Big Chill creator Pete Lawrence is setting his sights on a new, community-driven social network. He explains why he won't be selling out to venture capitalists any time soon

Pic-nic Village, the new project by Pete Lawrence, co-founder and former director of boutique music and arts festival the Big Chill, is the entrepreneur’s alternative to the “faceless capitalism and shady data-trading which otherwise prevails” on existing social networks. He says there’s no blueprint for what he’s doing, which means it’s bamboozled financiers and is “quite hard” to categorise. But he’s convinced that there’s a place for an online cooperative social network and is intrigued by the “playground of possibilities” for the venture.

Lawrence resigned from Big Chill in February 2008, eighteen months before the business was sold to big business promoter Festival Republic. What started out as a multimedia project in 1994 had lost some of it its soul, explains Lawrence, and its “golden era” had passed. “It had grown so much, and so quickly, that we’d lost the intimacy, the community spirit,” he says. And for a man who’s always taken an interest in projects that are based on collaboration and giving something back, he felt it was time to leave.

Often labelled as a “tastemaker” or influencer, Lawrence says it’s the unknown potential of something that drives him, rather than the desire to make a fast buck. Obviously, he’s hoping Pic-nic Village will be profitable when it goes live in 2011—especially since 15 per cent of its profits will go to community projects—but mostly, he’s in it to “bring down barriers” and watch a concept come to life.

So what is the concept? The literature describes Pic-nic Village as an “evolutionary social community where creative thinkers can collaborate in an online social network. Funded, owned and shaped by its members, it will be a catalyst for new ideas, initiatives and collaborations.” It’s aimed at those in, for example, the music, film, art, fashion, design, or architecture industries. Everything will be under one roof, allowing pictures, movies, blogs, and events to be stored and shared.

Building on the seed capital provided by “five or six individuals with a few bob”, Pic-nic Village is using crowdfunding to raise at least £750,000 to develop the project. So investors might pay £100 for one share and two years of membership, or £300 for lifetime membership and three shares. Describing it as a shift to consumer control, Lawrence says it allows people to take a real stake in the operation of the community.

Defending his decision to make people pay for access to a social network, he adds: “We wanted to do something with a bit more heart and soul, which is largely community-owned from the start.” And anyway, “what is free?” he asks. “Are we really bowing down to the prospect of a world funded by advertising revenue and the compromises that puts on integrity and quality of life? It seems that social networking is entering an age where the focus is on commerciality rather than community.”

He reckons Pic-nic Village will gain traction with those who, like him, no longer wish to be “data pawns” and “fodder for social networks” like Facebook. He also thinks there’s a gap in the market for an online offering that focuses on specific communities. “Through the Big Chill community I was very aware of how quickly people were bonding and interested in each other’s ideas and giving them a mutual leg-up. Vince Cable may talk about capturing creativity and the Big Society but there aren’t many platforms where you can actually do that in a social, cooperative way.”

Are consumers ready for this kind of service? Lawrence believes so. What he describes as social networking 2.0 is about more than privacy, he says, it’s about paying for something that provides value and engenders trust. Putting his money where his mouth is, he says, Pic-nic Village has written a constitution that prohibits big business buying into it. According to Lawrence, he’s in it for life.

He says: “We spoke to a few VCs and they always asked, ‘what’s your exit strategy?’ We even thought of having t-shirts done saying, ‘no exit strategy’. I’m not going into this to get out of it. If I bring a lot of people together and initiate a lot of projects and the odd marriage here or there, which I did with the Big Chill, I’ll be happy with that.”