The trouble began with an algorithm. In an investor Q&A filed with the SEC in 2019, Minds described what happened when Facebook changed how it distributed posts: organic reach fell, revenues followed, and the company faced a survival crisis. The business trying to offer an alternative to the social giants had discovered how much it depended on them.
That detail makes today’s Minds easier to understand. Open its website and the invitation is to build a social app for your own brand. The company still operates its public network. But it also sells the machinery behind the gathering: feeds, groups, memberships and mobile apps. Its argument begins with an uncomfortable question. If somebody else can turn down the volume, how much of your audience do you own?
- Two businesses: a free social network and paid software for branded communities.
- The attraction: control of your domain, member contacts and customer relationships.
- The catch: software supplies the room; you still have to fill it.
A network learns about dependence
Founded in 2011, Minds took its public platform live in 2015. Bill Ottman, its co-founder and CEO, wanted an open-source alternative to the prevailing social model. John Ottman, his father and the company’s chairman, and engineering co-founder Mark Harding helped build the business. Privacy, inspectable code and user rewards became parts of its identity.
The early rewards were digital points. Users earned them through activity and spent them inside the network. In a 2018 interview, Ottman explained that blockchain offered greater transparency and security, helping motivate the move toward Ethereum-based tokens. The sequence matters: a working reward mechanism came before the blockchain version. There was already a behavior to support.
“We needed to build our own independently sustainable community.”
Minds, investor Q&A filed in 2019
The funding followed several routes. Community crowdfunding brought in just over $1 million in 2017. Medici Ventures announced a $6 million Series A investment in October 2018. A reported $10 million Series B from FUTO followed in 2021. Those checks financed a particular experiment in social networking; they do not establish that the experiment has become profitable.
The headphones explain the business
For a less abstract account of the newer product, consider Squiglink. It serves audiophiles who compare frequency-response graphs for headphones and in-ear monitors. A niche within a niche, with plenty to discuss. According to Minds’ August 2024 case study, Squiglink’s website attracted about 30,000 monthly visitors, while community conversation happened on Discord.
The arrangement separated the audience from the business. People left the website to talk, while their email relationships belonged to the third-party platform. Squiglink launched a branded Minds Network and promoted it modestly through YouTube. Minds reports paid memberships grew more than 10% within a week. That is a vendor-reported outcome, with no published control group; it is useful as an example, not a forecast.
What can a reader copy? Start with an existing reason for people to gather. Put discussion close to the content they already visit. Offer membership benefits they can recognize. Collect direct relationships with permission. Then measure whether members return and pay. Launching a branded app is one step in that sequence, not evidence that the whole sequence works.
What it costs to hold the keys
Minds Networks competes in the market for community software, alongside services such as Mighty Networks and Circle. Discord and Facebook Groups are practical alternatives for organizers who mainly need a place to talk. Minds emphasizes open-source code, custom branding and connections to the wider social web. Its experience operating its own network is part of the sales pitch.
The published entry price is $50 a month. Community and Business plans start at $500 and $1,000. The advertised Business package with a branded native mobile app costs $2,000 a month, plus a $10,000 setup fee. That makes the first twelve months $34,000 before overages and other expenses. “Launch an app” covers very different commitments depending on which app you mean.
Mobile package adds $10,000 once. Usage overages can apply.
Membership receipts connect directly to the operator’s Stripe account, and Minds says it takes no platform percentage on Networks memberships. Processing still costs money. Hosting bills remain. So does the labor of welcoming newcomers, handling reports and publishing material worth opening. The economic proposition is more control over the relationship, in exchange for taking responsibility for it.
An open door still needs hinges
The product bundles familiar community functions: chat, groups, paywalled posts, notifications and website comments. RSS can bring existing publishing into the feed; single sign-on can connect existing accounts. The public Minds network also offers blogs, video, promotion through Boost, and paid upgrades. Creators can participate there without becoming operators of a separate community.
ActivityPub lets compatible networks exchange social activity. Minds’ documentation describes it through the analogy of email between providers. It also lists limits: its published implementation table marks account moves unsupported and some other activities unfinished. That documentation was last updated in 2023. Federation is a useful connection, but buyers should test the particular interactions they need.
Governance needs testing, too. Minds has advocated dialogue and experimented with community juries for moderation appeals. An early company post acknowledged that internal miscommunication produced mistaken strikes. Transparent rules can help people challenge decisions. They cannot remove the need to make decisions, or guarantee that members will find the resulting atmosphere welcoming.
The room is only the beginning
Minds reports more than five million registered users. Registrations describe accumulated reach, not how many people are active today. Its newer customer stories, including a May 2025 crypto-community app launch, show the software reaching beyond the original network. They do not yet settle the harder questions of retention or durable business performance.
For an organizer with a loyal audience, direct membership revenue and staff to care for the community, the offer is concrete. For someone expecting software to conjure an audience, it is expensive optimism. Open source provides a possible exit through self-hosting, which requires technical work. Minds can help you hold the keys. Giving people a reason to walk through the door remains your job.