Small, on purpose
We keep the Free Dreamers deliberately small. You should know every other member’s name, and what they’re working on.
The Free Dreamers
A small Harpenden group, free to imagine what a fluent town could actually become.
Hugo came up with the Free Dreamers on a retreat. The name is deliberate - this is a community for people who want to dream freely about what Harpenden could do with AI, and then go and try it. The boundaries of who’s involved matter; a tight room makes bold ideas safe.
Principles
Boundary-pushing is the point
This group exists to try the things that aren’t yet obvious - new community tools, new civic workflows, new ways to bring Harpenden together.
Warm, curious, generous
Status outside the group stays outside the group. Everyone inside the room is a peer. Disagreement is welcome; ego isn’t.
Action over talk
Every session ends with an experiment someone has committed to ship before the next one. We’d rather be wrong fast than right late.
Harpenden first
The test of any idea is: does this make Harpenden better? If the answer is “not really,” we don’t chase it here.
No free rides
Membership is a commitment - to show up, to contribute, and to bring the rest of your life with you. Passive members thin the room.
How it runs
A monthly evening in town. Dinner. Two ideas presented. Two experiments committed. Then we ship.
- Rhythm: Monthly, in-person, Harpenden venue - rotated so no single place carries the load.
- Format: Shared meal, two short presentations (bring an idea, bring a question, bring a failed attempt), and 60 minutes of generative conversation.
- Outputs: Every session produces at least two experiments someone in the room has committed to ship before the next meeting.
- Entry: By introduction, with a short conversation. We bias towards people who are already building, already serving, or already stuck - but willing.