I run a meet up group of about 1000 members for a makerspace in the Chicago suburbs. I’m glad to see alternatives coming about, but I’m also somewhat skeptical this can actually solve our dissatisfaction with Meetup. As an event organizer, I don’t really need that many fancy features. I need a product that is moderately priced and will actually get people to walk in the door when I schedule an event. Focus on building network effects because that is what group organizers are ultimately paying for. I think this is solved by gaining large amounts of capital to support a promotional strategy to compete. I don’t think a lot of energy needs to be spent on building every feature that an attendee would want because ultimately they will never pay for anything and will continue to use the service as long as interesting groups stay put. Put differently, I don’t think you need to make features your differentiating factor to win. Event organizers, a.k.a. the people who ultimately pay for the service, have serious problems with the pricing strategy they are being offered by Meetup but have no viable alternative. I’d be happy to hop on a call with you and give you free opinions on our experiences over the last eight years. I’m very easy to find. Reach out anytime.