Back when Orbital had a physical space, we regularly ran a variety of gatherings for our Membership: show and tells, design critiques, and sharing biannual updates and lessons learned.

The Members were a varied group—founders, freelancers, artists, folks in transition. Yet in all of these interactions, there was always something to take away from seeing and engaging around what other folks were working through.

Hosting these was always fun—it didn’t feel like work. If anything, it offered a much needed break from my own work challenges, and inspiration fodder for future ideas.

But moreover, it was a nice middle ground between working in solitude and baring your thoughts in public. It gave me an appreciation for the unique value created by combining semi-public spaces with regular reflection rituals.

In 2025, Orbital’s in a much different place:

• For starters, we don’t have a physical space, and so all of our programs are virtual.
• And, whereas Orbital in the early years was really just a vehicle for me to explore and experiment, it has a much more focused direction now: creating systems for shared learning.

To that end, I’m finding that I’m in need of such a system for myself.

While I know where I’m taking Orbital, the path forward (as always) is unclear. So, the next few years will require a lot of problem solving and iteration. I’m looking forward to the challenge, but it would be nice to have others to check-in with and learn from on a regular basis.

So, I’m re-launching the Orbital Membership as a virtual (mostly async) experience, and I’d love to invite y’all to apply to join: https://orbital.nyc/membership

The core design is fairly lightweight and simple—it's oriented around a quarterly shared reflection ritual. As the Membership grows we’ll make adjustments to accommodate the interests and needs of the group, whether it’s to add smaller spaces or also re-introduce more synchronous opportunities to engage.

Particularly if you’re engaged in unusual or weird work that doesn’t fit neatly into a mold and are pushing yourself in an ambitious direction, I encourage you to apply.

While I think this particular offering is probably geared towards soloists, there's always been something magical about gathering an ambitious set of folks working in a range of different directions, and learning from their stories, challenges and insights along the way.