Customer Experience Patterns Podcast Build Your Community. Build Your Capability With Marc Fonteijn
Feb 5, 2026
Marc Fonteijn, host of the Service Design Show and founder of the Circle community for in-house service designers. He explains why he built Circle during COVID and the design principles that make virtual communities thrive. They discuss growing trust and intimacy at scale, managing global members with time-zone houses, and practical tips for mentorship and sustainable practice.
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Community Born From Pandemic Isolation
- Marc built Circle from noticing isolated in-house professionals during COVID and invited a small group to try something different.
- He designed the community as a prototype and evolved it by listening to members' feedback.
Prioritize Relationships Over Scale
- Do design principles first: prioritize relationship-building over scaling member counts.
- Do treat the community as a prototype and iterate with member feedback every few months.
Structure Enables Global Intimacy
- Use small, time-zone-aligned groups ('houses') to keep intimacy while serving global members.
- Align all groups with quarterly 'seasons' so conversations stay coherent and progressive.