It started as Eureka a community for creatives in tech, built in Lagos by two friends who believed that the people building technology deserved a space to connect, share, and grow together.
And for a while, it worked. We had a WhatsApp group, a small but real community, and the kind of energy that happens when people find others who think like them.
Then my co-founder stepped away.
The silence wasn’t a strategy. It was a mistake.
I won’t get into the details of the co-founder situation that’s their story to tell, not mine. What I will say is that losing a co-founder makes you question everything. Is this thing real if it’s just me? Was the community the two of us, or was it bigger than that? Should I shut it down or keep going?
I didn’t have answers. So I went quiet.
For about two months, nothing happened. No messages, no updates, no honesty with the community about what was going on. I told myself I was “figuring things out,” but really I was just avoiding the conversation. The people who had joined Eureka who had showed up, introduced themselves, shared their work deserved better than silence. That’s a lesson I won’t forget.
What the silence gave me was clarity.
I realized three things:
The name needed to change.
Eureka was generic. It could have been anything — a startup accelerator, a Slack group, a newsletter. It didn’t say what we actually were.
The mission needed to sharpen.
“A community for creatives in tech” is too broad. What specifically are we doing when we show up? What’s the thing that makes this different from every other Discord server?
The community needed structure.
A WhatsApp group with good vibes isn’t enough. People need a reason to come back. They need programs, rituals, and a space that’s designed for what we’re trying to do.
So I rebuilt it. From scratch.
The community is now Common Chronicles a name that says exactly what we are. We’re the shared (“common”) stories (“chronicles”) of people building in tech.
We exist at the intersection of two ideas:
The Tech Commons
The belief that some of what we build should be shared, open, and for the public good.
Storytelling
The belief that the human stories behind technology matter as much as the technology itself. The doubt, the failure, the detour, the moment you almost quit those stories deserve to be told.
Here’s what we’re building.
Story Circles
Monthly sessions where someone shares the real story behind their work. Not the LinkedIn version. The real one.
Failure Fridays
Biweekly conversations about what didn’t work and what we learned. Because most communities only celebrate wins, and the losses are where the real lessons live.
Commons ProjectsComing soon
Open-source and public-good projects we build together.
Global SpotlightsComing soon
Highlighting tech stories from underrepresented regions, starting with Lagos and expanding outward.
This is still the beginning.
We’re a small community. The branding is still in progress. The programs are just launching. There’s no venture funding, no corporate sponsor, no growth hack. Just a rebuilt Discord server, a website, and a founder who learned the hard way that silence isn’t a strategy.
If any of this resonates if you’ve ever wanted a community where you can talk about the messy parts of building, not just the highlights you’re in the right place.
The door is open. Come build the commons with us.
— David Orisabiyi, Lagos