Melanie Aronson 00:00

Panion actually started as more of a consumer product based on helping people who move to new places to find people who shared their interests, values, goals, and experiences. It's over time evolved into more of a community management platform.

Intro 00:15

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders, without listening to a long, long, long, interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresh values your time and is ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:41

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast and we're doing something a little bit different this year with some of our episodes. We're repurposing some of our favorite episodes around specific topics related to entrepreneurship. This month we're focusing on entrepreneurship and community. Us, We, our, together, and we're gonna look at entrepreneurship and industries and different types of entrepreneurship and ultimately what that really means. But we're also gonna delve deeper into the importance of community, networking, niche communities and how that supports being a CEO, entrepreneur and business owner. So sit back and enjoy these special episodes around entrepreneurship and community.

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Melanie Aronson of Panion. Melanie, it's great to have you on the show.

Melanie Aronson 01:27

Thanks for having me.

Gresham Harkless 01:28

Super excited to have you on. And before we jumped into the interview, I wanted to read a little bit more about Melanie so you could hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Melanie is the founder and CEO of Panion a people-first community management platform, helping organizations build more privacy, empathy, and meaningful connections into online and offline communities. She has a bachelor's in Anthropology from Columbia University and a master's in documentary filmmaking from the School of Visual Arts and NYC. She's a Fulbright recipient. Melanie worked in sales for Apple for almost three years and for more than 10 years as a freelance filmmaker, photographer, and designer. Melanie has lived an international life residing in NYC, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and now in Portugal. Melanie, super excited to have you on the show and hear about all the awesome things you're doing. Are you ready to speak to the I am CEO community?

Melanie Aronson 02:13  Yes, definitely.

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Gresham Harkless 02:15

Awesome. Well, let's do it then. So to kind of kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit, and hear a little bit more on how you got started, what I call your CEO story.

Melanie Aronson 02:22

It happened by accident. Actually, I had a completely different career. I had, as you said, finished my master's in documentary filmmaking. I was working as a cinematographer and photographer and started my own film production company in Sweden. I moved to Sweden on a full break grant and was doing research for a documentary there on integration at the height of the migration influx into Europe in 2014. Then I realized that there was this recurring problem. I was noticing in my research for that film, which was, people were having trouble making new friends in a new place, in a new culture. Panion actually started, as more of a consumer product based on helping people who moved to new places to find people who shared their interests, values, goals, experiences. It's over time evolved into more of a community management platform, especially influenced by the pandemic and the shift that our whole society has taken into a more digitalized way of socializing, but also want to move away from social media and want something more authentic.

Gresham Harkless 03:24

Absolutely. And so I want to drill down a little bit more and hear a little bit more about Panion and how it works. I know you touched on it a little bit, but I wanted to hear a little bit more on how you serve the clients you work with.

Melanie Aronson 03:33

Sure. So essentially we do have quite a few platforms out there helping communities kind of transition away from, I would say, like Facebook groups and these more social media-type faces. But I think that there still really isn't a platform that is focusing primarily on people and building new pathways to people and you know, the influence of building a product that helps people meet in person and build meaningful connections. We took that and put that into a community platform that is, now a B2B solution that helps community managers, organizations build communities primarily from existing communities they might have in other forms. So newsletters, email lists. Maybe it's an employees organizations that have maybe a lot of different stakeholders, whether it's volunteers and investors and people working in that organization reaching out to people that they serve. And so our approach is really everything is people First. It's about helping people use tech to meet new people, connect with people, learn from each other, and attend events together. So instead of creating a platform that is yet another space for just kind of sharing content and posting things, we do accommodate that but the way that we've designed the platform is really to facilitate people to get to know each other and connect in a new way. So part of that is also through mentorship. We're really passionate about helping people who have something to offer, and I think other people who are looking to grow to connect with each other. And so using tech, using machine learning, and using algorithms to connect those people within the community.

I think one thing we learned from the B2C product was that it's not enough to say, okay, we both like tennis, we're gonna be friends. It's a very wide net. But if you have a community where you're all either on the same journey towards some common goal, or you're all passionate about, a certain value or belief, and then you look for people with shared interests within that. You have less, you don't have such a wide net, and you're already starting from a place where you have something that you share and that actually can lead to some really meaningful interactions with people. So our products are really focused on connecting the people and obviously sharing knowledge and content is part of that, but it is so much more and we feel that there really aren't any products that understand that and are designed for that.

Gresham Harkless 06:06

Nice. I absolutely love that word that you said, journey, because I think a lot of times, sometimes great aspects of the journey, sometimes the less than great act aspects of that journey are actually a lot of times what binds us. So I love that you've delved into it and created something that, as you said, is at a time I think when people are desiring more and more connection.

Melanie Aronson 06:26

Yeah, I definitely think that. Also the pandemic made us realize that there is value in online connections, but there are good online connections and there are less beneficial online connections and you can build meaningful online connections. People online can be incredibly supportive, especially in times of need like we've seen in the last few years. But we are also seeing a shift in the fact that communities are more digitized, but they also value being offline. I mean, we all miss those in-person connections but now we're in this phase of having this hybrid between online and offline, you know, we're going back to offline events, but we're still gonna always have these webinars and be influenced by all of the online experiences we had during the pandemic.

You need to have a product that accommodates that can allow you to do both, that can build a community that straddles the online and the offline, that straddles the globalized community and the local aspect of that community. So you can meet people in your area within a community, but you can also connect with people across the world who are in that same community, and the technology facilitates that in a way where you're not bombarded with so much information and so many irrelevant things, that it understands what you need and that we can use these kinds of algorithms.

And you know, we're really scared of Amazon, like knowing what we're interested in buying, but if you use it within the context of community and you're not using it to sell things and to manipulate people, but you're using it to curate experiences so that you save people time and help them get connected to a person faster and you have good intentions behind it. I think there's a lot of power that technology can bring, to building connections. We need to use technology responsibly and we need to build technology responsibly.

Gresham Harkless 08:11

Yeah, absolutely. And I love that you used that word responsibility because that's exactly what I was thinking of being stewards to be able to make sure that we are creating like those good experiences, especially from a social standpoint in terms of the connections and the people that we're doing, not taking away from people or making them feel less or all of those things that a lot of time we've heard about social media and even the documentary, the social dilemma alluded to a lot of that as well too so I truly appreciate that. So I, wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce, and you might have already touched on this, but this could be for your business, it could be for yourself personally, or a combination of both, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Melanie Aronson 08:50

I mean, I would say that our approach to everything we do is we're really mission-driven. We really genuinely care about connecting people and building a product that makes people feel good and makes people feel included. I think the people that work, on a product, on a company, need to reflect on what you're trying to build and the values that you believe in throughout everything.

Gresham Harkless 09:14

Nice. I absolutely love that and you could definitely hear that in everything that you've been able to build. I love that aspect about being very mission-driven because like you said, I think when you have that strong mission, you have those strong values, those morals, those things on how you want to build that company. I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

Melanie Aronson 09:38

I think you have to take care of yourself. I think at the beginning I was trying to do so many things and feeling really stressed, and then I realized that I'm better at leading and building and creating if I also really take care of myself and give myself self space and time to feel good. I do yoga every morning, try to meditate as much as possible, try to really relax and do things. Enjoy life on the weekends, like really taking breaks. I think this is important to be able to be there and for your team and to be able to think clearly when you are working, that separation. I've learned a lot, especially living in Europe about that separation, the work-life balance, and also being a good example for everyone else on the team so that they don't feel stressed and letting them know if you have something personal that you definitely needs to be prioritized. I also think the other thing starting off, like really early on is that I learned basically how to do everything except code. So I learned every role in my company because I wanted to be able to hire people that were better than I was at it.

Gresham Harkless 10:52

Nice. Yeah, I absolutely love that hack and being able to, as you said at first, to be able to understand and make sure your cup is full because you can't pour from an empty cup. So would you consider that to be like CEO nugget, which is a little bit more of a word of wisdom? I, usually say it might be something if you were to hop into a machine, you might tell your younger business self. Is it that you would definitely tell yourself that maybe,  or tell anybody I guess you could say too to learn all the aspects of the business so that you can make really good hiring decisions.

[Melanie Aronson 11:23

I think that's one thing. I think there are a lot of things I would tell myself looking back. I think I'd say another thing and this is more for people that are fundraising I guess, is that you know when you're looking for investors, they also have to be the right fit for you. And I think at the beginning you're so hungry to get some money in and to be able to survive that you wanna please everybody, and then you start to get to know the scene and get to talk to more investors and understand that it's a partnership, it's a marriage. You need to like them back and actually, you need to also make them feel like  you want that, that they have to deserve you as much as you deserve them, or I don't know what the right explanation is, but that you have standards and that you have criteria, and that you feel a connection with them, that they understand your mission, that you know you should be selective. I didn't.

I learned that on my own. I wish I had learned that earlier. At the beginning, I was so nervous, and then first I was like trying to perfect the pitch and realizing that everyone's different than the people that really get to you. Some aren't just trying to poke holes in your solution, and in your pitch, but they're really genuinely interested because they love what you're doing that'll shine through and those are the people that you want as investors. If you feel uncomfortable with someone, it's not the right person. If you feel like you have to impress them and kind of answer a thousand questions because they're interrogating you, it's probably not the right person. I wish I'd known that because it did cause a lot of stress at the beginning and now I feel like I'm more and more equal ground with when I talk to investors and I feel like that confidence also makes them more interested in getting to know me and our company.

Gresham Harkless 13:05

Yeah, that's absolutely huge. I appreciate you so much in sharing that, and sometimes we forget about that especially when we have investors or people that are fundraising or people that we want to kind of bring in as that resource and a lot of resources even beyond that as well too, we forget about that connection piece, like everything that you've been able to build. Melanie, I truly appreciate that and I wanted to ask what I like to call my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote CEOs on this show. So Melanie, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Melanie Aronson 13:33

I think being a CEO is very hard to define. I think it's, there's a lot of elements to it, but I think what's really important is being able to really look at yourself and be listening, be learning constantly. Improving yourself and improving the way that you approach things, and it's overseeing everything and trying to put all the pieces together. But it's also overseeing yourself and trying to negotiate all of those external things you're trying to do with the internal growth and reflection. So I think it's a very complex role that keeps you very busy, of course. I think it's really valuable, the type of self-growth that you encounter when you have all of these responsibilities and you are working with all these different types of people and you have to bridge together all the aspects of your business, from customers to your team, to your stakeholders, investors. It's very multifaceted and it really helps you learn a lot of new things about yourself, about business and really kind of being that guiding vision forward that everybody, that north star that people can follow and realign to when they feel like they're not quite sure what to be doing or what direction to go in. So I think it's a very valuable role that's very hard to define.

Gresham Harkless 14:58

Absolutely. No, I love that definition and that perspective. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know, and of course how best they can get ahold of you and find out about all the awesome things you and your team are working on.

Melanie Aronson 15:11

Find us on our website panion.com and on our social media, we're on pretty much the major platforms, I think in Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Appreciating the journey and appreciating what you learn along the way, for me, I look back and I've already won in a sense because I've learned so much about business, about myself, about leadership, about people, and I think if you have that mindset that you can see all of these positive moments, even though it's really difficult and you can see the challenges as something that make you grow, you can enjoy the journey no matter whether you feel like you succeeded at the end or not to look success because you know, you developed and you learned and you take all of that when you try again the next time.

Gresham Harkless 16:05

Absolutely. I truly appreciate that, Melanie. We will definitely have the links and information in the show note, and I appreciate your time even more, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Melanie Aronson 16:14 Thank you.

Outro 6:14

Thank you for listening to the I am CEO podcast, powered by CB Nation and Blue 16 media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I am CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Don't forget to schedule your complimentary digital marketing consultation at blues16media.com. This has been the I am CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless, Jr. Thank you for listening.

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