing like, you know, term papers, but, but ones that have to be, you know, thoughtful and entertaining. And at the same time, sell your thing, but not sell it too much. It's like, why can't we just bring people together and have some conversations such that the goal is to share our stories. The goal is to share our experiences and the goal is for everyone then to benefit from the solidarity and the, and the crowdsourcing of insights such that we all make better decisions.

Douglas Karr 10:44

Yeah, absolutely. The, I, I want to provide a kudos to on another thing. This is just a love fest for Mighty Networks.

Gina Bianchini 10:51

Well, we'll take it.

Douglas Karr 10:52

No, but, but the fact that you went, um, you went mobile first, you know, I think is, um, was just a, a, an incredible move because that's where, that's where communications are happening back and forth, you know, with people now. And, and the tool is just incredibly easy to use from, um, uh, you know, from a phone standpoint, um, the additional geographic targeting, you know, the fact that I can see who's around me, what people are actually, you know, nearby is just really great, you know, so that people can utilize the, you know, the platform and I might have the opportunity to connect people in the same city that didn't know one another, but, you know, have the same interests. Um, that's just a really, really cool feature of the, of the platform.

Gina Bianchini 11:42

Thank you. I mean, it's really, when you think about it, it's exactly what you would want. If your goal is to meet new people or meet the people who have the same shared interests you do in a way that feels natural and valuable very quickly. And the crazy thing about it is that we are the only platform that offers that ability to instantly connect to the members who are near you, the members who care about the same topics, um, and the members who categorize themselves in the same way. Um, and while on one hand, as an entrepreneur, I love the fact it's novel and I love the fact it's different. And I love the fact that it's something that we've really been pushing forward on, you know, pretty uniquely. And on the other hand, I sit there and I say, okay, something is fundamentally wrong with social media. If no one else is seeing the value of introducing and connecting people around a shared interest around something that's incredibly important to them in these ways. And there's a lot of reasons for, you know, why that is, um, primarily having to do with, with the way that, um, networks that grow very rapidly are valued more than I would argue valuable networks. Um, it also has a lot to do with how, you know, these free social media platforms, um, you know, free to consumers or free to, to individuals to use are monetized. Um, namely the fact that you can, you know, the way that you make, Facebook makes billions of dollars every year is by holding back connections and holding back, uh, audiences so that advertisers have to pay money to target people who love, you know, the Chicago bears or target people who might be in their early twenties who were living in New York city. So we look at it and say, actually one, our mission is to connect the world by their deepest interests. Two, we are going to do that by unlocking a whole new generation of digital entrepreneurs, digital brands, people doing very interesting things around deep interests. And we will be a platform that supports ourselves through, you know, a subscription service or ways that our hosts or our creators like you, um, are able to, uh, generate revenue because if you can generate revenue from a valuable, um, valuable network, a valuable community, it actually means that you're going to invest more time and energy into it, which means that it's going to be a really valuable place for members who join. And with every new member who joins and a highly motivated, um, uh, host who can actually invest time, energy, and resources into making it even better, holy guacamole. Like that is actually how we are going to not just create breadth of interests that are covered, um, across the mighty networks platform, but really make it valuable in a very deep and meaningful way. So that's our, that's our plan for world domination. Um, it's been great sharing it with you. Um, but it's, it, it actually, like, it's just a very different approach to thinking about, um, how to deliver the promise of the internet,

Douglas Karr 15:15

the

Gina Bianchini 15:16

promise of social networks. And I don't believe we are delivering on that promise today in, you know, with the first decade of, of social networks in the same way that we didn't deliver on the promise of, you know, the, the personal computer in the first decade of the personal, you know, computer or PC revolution. So, you know, I think that the next decade of social networks, um, is really going to be about how do we connect around our deepest interests in a way that there will be an entirely new generation of digital entrepreneurs.

Douglas Karr 15:55

Yeah, I, I, I love it. And I totally um, you know, one of the, one of the interesting things I was, I was speaking to a friend of mine about this is that, um, companies make a really, I think it's a, it's a really terrible decision or, or maybe it's a perspective that they have where they, they believe that their brand is the center of the universe. And, and so, you know, whether it's a Facebook page or a Twitter account or their own website, they look at the world as if everybody's, you know, waiting in anticipation for their next move. And, and when the truth of the matter is the center of the universe is the customer or the prospect or, or the person that you're speaking to, and then they're surrounded by brands and they're surrounded by other people and they're surrounded by, you know, noise interruptions, you know, everything else. And, and it was actually one of the fundamental things that I liked about your mobile application as well was when you, you know, open up the mobile app, you're not met with, oh, it's center of Doug's, you know, Martech universe. Uh, and here's what Doug's saying today. You're met with, Hey, here's the networks that you belong to. Uh, which one do you want to, you know, join and have a conversation with? And, and I, I, I mean, I'm not, I'm, if, if you, you were the genius behind that, I, I think it is such a small user experience, you know, touch, but it really does kind of set the foundation of how people physically interact with one another, you know?

Gina Bianchini 17:45

And, and that, that is, you know, the, the thing that is so important to us, which is to say, look, you should be a convener.

Douglas Karr 17:55

Yeah.

Gina Bianchini 17:55

Like it's your job to convene all of these incredibly talented people that are members of, you know, the Martech community. Our job from a software perspective is for them to be able to meet each other in the ways that will be most relevant to them. It takes the pressure off you. It provides a more valuable experience for them. And at the end of the day, it doesn't mean that you can't share and, and set the, set the branding, set the tone, set the context, the way that a great facilitator or a great convener does.

Douglas Karr 18:31

Yeah.

Gina Bianchini 18:32

I think this whole concept that we have turned, you know, interesting, amazing, creative people into passive followers. And that's the model of social media. I talk out at you, you might talk back at me and no one's talking to each other.

Douglas Karr 18:51

Right.

Gina Bianchini 18:51

I, I think that that is, you know, it is just such a disappointment in how far away we are from the promise of networks and networking technology, which allows for us to, with some very simple, I mean, you know, I would love to say that, you know, everything we're doing is, is, you know, flying cars and, um, you know, self-driving planes, but, you know, fundamentally all we did was very simply say, what is the experience of the very best retreat that you have ever been to the very best conference that you've ever been to? When was the last time that you, I mean, for lack of better way of putting it, when was the last time as an adult, you made friends?

Douglas Karr 19:39

Yeah.

Gina Bianchini 19:39

And when you start to think about, you know, those kinds of environments in the real world, um, they, they, they come down to context, you know, it comes down to, you know, somebody played the role of saying, you know, Douglas meet Gina, Gina meet Douglas. You guys actually have a lot in common. You're both in Palo Alto. You guys are both, you know, marketing, um, you know, B2B, uh, products that are new to the market. You're both interested in, you know, how to get above the noise and how to drive, you know, deeper engagement. Um, and you guys will have a lot to talk about when that happens. It goes from being something where it's like, you're afraid of like eating lunch by yourself at a conference that you're like going to, even though you, and then you're like sitting there and you're like eating like the chicken salad. And you're like, I should be talking to people because that's the whole point of why I paid money to be here versus the difference of that. Or somebody comes and sits down with, you know, you know, a friend and it's like, Oh, so who are you? How, you know, who do you want to meet here? What are your intentions? What are your goals? What do you want to accomplish? And the crazy thing about this is in 2017 with the intelligence built into mobile platforms, especially, but the, but even the web, we can play this role. Uh, the software can play this role of, you know, great convener or,

Announcer 21:06

or social lubricant that doesn't require any alcohol.

Gina Bianchini 21:10

Um, and I just think that that is, that is the thing that, you know, just motivates our team of, you know, artists and scientists and engineers and, you know, marketers and, you know, really kind of all coming together in an alchemy of God, can't we, can't we scale and make the internet and digital technologies and networks feel more like that amazing retreat, you know, that you're at where you finally feel like you're connecting to people on a level that you didn't think was possible and isn't possible in your day-to-day life when you're like scurrying by and like, you know, barely keeping it all together.

Douglas Karr 21:51

Well, yeah. And, and the ability to, you know, we all have, you know, we, we don't have one network around us in life. You know, we have 18 different networks and friends. We have our, you know, I have my music friends and I have my bourbon friends and I have my market friends. And so, you know, that's, that's the other piece of this is that it provides that, you know, when I need information from this group of people or I'm seeking, you know, information or to network or meet these people, I can go specifically to this network that handles that.

Gina Bianchini 22:27

Exactly. And then I can, I can bask in the context of that network because nothing is worse than, you know, not having context, um, when you want to actually have something to talk to people about. So I think this whole notion that, for example, that, you know, on, on groups, on other platforms that, you know, have a different purpose, whether that's LinkedIn for professional identity or Facebook for personal identity is that it sends you back up to, you know, the, the general, um, the general profile, but like you're talking about something sensitive or you're talking about something that is really important to you that you don't necessarily want to put on your profile. You can't need anybody else in that group because they're, unless you're posting and somebody else is seeing that post, which by the way, because of all the algorithms, you know, people are basically seeing maybe one out of 20 or one out of 30 posts that are, are being posted to groups. We want you to see everything that is relevant to you and easily find things that, you know, you want to explore when you're in the moment to explore those things. Um, and so it's just a different approach that starts with how do we connect people around the interests that are most important to them and how do we introduce them to new people, um, or people that are going to, to be relevant to them as they go deeper into that context.

Douglas Karr 23:54

Beautiful. And what I'm curious, you know, with mighty, uh, well, maybe, maybe we should start by, um, what are some of the more popular networks that have started on mighty that, that you just absolutely love talking about?

Gina Bianchini 24:08

Well, that's a, it's a great question. Obviously, I think the things that you shared at the beginning, you know, just make it a lot easier, um, to get up every day and know that, that we're working on something that is meaningful and valuable to, to you and your community. Um, I love, uh, hair brained, which is the largest network of craft hairdressers in the world. They have, I think it's, they're up to, to 37,000 members.

Douglas Karr 24:37

Wow.

Gina Bianchini 24:38

Um, they have a hundred thousand Facebook fans, a hundred thousand Instagram followers. And it's, it's all of the, you know, crazy artistry of, of hair and hair design and hair color. And there's instruction and people are doing videos and people are sharing their work. Um, really using polls, um, in terms of helping, you know, a, a, a stylist decide, you know, do you take and do kids' haircuts? And like, am I by myself in this? Or, you know, another one, which is, you know, how, how long will you wait for a client when they're late? Um, and, and just, again, that ability to share information amongst people who share and have the same profession is really powerful. Um, another, another network I personally just think is the coolest is, uh, it's a small private network of nomadic homeschoolers. Oh, wow. Yeah. It's really, so it's basically, you know, families that are traveling around the country in RVs, um, because they are passionate about having their kids experience, um, learning, you know, in, in, in the flesh, um, through experiences and being able to look at history or look at science or look at crafts or, you know, any type of arts by going to the places, um, and meeting up with other families who are doing the same thing is super important. So actually Michelle, uh, Burrell, who's the, who's the founder of nomadic homeschoolers, she's actually organizing proms on the East coast and on the West coast for the teenagers who are in this community, because, you know, you want to have those same experiences. Um, even if you're, you know, you're not, you're not, uh, you know, bolted down to a, to a home, but you're, you're on the road. Um, so it's just, when I see things like that, another, another great network is, is our beyond type one, um, community for people whose lives are touched by type one diabetes. Um, and I have learned more in going into beyond type one every day in terms of the, I don't think until you have a chronic condition, a disease that you are managing every single day, the, it's a part-time job. And I certainly as somebody who doesn't have type one diabetes and more empathetic and, and humbled by what someone is doing day in and day out when they have this condition and when they have this disease and just the side effects. Um, and I look at that and I know that whether it's, you know, somebody who is looking to have a brighter day that day because of the support and experiences of people like them also navigating type one diabetes, um, or whether it is professionals that are just want to get better at their job or, or make better decisions about their job or fall in love with their job all over again. Um, these kinds of deep interest networks are incredibly valuable and incredibly important. And that makes me happy.

Douglas Karr 27:57

Yeah. And, and so you're talking about everything, right. Business, life, culture, health, um, art, um, you know, I love that, that it doesn't, it doesn't matter what the topic is. You've built a network where those conversations are absolutely happening. Wow. Oh, this is, this is too

Gina Bianchini 28:16

cool. That's the goal.

Douglas Karr 28:19

And, and for everybody, well, I

Gina Bianchini 28:21

agree.

Douglas Karr 28:23

And for everybody listening, I am, uh, speaking with, uh, Gina Bianchini. Uh, she is the CEO and founder of Mighty Networks. You can find Mighty Networks at, uh, MightyNetworks.com. Um, and I would implore you to at least just go sign up for free and utilize the free account, um, to, just to see what the, the platform is like, make sure you download the mobile app. Um, the experience is really built for mobile and, and, uh, I use the desktop all day while I'm at work, but I'm on the mobile device, you know, the rest of the time when I'm not on my desktop. Uh, and it's just a, just a incredibly easy, um, tool to use. Uh, you can search and find networks on their site. Um, so go ahead and do that and find ones of interest to you and join and see what it's like. Uh, and then, um, and then of course, hopefully you get caught up and, and wind up like we did and just jump straight to the business package. And, uh, and, and actually, um, just have a great time. So we, we, we, uh, I can't, I can't tell you enough. Um, you know, the, there's tons of social network software out there, tons of options, tons of, you know, stuff, but you guys really did it right.

Gina Bianchini 29:36

Well, thank you. I was, cause I was going to say Douglas, not that many, um,

Douglas Karr 29:40

certainly

Gina Bianchini 29:40

not that many as cool as Mighty Networks. Yeah.

Douglas Karr 29:45

Well, no, we, we, I mean, we checked out, I mean, we're the MarTech blog, right? So, um, you know, that's our job is to basically go out there and see what is out there. And I, I can tell you that your platform is so fundamentally different, um, than everybody else's, which, you know, followed the old, you know, I mean, I, I hate to say it, but even with, you know, Twitter, LinkedIn, um, you know, Facebook, it still looks a lot like a forum from 20 years ago. Right. You know, I mean, that's, that's the bottom line. And, and I, I don't think reinvented the experience until now. And so, and, you know, you, you know, you and I have talked before that, you know, I've utilized other social networking platforms and, um, and just run into problems all the time with them. And, and, uh, and so Mighty Networks has been just a breath of fresh air for us and, and we really, really love it.

Gina Bianchini 30:39

Oh, well, thank you. I mean, I, I'm grateful for you saying that. Um, I, I think I can speak for my team as well. Our goal is to take the goals of community down to its studs and rebuild the entire thing for the intelligence, the, um, experience of a 2017 mobile device, mobile future. And it's, it, it really, um, I don't think it is an understatement to say that, you know, my sensibilities are offended by just taking the forum and trying to like, make it look a little prettier. Um, I don't believe that that is going to be how we celebrate and go deeper and meet and make connections with people around our deepest interests over the next decade. And so, you know, my team and I have really pushed to say, let's take this from the, from, from the fundamental first principles, um, and go from there.

Douglas Karr 31:47

Awesome. And, uh, so last question, uh, because I'm a network creator, um, when, what, what's next, what's happening next?

Gina Bianchini 31:59

What's happening next? Well, we are, well, one, we're adding threaded comments, um, which I'm sure you will appreciate. Yeah, I know it's, it's, uh, it's one of those things where it's like, yeah, we will have those shortly. Um, you know, we really look at the next two big, uh, pushes and buckets for what we're doing. Um, one is around kind of what I, what I touched on before finding more and more ways to create something that is valuable to both the hosts as well as members, um, and specifically around revenue generating features, um, or premium features. So, you know, the ability to unlock, um, the exact right ways that you want to generate revenue from your network, because generating revenue from your network means that you will invest more time, energy, and make it even more valuable to members. And if that is actually present, it means that members will be able to have, um, and move much faster to all the things we were just talking about, making better decisions, um, making more well-informed decisions, sharing and crowdsourcing the experiences of, of members and the most relevant members with each other. Um, as well as, you know, whether it's a job board or whether it is, you know, connections to brands or whether it is, you know, organizing events, um, all of these things are going to be, um, uh, ways that we can help our hosts, our creators make more valuable networks and, and

Announcer 33:30

make money doing it so that they can invest. The

Gina Bianchini 33:33

second, yeah, the second, you know, theme or, or, uh, direction is more and more, um, media features. So being able to introduce, uh, you know, photo albums and photo portfolios, the ability to introduce live video, um, both capture and display, the ability to really go deeper around, um, what, uh, what people want so that, um, we can, when I say what people want, um, I should be more specific. So what people want to build those wherever they are. And then when we think about layering in, you know, richer and deeper media, the last kind of piece of it is how do we make connecting people in real life even more natural, even easier. So, you know, what you see today is still so far ahead, you know, see today in a mighty network is still so far ahead of what is anywhere else related to being able to see members who are near you. But now imagine we can take it one step further, which is to say, um, imagine you are the most, you know, active member in your area. Why can't the software actually ping you and say, Hey, congratulations. Did you know that there are 20 other members like within, you know, 20 miles of you?

Announcer 34:51

Do you want to host

Gina Bianchini 34:52

a media? Yes. No. Yes. Great. Here are three locations near you that, uh, have capacity for 20 people. Which one do you like the best? You choose one. Lastly, great. How about this date two weeks, you know, in the future at 6 PM, obviously you can change the date, but here's, what's crazy where we're sitting right now. That scenario is all you would have to do to organize a meetup.

Douglas Karr 35:19

Yep.

Gina Bianchini 35:20

And now, you know, the software can, can play that, you know, the, confidence game of like Douglas, congratulations. We've already got five RSVPs. This is going to be awesome to those five RSVPs. Congratulations. This is going to be a great night. We already have like five people, 10 people, all 20 people in your area are going to be there. Um, how, you know, this is going to be fantastic. And so the software has the ability to play that role. And so you do less work and have, you know, really successful meetups and all of this is possible today when you start with the context of a deep interest.

Douglas Karr 36:03

Oh, I, I think, um, there's a lot to say to that and then we'll, we'll close out. Cause I think we could talk about this for the next two hours, but, but, um, you know, what I, what I love about that is I feel like social media so far has been a really fascinating experiment for mankind, right? Right. We've seen, um, elections based off of it. We've seen, um, you know, obviously these blunders with, you know, companies over it. We've seen, you know, kind of all this behavior and, and everything else. And the one interesting thing to me that keeps coming back is I'm a marketer. I'm a digital marketer. I, I love all of these online tools, but most of the tools I'm utilizing and, and, and what we're doing for our clients is always to introduce them to one another. Always. It's always to eventually get to a point of a handshake. And because we know that the power of, uh, you know, voice, uh, sight, uh, touch, nothing, nothing, you know, compares to that. And that's why, it's why podcasting is amazing, right? It's because you hear the tone of voice and you can create a picture in your head of, you know, what, what people are talking about. Um, you, you look, watch a video and that's why video is powerful is because you can, you can actually see a person's expressions and, and, and see them, you know, but, but nothing ever compares to that, that touch, you know? And, and so understanding, you know, if you were going to look at your hierarchy of needs, you know, understanding that software isn't a replacement for social networking, it's, it's a tool to foster social networking. I love that you get that. I love that that's where you see your role, you know, within, um, you know, within this marketplace.

Announcer 38:03

Yep.

Gina Bianchini 38:07

I do like, I mean, that's the role we see. We see, we want to push the envelope and push technology to its natural value to people as it relates to making connections around deep interest.

Douglas Karr 38:26

Yeah. And, and,

Gina Bianchini 38:27

and,

Douglas Karr 38:27

but that's such a,

Gina Bianchini 38:28

abstract, but at the same point in time, you know, it's visceral, which is if we can connect people who are just getting started in marketing, um, to each other or who are, you know, recently diagnosed with type one diabetes or have their children recently diagnosed with type one diabetes and those connections feel as normal and natural as it does reconnecting with somebody you went to elementary school with. Um, that to me is going to define the next decade of social networks. Where a lot of people in Silicon Valley think that, um, you know, the, the future is about artificial intelligence and flying cars. And there, that is true. Like those are things that will happen in our lifetimes. Um, but man, like to think that social networks is done in its current, in its current form, you and I both know it's just simply not true. Um, we are just at the beginning and that's crazy to say a decade in, but we are just at the beginning of what's possible.

Douglas Karr 39:33

No, I think you're absolutely right. And I, I just think that, um, you know, when I look at giants, like, you know, uh, uh, Facebook for instance, I really feel like they might have the wrong direction. Uh, and, and that's, they just want to be everything to everybody and have this walled garden online that, that doesn't permit people, you know, to leave. And I, and I really truly believe that that's, that's a, that's going to fade. Um, you know, it's not that Facebook is going to die or anything. I think, you know, they've got enough money.

Gina Bianchini 40:06

Yeah, exactly. I think that's a good bet. I think it's a good bet. They're going to be around for a little while.

Douglas Karr 40:10

But it's, but it's a fact that I think people are going to make a conscious choice to move away from that noise and, and to focus on technology that drives, you know, these relationships and decision-making, um, that they appreciate and trust. And so, um, mighty networks, you know, is at the forefront of that in my opinion. So congratulations.

Gina Bianchini 40:32

Thank you. Um, and thanks for having me again. I really appreciate the opportunity to have this,

Douglas Karr 40:37

this conversation. Oh yeah, absolutely. And once again, uh,

Gina Bianchini 40:41

Especially because you have such nice things to say.

Douglas Karr 40:44

It makes it easy, doesn't it? Yeah, right. Um, well, and for everybody listening.

Gina Bianchini 40:50

Emails afterwards with all the things you'd like us to improve. And I'll be like, yes, I, I agree.

Douglas Karr 40:55

You got it. Uh, um, and, and, uh, I'll let you do the pitch now, uh, for everybody listening. What do you want them to do next?

Gina Bianchini 41:03

Go to mighty networks.com. One network you would love to have exist in the world. The one community that you wished existed in the world and create it.

Douglas Karr 41:15

Ah, perfect. Perfect. Thank you so much, Gina.

Gina Bianchini 41:19

Thank you. All right. Take care.

Douglas Karr 41:20

All right.

Announcer 41:23

The MarTech Interviews Podcast is recorded at DK New Media's state-of-the-art podcast studio at the Speakeasy in downtown Indianapolis. Subscribe at martech.zone. Sponsorships and marketing services are available through dknewmedia.com.iupped eastboundaaaa hoo hall Thank you.