Ben's big ideas.

Businesses should create communities

Have you ever seen the movie Crash? Sandra Bullock is angry all the time. Don Cheadle is eternally conflicted and Ryan Phillipe kills a man.

The point is, it’s a film about lots of different people who are brought together by events. Imagine them as lonely planets that all have the fact that they can see the sun in common - they don’t all see it at the same time but they all can.

How does this impact the world of business? Well, people are generally the same. Individuals who travel through life, define themselves and find friends based on whether they can see the sun at the same time as us.

Maybe we love our pets and post pictures of them on Facebook all the time - an amazing opportunity for pet stores and vets - or maybe we enjoy finding new music, which we then claim to hate when everyone else discovers it - great opportunity for unsigned acts and independent venues.

Whatever the ‘sun’ may be for different people, there’s always an opportunity to sell them your sunglasses if you spend a little time covering them with your sunbrella. And they might even recommend them to their friends too if you stand by them.

The moral to this story? Find your planets and turn them into a little hyperlocal galaxy - even if geographically they’re light-years apart, technology can help you build one of those cool bridges off Thor.