Boat anniversary cancelled = best night ever
Kreator Letter #15. The founder letter I write for our Karisma community. The raw journey and the learnings.
We had the 5-year Karisma anniversary planned to the millimeter.
90 tickets. Sold out. Catamaran booked. Sunset ride across the Barcelona coast.
It was supposed to be perfect.
Until it wasn’t.
That morning, I woke up to a WhatsApp message that simply said:
“Too windy. We have to cancel.”
My stomach dropped.
The last thing I wanted to do was plan a new event from scratch on a Saturday. But before I could even react, my team was already moving.
Ary (our events & partnerships wizard) called every rooftop in Barcelona until one said yes.
We sent one message with a Google Maps link and start time 6pm. No event page and no idea how many people would actually show up.
Then, something magical happened.
One by one, people started showing up — the ones from our first coliving, the first joiners of the social club in 2023, the newest faces from this month.
We had no agenda, no speakers, no production. And despite freezing our asses off, we stayed until 11:30pm.
All of the right people were there and that’s what it was all about.
But the moment that hit me hardest came when I was handed a golden notebook.
Inside were hand written messages from almost everyone about how Karisma had changed their life, their path, their sense of belonging...
I read them all that night before going to sleep. And yeah, I almost cried.
Because there were years I doubted everything. Times I thought maybe I was wasting my time.
And yet, here we are.
Five years later.
Business is booming.
Our best month ever in September. Over 200 applications a month. A team that’s on fire. The biggest Wellness Rave in Spain. And (most importantly) people’s lives being transformed.
It’s surreal.
Because I built Karisma for me. It started as the thing I wished existed for myself — a place to connect with ambitious people who also wanted to grow. Not just in business, but in life.
And seeing what it’s become... it’s wild.
So if you’re reading this and you’re building something of your own — keep going.
Even when it feels like it’s not working. Even when no one believes in it yet. Even when you want to give up.
Because one day, everything that once felt impossible will feel inevitable.
Life is good
Marc