THE AGENDA - 45 events to change london | issue #13

dearest friends

it’s certainly been a while

i’ve missed you too ❤️

but onto business!

we’ve been busy cooking up something a lil special & it all begins here

this AGENDA is a lil different.

it is our central thesis on why and how to community

and a statement of intent about the generational run of events we’re about to go on

this is q a long-read. but stick with me x

tl;dr

• tech events in london are generally shite

• we’re running 45 events in the next 9 months to completely reboot the culture

• from rooftop parties & boxing matches to a founder summit like no other: FounderTown

• come join? → first batch of events

the founding mythos

in the grand old mythos of Founderland, world-shaking innovation is born in isolation.

the lone genius in a garage. the dorm-room disruptor. the against-all-odds builder.

but as always, myth masks deeper truth.

behind every so-called solo conqueror is a quiet constellation of contributors.

mentors. collaborators. friends who opened doors, challenged ideas, pulled them through the dark times.

this constellation is what true community is - social, financial & emotional infrastructure.

and when it’s built with care, it becomes leverage.

the kind of leverage that helps you see around corners, fill skill gaps & make better decisions, faster.

changing the calculus

this kind of infrastructure completely reframes your risk calculus.

because with the right people around you, failure isn’t failure, it’s simply your next pivot.

if your startup folds, you’re just one intro away from your next role, idea, or win.

and when your downside becomes manageable, risk becomes rational.

this is why someone like Trump - already rich and powerful - goes all in on something like a presidential run.

because worst case? he loses and walks away richer and more influential than before.

now, if that’s the losing hand, then why wouldn’t you go all in?

(in trumps case, perhaps it was a gamble the world could’ve done without, but i digress)

ecosystem velocity = talent x capital x community^2

when the potential cost of trying is dramatically lowered, we don’t just take more swings - we take bigger ones.

we aim higher, push further, and imagine more boldly

because we know as bad as it gets, it won’t be catastrophic

that’s why the presence - or absence - of true community, as defined by the depth of our connections with each other, directly affects the velocity of the entire tech ecosystem.

where there’s deep connection:

• bolder ideas execute faster

• talent circulates more rapidly

• collaborations compound & growth multiplies

it’s engineering.

and like any good infrastructure, community has to be designed—with intention, empathy, and a clear sense of who it’s actually for.

at its heart, community seeks to solve one of the most overlooked challenges in the founder journey:

the absence of belonging.

that’s not just social loneliness—but that quiet, persistent question: “do I actually fit here?”

you’ve probably felt it.

you walk into a room that’s technically built for people like you.

but somehow, you still feel outside it.

the culture’s off. the energy’s rigid.

that’s because most spaces only seem to want to welcome one version of you:

the productive you

the polished you.

the composed, killing-it, all-good-here you.

the rest of you? left at the door.

connection requires full presence

and in spaces like that, real connection becomes impossible.

because real connection requires everyone’s full presence.

if everyone is only showing up as a fraction of themselves, how can you truly get to know anyone?

therein, multitudes.

in actuality you contain multitudes.

you at 8am, is not you at 6pm, is not you at 4am 🙃 — and you deserve a community that can hold it all.

one that doesn’t just admire what you build, but supports the you you are while you build it (all hail dr ricken)

look to the campus

if community is to truly serve you—not just the founder persona—we have to design for your depth.

we have to design for complexity.

and one of the best models we have?

the university.

it’s the ecosystem, stupid!

think about it.

universities don’t expect you to show up as a one-dimensional self. they assume you’ll evolve. that you’ll shift, explore, and reinvent.

so they build for that. it’s not just one community—but a mosaic of them. built on a single shared intention to study, yes.

but, around that intention, a thousand subcultures bloom:

• cultural societies that affirm identity.

• academic groups that challenge your intellect.

• obscure clubs that exist just because.

and each of those subcultures offers an invitation: to bring forward one part of yourself without having to leave the others behind - offering multiple ways to plug in.

that’s why my thursdays looked like this:

philosophy at 9am. japanese sword-fighting at 6pm (don’t ask). raving at 4am.

the ecosystem was built to hold me, in all my forms.

the front row of your wedding

and what emerges from that kind of design?

deep, enduring, life-defining relationships.

what i like to call the front row of your wedding.

these are your roommates, partners, best friends.

people you do life with. and gladly.

simply because the environment enabled you to bond over your deepest passions, and allowed you to be seen, and cherished, in the full spectrum of who you are.

what is plugged

that’s what we’re aiming to recreate.

plugged was born of two things: a frustration and a belief.

the frustration with the shallow, transactional nature of most founder spaces.

the ones where you walk away with new LinkedIn connections—but no new friendships.

the belief that founders—the real, messy, brilliant humans behind the mythos & the ambition—deserve better.

you deserve:

• more substance.

• more generosity.

• more space to show up as your full selves.

so we’ve designed Plugged with a duality at its core:

plug in. plug out.

you can plug in—get deep into the grind with other cracked founders:

and you can plug out—rest, play, and breathe again.

thursday might look like an all-nighter debugging code at our shoreditch clubhouse.

saturday might be a house party where you’re dancing and winning mystery flights to unknown locations courtesy of your favourite co-founder matching cowboy 😉

because when you feel free to show up fully, this all goes beyond networking,

it becomes friendship,

and who among us wouldn’t do anything and everything for their friends?

our bet

we’re making a bet.

over the next nine months, we’re going on a generational run of 45 events to completely reboot the cultural operating system for tech in London.

we’ll be delivering a few crucial updates in this new OS:

• generosity over gatekeeping

• realness over polish

• friendship as growth infrastructure

we’re doing it through:

• sunset rooftop parties

• founder boxing matches

• mansion takeovers

• FounderTown 🤫

• + [redacted 👀]

it’s a bet that the sillier we get,

the greater the range of experiences we create

the more you’ll be able to show up fully

and hence the deeper the connections you’ll form with others

and the faster the ecosystem will move.

london patriots, arise.

i’m a london nationalist through and through - a patriot saluting the electric eclectic creative chaos of all 32 boroughs

and as the sun creeps back and the evenings stretch longer, i’m sure you can feel it too. the palpable magic that only london creates.

this is the greatest city in the world.

but not for tech.

we have the talent. we have the institutions. we have the will.

there’s no reason why we should play second fiddle to the other place that shall not be named 😇

let’s build a culture so rich, so magnetic, that everything else—capital, talent, ideas—follows in its slipstream.

let’s build the kind of founder scene this city has always deserved.

back to the calculus

maybe this all fails. but here’s the calculus:

if the worst-case scenario is the community we’ve already built—the energy, the vibe, the feeling— and we’re left with just each other…then good lord, what an outcome

the bet is large, yes. but we’re all in.

because if this is the net that will catch us…how could we not? risking it all is the only rational move.

so…to the cliff-edge and beyond !

what now?

the full spectrum of events will be announced over the coming weeks.

but start here:

• our first open house & sunset rooftop party

• collab day with ultra VC

• funding to first hires - ex-airbnb & onfido ($650M exit) execs help you build your hiring playbook

yours with a deep love

& a deeper patriotism for the london that is

& the london that will be,

josh x

p.s. if this resonated, send it to others it might resonate with xx