This is not our first rodeo. We’ve built two other profitable agency businesses. When it was time to start Humane Club, no more was it about simply earning a livelihood. We wanted to build what we wanted to do for the rest of our lives.
Here we articulate what does it mean to be humane — not something highfalutin; instead, everyday things that address everyday daily necessities with elegance and freedom.
– Dhara and Ritvvij
You’ve put in the work to build up our expertise, skills, and credibility in one field. Your identity, businesses, initiatives, and causes are your Life’s Work.
You are:
We are not like Venture Capital (VC) funded products that are just there to make a financial profit. If they stop making profit, they get arbitrarily killed (remember Google Reader), get acquired (remember Posterous, Nuzzel), or go out of fashion (remember Orkut).
You’ve built up credibility over decades and have things to lose from taking short-term, opportunistic decisions.
Hence:
Problem: It is common for people to stand out online for the sake of it. Influencers showcase their latest fast fashion. People eat Instagram-friendly food. While chasing the latest trend might be gratifying, in the long term, it is shallow and hollow.
Solution: It is extremely difficult to come up with a product that is completely new and unique. It is advisable to think of a concept that your audience is already familiar with and a product your audience considers ‘normal’ and attempt to improve it. The improvement will make it a ‘super normal’ product. In fact, the most important products in our lives aren’t the ones that stand out but the ones that get the least attention, but it would be impossible to live without them.
Amazon follows something similar.
Our decisions:
The best writers do not ghost write. The best builders do not rehash white labeled generics. The best researchers publish papers. The best bootstrapped entrepreneurs do not go about distributing their equity. You wear your work on your sleeve.
Yet, sadly on the Internet, we are all renters because of our addiction to free tools provided by BigTech.
Our decisions:
You are well-positioned to run your own media operation because you’re already highly educated, mindful, and thoughtful. You already have the material!
Let’s say two books are produced at ₹50 per copy. Yet some books will sell at a price of ₹100 and others will be at ₹400. The difference is, what is the customer’s willingness to pay (WTP).
Media will raise your customer’s willingness to pay. Here’s how:
Our decisions:
You convey your best understanding of reality backed by evidence and data.
Our decisions:
You are comfortable in your skin:
You’re here for the long term. Given that, you see the benefit in being part of a community and being civic-minded.
Our decisions:
You do not have fear of missing out (FOMO). You are ambitious but not aggressive about it. I’m sure you’d want this for the Internet we all inhabit.
Problem: However, products that profit from advertisements use persuasive technologies — algorithms and notifications — to mold your behavior, opinions, and attitudes to meet their company objectives. You keep returning to their platform and spending more time out of FOMO or by driving you into echo chambers. This does long-term harm to you, your children, your business, and your civic information space.
Solution: But life doesn’t happen in an app but outside. So Humane Products want you to get the job done as soon as possible and exit. Additionally, they recognize that life can be stressful, and hence they often build gratitude right in.
Our decisions:
“Yeah, but I have something he’ll never have: Enough.”
Joseph Heller, American novelist and the author of Catch-22.
The essence of maintaining work-life balance, enjoying what you do, and building a sustainable operation is having a sense of this is enough — from a sense of satisfaction.
Our decisions:
Examples of People Like Us
We keep searching for products that look Humane, hear Humane, or feel Humane.
Below are ideas and products that best exemplify these ideas.