I created Orbit because I was tired of watching my most meaningful relationships slip through the cracks.
For too long, vampiric social media companies took our social skills and handled them for us: birthdays, group chats, event invites, all while monetising our every interaction. We let them stand in for community, and they trained us to broadcast instead of connect. Then they abandoned us, leaving entire generations unsure how to hold their relationships together without a feed to scroll.
That's not just a digital problem. It's a deeply human one.
Dunbar's social circles
British anthropologist Robin Dunbar showed that humans evolved to manage their relationships in concentric circles: at the core, just a handful of our closest loved ones; then a ring of fifteen good friends; fifty friends; and so on, up to about 150 meaningful contacts, the size of a human village.
Beyond that, relationships fade. Even with social media's promise of thousands of "friends," our social brains remain beautifully human, bound by time, trust, and emotional bandwidth.
Dunbar's concentric circles: from your closest loved ones to the outer edge of meaningful connection.
The moment it clicked
Then, on a long interstate drive with my kids asleep in the back seat, I listened to The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath.
They told the story of Eugene O'Kelly, the former CEO of KPMG US, who was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and given just months to live. Instead of withdrawing, he instinctively drew a series of concentric circles of people: from his life partner, to his children and family, to his lifetime friends, and finally to business associates and connections who had touched his life.
He spent his final days creating Perfect Moments with each group, moving from the innermost circle outward. Not a bucket list, but simple, beautiful time spent together, fully present. He found more life in those last months than in many years of his career.
Even in the digital age, it's human circles, not feeds, that sustain us.
Orbit is my response
Orbit is my response. A space where you can see your people in circles, not in endless lists. A place to reflect, reconnect, and nurture the bonds that make us human. A place to build your own Perfect Moments.
Orbit is also about ownership. Your data is yours, your relationships and connections are yours. It's built on your contacts, and you can feed it back into your own apps or export it anywhere. You can even keep the whole system local and readable on your own computer or device.
Let's rebuild the circles and skills that sustain us. Welcome to Orbit.
From Bart