My journey from Silo to Komuhn
An open letter to all of you who w̶e̶r̶e̶ are part of it.
Five years ago, almost to the day, I started a journey. Not a spiritual one, a real trip in a rented van for over 4000km, through nine countries, with Riikka, three small kids and just about everything we owned in this world. We were moving west, from Finland to Portugal, in search of the proverbial focus-on-something-and-make-it-happen time.
That something was called Silo and we took a more or less traditional approach to starting up a bootstrap business. A couple of committed people (Ron and I), a shared purpose (or so we thought), a deadline (LOL). We set up shop in this tiny, beautiful village — Óbidos — and started making.
In our first year so many amazing things happened to us, that by the time we realized that we were doing something completely different from what we had intended in the beginning, it was too late to go back. But we thought, that’s OK, right? Things change and we should be able to adapt to that change, right? Wrong!
The problem was not that we didn’t believe in what we were doing or that we didn’t enjoy it anymore. Apart from the obvious constraints (money, family, ambition) there was something a lot more honest that was pushing us in different directions. We realized that we agreed with the reason why we were doing and what things we were doing to achieve that why, but not with how we were going to do them. A few months later we decided to part ways and pursue what we believed was the best for each of us.
Silo in its origin was about searching for the “what can be”. We made collaboration our flag and raised it the highest we could. And it was exactly this that made me want to explore further what doing together meant and what it can become. So I kept going.
I was not alone of course. By this time we had attracted a whole lot of people to our cause and we had created this wonderful community that was committed to sharing ideas and helping each others in making our dreams come true. We called it Colab and I fell in love with it.
With Colab I found new ways of participating and contributing to the most amazing projects. I learned what leadership really meant and that it is a role worth sharing. I was able to experiment with different concepts and create the most unlikely of partnerships.
Together we made it possible for Espaço Ó to happen and become the most special of places. From here hundreds of projects and spinoffs have grown. People have grown. I have grown.
Komuhn is the natural outcome of this story. A few of us got together and wanted to take it to the next stage to find what it can become.We built it on top of what we have learned together and are committed to continue contributing to this shared resource.
It was also created to solve a, perhaps temporary, financial problem and generate the funds that will enable us to continue sustainable for as long as needed. To do that we are proposing ourselves as a design team to projects that are growing and want to invest towards a positive impact in the world. Not only with ideas that will transform it for the better but also with the will to change the way we make those ideas happen.
Our plan to become self-sustainable is based on our decision to not depend on grants or donations but rather from fair compensation to our work. Any profit we make we want to invest it in shared resources, open to anyone, and in projects we believe in.
I am so thankful to all of you that directly or indirectly have contributed to this story. To all the people that shared their ideas and pushed for making it possible. For the friends I made, for the family they became. For the support of so many that kept doors open, made connections, believed in us. For the help from our parents and family that give us so much out of sheer love. Last but not the least for Susana and Tita and Riikka for their persistence. And Riikka again for her love.
I hope we can continue counting with your support which is now more important than ever. Keep pushing for us and sending us love, even if sometimes is in the form of a critic or a wake-up-call. And if you believe we can help in any way, your project or a project from someone you know, we thank you for sharing. We will always pay forward.
If you haven’t yet done so please visit our website (we’re so proud of it) and learn a little more about our team and our strengths. You can also join our project group where you can participate as much as you like.
People say it’s all about the journey, not the destination. I guess I found my trip with no destination.
