Why We're Building Lubbu: The Birth of Asking Engaged Commerce™
The Original Ecosystem for Asking, Giving, and Belonging. Inspired by Ted Gioia’s “Why I Take Gifts Seriously”
Desire's Day Has Arrived. Just Ask.
Remember when the internet felt like magic? It promised connection—a digital town square where everyone could come together. And for a while, that felt true.
But over time, the incentives shifted. Today’s platforms are working exactly as designed: optimized for attention, built for extraction.
Connection, once the founding promise, has become the product—and the price.
In his essay Why I Take Gifts Seriously, Ted Gioia captures something many of us have quietly sensed:
The architecture of the internet has shifted—from a shared, generous approach to a transactional exchange.
Creators give. Platforms monetize. We share. Algorithms measure. All of it happens under the banner of belonging—but the underlying intention serves something else.
This isn’t a failure of commerce or technology. It’s a reflection of what our collective agreement has chosen to prioritize—so far.
Desire Had No Address. Until Now.
We’ve built buttons for almost everything:
👍 Like 🛒 Add to Cart 🔔 Subscribe 🧠 Save for Later 💬 Comment 🧡 Favorite
And of course, there are plenty of ways to express desire. We hint at it. We post about it. We dream about it. Sometimes, we chase it on our own.
But there's still no shared, joyful way to turn desire into connection—to want something, Ask for it, and invite the world to help make it real.
No shared system to say:
This is something I love.
This is something I need.
This is something that will bring me joy.
This is something I’m hoping for.
This is something I desire.
And to Ask for it—without guilt, without pressure, without limits, and without the weight of shame, fear, or anxiety.
So desire stays quiet.
Unspoken. Unshared. Unseen.
And maybe worst of all—unfulfilled.
From Walkie-Talkie to Smartphone
Comparing a gift registry to Lubbu is like comparing a walkie-talkie to a smartphone.
Or Candy Land to chess.
On the surface, Lubbu seems simple enough.
An Ask for a Water Doodle Mat.
Beats Solo 4 headphones.
Nursing Pocket Reference Cards.
An anxiety relief coloring book for teens.
Even an $85,000 Patek Philippe watch.
But that simplicity is intentional.
Just as early search engines hid an entire universe behind a single prompt box on a nearly empty page, Lubbu’s Ask is just the seed—the first step in a lifelong loop of connection, generosity, and shared desire.
This isn’t about stuff. It’s about unlocking a living system for belonging.
It may look simple now.
But so did every platform that quietly rewired human behavior—before anyone realized what was happening.
The Missing Layer of the Internet
At Lubbu, we’re building a new infrastructure for human desire—a living ecosystem that learns, deepens, and evolves with every interaction. This new social and economic protocol is where:
Asking is the catalyst.
Generosity is the engine.
Fulfillment creates data, value, and connection.
It begins with one Ask. Then Lubbu becomes a part of your life—a lifelong companion for everything that follows.
Building Something Better
For 30 years, I’ve helped leaders, artists, and brands find their voice. I’ve watched extraordinary people pour their souls into creating—only to have platforms siphon off their value, leaving them with just 12% of the revenue they generate.
Every like, share, and post—presented as connection, engineered for extraction.
Then Lubbu came to me in a dream:
What if we built differently?
What if platforms rewarded the people who create the value?
Gifts Aren’t Just Transactions
Ted Gioia understands what most technologists and investors overlook:
A true gift doesn’t lessen when given. It grows.
Music, learning, art, love, kindness, nature, generosity—share them freely, and they multiply exponentially and last forever.
Economists call them anti-commodities—offerings that increase in value through sharing. But most platforms ignored that wisdom. They built engines that treat human creativity as raw material—mined, monetized, and discarded.
Networks of Abundance
Giving is sacred. When we give from the heart, we don’t just exchange—we expand.
Like mycorrhizal networks in forests, or open-source code shared freely, true generosity creates networks of abundance. Everyone gets stronger. Everyone belongs.
At Lubbu, every fulfilled Ask honors this sacred exchange.
We’re building an ecosystem where generosity doesn’t just circulate—it compounds.
The Ask → The Loop → The Learning
When someone shops and creates an Ask, they’re not chasing engagement. They’re expressing something they genuinely desire—unburdened by filters, performance, or financial constraints.
When someone fulfills that Ask—when it’s Lubbued—they’re not just buying a product. They’re saying:
"I see you. You matter. I want to help make this real."
And generosity isn’t just noble—it’s neurologically rewarding.
The Science: The Best Gift Is the One You Ask For
Decades of research show that the most meaningful gifts are the ones people Ask for.
A study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology found that people are happier with requested gifts—but givers mistakenly believe surprise gifts are better.
(Galak et al., 2016)The Association for Psychological Science reports that givers often seek emotional “wow” moments instead of long-term satisfaction. Recipients? They prefer gifts that meet their actual needs.
(Flynn & Gino, 2011)Unwanted gifts not only miss the mark—they create social and emotional debt. In a 2020 survey, 62% of Americans admitted they lied about liking a gift.
(Finder.com Gift Survey)
The science agrees: When someone gets exactly what they asked for, the brain releases oxytocin, serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins—the same chemicals linked to love, trust, and bonding.
The Science of Giving: Generosity Changes You
Giving doesn’t just help others—it rewires your brain.
Generosity extends your life. A University of Michigan long-term study found that people who regularly give their time, help, or resources live up to 4 years longer—outperforming exercise and quitting smoking as predictors of longevity.
(Brown et al., 2003)Giving makes you happier. Harvard Business School researchers found that spending money on others consistently boosts happiness more than spending it on yourself—regardless of income.
(Dunn, Aknin & Norton, 2008)Generosity changes your brain. NIH brain imaging studies show that acts of giving activate the reward system and regions associated with social bonding, purpose, and identity. Even promising to be more generous creates neural shifts that increase happiness.
(Moll et al., 2006)Small acts of giving reduce stress. A 2020 review of 201 studies found that helping others consistently lowers depression and anxiety while raising well-being.
(Hui et al., 2020)
Why This Matters for You—and Lubbu
When you Ask on Lubbu, you activate the brain’s reward and bonding systems.
When you Lubbu someone else’s Ask, you light up the same neural circuits—plus the regions linked to meaning, purpose, and longevity.
Both sides of the exchange make you healthier, happier, and more connected.
Generosity isn’t depletion.
It’s amplification.
That’s not charity.
It’s intelligent human design.
Generosity Scales—But It Needs Structure
Every Ask on Lubbu is a datapoint of desire: voluntary, expressive, and real.
Most people dramatically underestimate how willing others are to help—by about 50%, according to Harvard Business School research. People who Ask are 30% more likely to get what they want than those who don’t.
We’re wired to give.
We’re afraid to ask.
Lubbu bridges that gap.
This shift—from manipulation to expression—unlocks an entirely new economic engine. One that listens. One that honors.
We call it Asking Engaged Commerce™.
And the practice? Good Gifting™.
A Model That Rewards Generosity
When an Ask is Lubbued, 100% of the gift’s value goes to the Asker.
No fees. No catches. Ever.
Lubbu earns revenue from transparent transaction fees paid by the Giver, merchant commissions, and optional enterprise features—because generosity should feel good for everyone, including the businesses that help make it happen.
With every transaction, a portion is donated to The Lubbu Trust, which funds education, community support, and crisis relief—selected by the Lubbu community.
In other words, Lubbu profits when generosity, gratitude, and reciprocity grow.
That’s not a side effect. That’s the architecture.
In a world of fine print, Lubbu makes a simple promise:
We will never take from the Asker.
When generosity grows, so do we.
The Real Holy Grail
For decades, merchants have asked:
“What do consumers really want?”
That’s why retail feels human when someone looks you in the eye and says:
“How can I help you?”
We’ve found the answer. It’s not in tracking.
It’s in Asking.
Lubbu captures authentic intent at the source: voluntary, expressive, predictive, profoundly human.
It creates space for anyone to say:
“I see you. I hear you. Your desires are valid. Thank you for letting me give—because it makes me feel good too.”
Gen Z: The Generation Asking for More
No generation feels the gap between connection and performance more deeply than Gen Z.
They’ve been called the “loneliest generation” and the “anxious generation.” Over 40% report persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, according to the CDC. Suicide is now the second leading cause of death.
Social media taught Gen Z and Millennials to perform. But it didn’t teach them how to belong.
They have hundreds of “friends” online—yet struggle to find even a few who would reach out and help them in a crisis.
Beyond TikTok, there isn’t a single U.S.-native platform designed to meet their emotional, social, and psychological needs.
The tools they’ve been given are designed for engagement, not genuine connection.
That’s why we built Lubbu.
To give them a place to Ask for what they truly want—without shame, without filters.
A dynamic platform that doesn’t just encourage a “like.”
Our vision is to help every generation experience the feeling of being seen, heard, and supported every single day.
The Spark
When my daughter was little, she couldn’t say “I love you.”
What came out was: “I Lubbu.”
That one word—imperfect, heartfelt, unmistakably human—became the seed.
It captured what the internet had lost: Innocence. Vulnerability. Joy.
A desire to connect, not perform. A wish to be known, not watched.
So we asked:
What if we built an ecosystem that serves the Ask—that sacred moment when someone expresses desire honestly?
What if commerce became:
A conversation, not a conversion?
A gift, not a pitch?
A relationship, not a funnel?
AI and Generative Desire Modeling™
Lubbu’s AI isn’t here to sell you more stuff. It’s here to help you:
Shop aspirationally.
Ask freely.
Give generously.
Discover what truly matters to you.
Every Ask and every act of giving feeds what we call Generative Desire Modeling™—a living, learning system that evolves alongside you.
Its purpose isn’t to predict your clicks. It’s to understand what moves you.
It connects you with people who share your passions and deepens the network of belonging that surrounds you.
At Lubbu, AI isn’t a trick to drive transactions.
It’s a tool to foster connection, meaning, and trust.
We’re building the first consent-based, community-powered map of human desire—so giving becomes as easy as clicking "Like," but infinitely more meaningful.
A Future None of Us Can Predict
The truth? We don’t know exactly how AI will evolve. No one does.
But here’s what we do know:
Every day, Lubbu’s infrastructure helps turn desire into belonging. That’s the metric we care about.
And as the system learns, it creates more of the moments that matter—small, human surprises that build into lifelong relationships and unforgettable experiences.
The Stakes Are Too High to Stay Quiet
Yes, Lubbu is still early. We’re in beta, building quietly, flying under the radar.
But the stakes are too high—and the problem too urgent—to stay silent.
Young people with the courage to Ask deserve more than likes.
They deserve to be seen. To be heard. To matter.
When someone Lubbues an Ask, they’re saying something profound:
"I see you. I hear you. Your hope is valid. Your life matters."
Gen Z doesn’t want more of the same.
They want what’s next.
What they’re already asking for—and what Gen Alpha will soon demand—is commerce that cares:
A lifelong ecosystem of asking and giving, rooted in consent, connection, and desire.
Join Us
We built Lubbu because we’re all searching for something deeper—a place to be seen, to matter, to belong.
A place where hope lives.
A place where, someday, you’ll look back and say:
"That’s where I started believing again."
So go ahead. Shop for anything. Post your Ask.
And with that one simple act, you’ve set something powerful in motion.
You’ve given your desire a place to live.
You’ve opened a door for someone—anyone, anywhere—to say:
"I see you. I’ll help make this come true."
That’s how it starts.
The seed is planted. The cycle begins.
Ask. Post. Share. Receive. Celebrate. Reciprocate.
Because Lubbu is more than a platform.
It’s a movement. A new kind of human loop—where giving and receiving become part of the same breath, and part of your life.
Because, if you don’t Ask, the answer is always no.
Lubbu,
Robbie Vorhaus
Founder & CEO
