Technology and the Internet, and theirrole in our lives, has changed how wecommunicate, get and share inormation,the media we consume, and the reasons we engage with each other — online andofine. The eects o these changes arebeing elt by all o us, every day, all the time.Inormation moves aster. People aremore closely connected. The expectations we all have or what we want to see and hearhave changed. The kind o relationshipand support we want rom organizationshave been redened. Our connection to theissues and events that dene our world hasbeen transormed.The ubiquity o technology and the reacho the Internet make it possible to spread amessage arther and have it be embraced by more people than ever beore. The rise o social platorms leaves no doubt that we areone global, interconnected community andcapable o taking action on issues we pas-sionately share. The available tools makeit possible or everyone to have a platormrom which to speak, and anyone to spark a bottom-up, grassroots-ueled revolutionthat has power no individual or entity could generate.The result: these massive, disruptivechanges to our society orce us to change.How organizations operate, organize,and communicate must be re-imagined.The passion and interest o individualsall around the world must be reocusedand redirected. The ways that companiesmeasure success should be re-envisioned.The way we promote big ideas, und new ventures, and pursue dierent opportuni-ties must be re-congured.The rst step is to think dierently.

WeThink is a conversation aboutinnovation and the uture o our society —an efort to explore new ideas andpromote solutions to the challengesthat our society is acing.WeThink is driven by a simple concept:We Media changes the way we innovate.

It orces new approaches to the ways that we create, sustain, and grow successul ven-tures. We Media enhances the structures,models and economies that support human communication, interaction andachievement. And it challenges us toreview our existing approaches, break apart our established structures, and re-buildour approach to the uture.

We Media changes everything.We Media makes us think diferently.We Media is a movement — a concept —that helps explain how we know what weknow, who we trust, and how we learn.

It’sabout power o the community. We Mediais part o the innite quest to harnessthe power o media, communication andhuman ingenuity or the common good.

WeMedia is central to the work o today’sbusiness leaders, technologists, inves-tors, entrepreneurs, news and productmanagers, social activists, public policy-makers and knowledge creators.

It is asimple way o describing how everything in our lie is ragmenting and blurring.For those who pursue innovation WeMedia is an invitation to use media andtechnology to establish new lines o

WeThink.Dierently.

Our society has changed — dramatically —over the past ew decades. We oten talk about these changes in the context o business(fattening), technology (opening) and community (connecting). But changes are being seeneverywhere, in every community, and by every sector o our society.

communication and intelligence gath-ering. For those who support and promotechange, We Media is an opportunity toreinvent the process o entrepreneurship,and explore new ways o motivating people and positioning organizations tocommunicate, solve problems and conduct business dierently.

A total reset in thinking

Today, we live in a globalized, smaller,more tightly connected and more deeply intertwined world than ever beore. Eachone o us has the ability to transorm the way the world thinks about critically impor-tant issues. Each o us brings a dierent set o insights, experiences, and perspectivesthat challenge the established structuresand call into the question the agreed-uponprotocols or how work gets done. Even themost successul companies and leaders will now have their ideas challenged. But the radical shits that we expect to seehaven’t happened yet. Not ully. Not in the ways that we think, and sometimes know,are now possible.The tools and channels that have beencreated in the last ew years have generateda lot o excitement and attention, but theunderlying models and structures that are driving innovation, and creating themarketplace or new companies hasn’t ully changed. To create change, we haveto begin by recognizing that the ways that we reach, educate, engage and mobilizeaudiences aren’t working anymore – that technology can acilitate the activities andbehaviors we believe are needed, but thecontent we deliver and communities wesupport are critical components as well.The structure and ocus o businessmust change.In today’s world, success doesn’t comeas a result o good communications orcreative marketing. A fashy launch doesn’t generate the same kind o excitement it has in the past. Most new ideas, no matterhow good, don’t break through — andthe ones that do are struggling to scale, orgenerate revenue. It is not easy to embracean approach that hasn’t been tested. It iseven more dicult to try something truly dierent. But it’s necessary.

A challenge to the existing structure

The public is more engaged than everbeore, more capable o collecting andsharing inormation with a wider audience— or ree — than at any point in our his-tory. This drives greater interest in mediaand a greater opportunity to oster andpromote new ideas, that include a larger,more diverse audience in the shaping andsupporting o companies and innova-tions than ever beore. A more diverse andinteresting culture is emerging. We havean unprecedented opportunity to engage,drive participation, and mobilize action innew and exciting ways.This is an invitation to act.

Think bigger.

The potential or technology and the Internet to redene how peoplepursue big ideas is huge. But we have torecognize that the majority o the popula-tion doesn’t live in Silicon Valley, careslittle about the community that builds anddeploys new technologies and platorms,and never realizes even the most basicbenets o the ventures that are created. What the audience wants, and cares about,is nding value in the things they buy,support rom the services they are oered,and ulllment rom the time they spend –however it is applied. The way(s) that new ventures are supported today don’t oerthat in most cases. They avor old models,slight changes to existing approaches, andsae ideas. They care more about narrow metrics than broad impact.To break this cycle, the organizationalstructures and approaches that are in placeto support ventures and oster innova-tion should be abandoned. Instead o measuring success by attracting a massaudience or a simple oering, we shouldlook to build ventures that benet rom theunique and powerul commitments that small, dedicated, passionate audiencescan make. We should look at how to shit,and adapt, the commitments that organi-zations are making, and how they sharethem with the world — how the reach andinfuence o the crowd can help individualcompanies, as well as communities, toachieve their desired results. We shouldlook or more opportunities to bring together disparate ideas, across sectors anddisciplines — so the silos that exist withinorganizations, and the sel-reinorcing belies that stife true creativity and change,can nally be abandoned. When we do this— i we can think bigger — we can makeinnovation a shared interest and commonopportunity, not the domain o only ahandul o people and groups.

Be the media.

No single publication,channel or service has the ability to coverthe ull range o what is happening in the world, or satisy the diverse interests o people who are interested, or even already involved, in the quest to push the boundarieso innovation. The mainstream discussiono new ideas and ventures is paltry, andto the extent which any coverage exists,

To create change, we have tobegin by recognizing that theways that we reach, educate,engage and mobilize audiencesaren’t working anymore.We should look or moreopportunities to bring togetherdisparate ideas, across sectorsand disciplines — so the silosthat exist within organizations,and the sel-reinorcing beliesthat stie true creativity andchange, can nally be abandoned.

2WETHINK. DIFFERENTLY.

there are huge gaps in the knowledge andperspective that is oered. There are blogsand eeds to ollow and so-called experts who share their thoughts and perspectives,but many people simply aren’t aware o what is happening or what opportunitiesexist. New ventures, and the community that supports them, spend most o theirtime talking to each other, despite theinrastructure that allows them to com-municate, educate, engage and mobilizeaudiences everywhere.The concept that any organization can beits own media is ar rom new. Organizationscan seize the opportunity to create coverage,to share inormation, to explain moreissues, and to tell more compelling stories.The venture community can help inormits audience and support their interests.Those who push innovative solutions canuse their infuence and credibility, thepartnerships that they have developed, andthe channels that are widely available today (and in some cases were built thanks totheir support and unding), to elevate thediscussion, increase awareness, and inviteeedback and discussion.

Do More!

Our world is obsessed with big:big business, big audiences, big excite-ment. But size and scope are not alwaysthe most eective ways to create change,or do interesting things. When it comesto ostering innovation and creating suc-cessul, sustainable ventures the resultsare still pretty disappointing. For every success story there are hundreds, maybethousands, o mismanaged opportunities.For every new model that is developedor game-changer that emerges, millions o dollars and hours were wasted on projectsthat never should have been pursued. Weneed to do more. We need to do better.There should be more voices, more accessto inormation, more collaboration, andmore ambition. Fueled by technology, weall have the ability to learn or discuss what-ever we believe is relevant, to produce anddistribute inormation so that it reachesaudiences any time, any place, with a morediverse (and deeply invested) audience, andthrough any device.Instead o a ew dozen unders and valida-tors, there should be thousands. Insteado holding competitions to highlight the best ideas, we should be organizing more opportunities to make the ideaseven better. Instead o rewarding owner-ship and encourage secrecy, we should beacilitating openness and encouraging collaboration.Everyone has an ability to nd solutions,break down barriers, and help addresscomplex issues and challenges. The ven-ture community must do more to expandthe reach and impact o its work, andmake connections with people who aren’t currently involved. The people who osterinnovation, at every level, must do more tohelp shape and dene the ways we respondto the challenges that exist in our society – not by taking on the burden themselves,but by distributing the responsibility andsupporting learning and action.

The Time To Change Is Now

We haven’t seen many startups ully embrace the potential that technology andthe Internet has created, or the unders who enable their work demand evengreater outcomes than we are currently realizing. We haven’t seen many organiza-tions making the kinds o changes that are necessary. Even the largest and most highly regarded organizations are barely scratching the surace o what is possible.Everyone is ailing at something.Organizations are still spending too muchtime trying to contain the conversations,to shape and channel their interests andbehaviors o people in the world to suit a particular agenda or advance theirparticular eorts. Most people are trying to sell a new tool, a widget or a structuredapproach. Organizations still ocus mostly on how to communicate most eectively,the best ways to deliver a message, and thetools that can help them broadcast theirmessage to the most people. People still want to have control. But no organizationor institution has control anymore.The content o those messages, how they relate to their audience, or the ways that their ideas might t with the rest o theinormation experience that people arehaving every day, is what will motivateaction and drive outcomes. The commu-nity has greater potential or infuence thanany one organization can even begin toimagine. Organizations should be looking to support and enhance the interests o their audience, to engage them in conversa-tion, and to listen to what they are saying. An organization’s willingness – and ability — to meet the needs and satisy the inter-ests o the individuals who demonstratean interest is what will determine whether your work is meaningul and measurable inthe uture. Anyone can use the tools, or build theirown. But technology is not the answer. What you do with those tools is what matters. How well you know your audi-ence is what should dene your actions.Organizations must spend more timeadapting and evolving, ocusing onimproving their activities based on what they hear, and the opportunities that people beyond their walls are helping tocreate or them.

We need to do more. We needto do beer. There should bemore voices, more access toinormation, more collaboration,and more ambition.The community has greaterpotential or inuence thanany one organization caneven begin to imagine.