Show HN: FriendsTonight – Meet new people nearby with your friends
geo.itunes.apple.com
geo.itunes.apple.com
The social group that really has a difficult time is the couple with youngish kids who just moved out of their 'starter' dwelling and into a neighborhood with good schools, etc. It is surprisingly difficult to break into new social groups at that age. The options are church groups and jock groups (for parents whose kids are into and fairly good at multiple sports). If that's not your thing, it can get pretty lonely.
In your first neighborhood, everybody is a new parent and it's pretty easy to get together and hang out with neighbors (even over a few drinks) while the kids play with each other. You have parties and the kids are all there playing with each other also. Everybody is kind of at the same place in life and making more-or-less the same money. Those who went to college/grad school still haven't quite caught up with the folks who started their careers earlier, so there is quite a diverse population available to become friends.
At the next stage, however, it's tougher. You are moving your elementary school-age children into neighborhoods where the other parents might have high-school age children. Perhaps you changed cities (or states). It's pretty tough to break in because your life has become more kid-focused, and there is less time for other adults.
An app like this might be well received in that market.
I definitely was thinking about people in their early 30's and how hard to meet new people at that age.
If you have any ideas how to target this market, I'd love to hear them. You can email me at sam@friendstonightapp.com
Well, that definitely depends on your social abilities...
Probably widely varies by profession / lifestyle though.
Sure, you can still make friends, but it's definitely a much smaller pool than in your teens and twenties.
We know no one and we aren't going to start knocking on doors to introduce ourselves. We're not nearly that outgoing. However, it would be nice to meet people and hang out here and there. We're in our late 20's so it's hard to find people around our age in a similar situation. We can't really go to bars to meet up or go to concerts or pretty much any thing we used to do a year ago.
An app that could get people to meet up in these situations could be useful, but would I use it? Eh. I don't know.
You might want to launch or promote it in a specific area to try and gain critical mass, as having 1 million users wouldn't be helpful if they were distributed across the country. Try and win a college, neighborhood or city and then let it spread organically. Good luck!
1. We're about meeting new people in groups, not dating- I actively tried to reduce the "dating app" feel as much as possible.
2. When you make a request to hang out with someone- it only lasts until the end of the night (4am). If the other group doesn't respond by then, they lose the chance to meet you.
3. All likes, matches and chats disappear at the end of the night.
I'm trying to focus all my initial marketing in NYC. From what I've learned, my target market is young professionals or people that just graduated college.
Would love to chat with you more about marketing. Feel free to email me at sam@friendstonightapp.com
I could totally see trying this out.
A very significant intrinsic motivator to go out and socialise for most single people (a large percentage of young professionals and people who just graduated college) is the possibility of meeting someone.
It's a great concept, but embracing the dating aspect rather than fighting the tide on it might work out better.
And since the target demographic is young professionals and recent college graduates - indeed a very large proportion of that market is young and single :-)
because you have to explain to the person you've met that you want to date them, rather than it being implicit?
isn't that just... the way it's always been pre-hookup-apps?
If I can already put together a group of friends, what's the compelling reason to add another group?
This would seem much more helpful if it helped individuals to form groups of friends spontaneously.
You can use FriendsTonight as a single person, but really would prefer you to use it as a group (it's more safe and less awkward).
Have you ever been out with a few of your friends and tried to meet new people (either romantically or non-romantically)- wouldn't it be cool if you knew people nearby wanted to meet you as well?
No, I have not. When I go out with my friends, I usually want to hang out with my friends.
Sometimes, however, all my friends are busy but I'd be up for meeting some new ones.
You can leave your email at http://www.friendstonightapp.com/#download in the android request section and we'll let you know asap when it's out!
I'm based in Japan, where people usually like to meet in groups, even for romantic relationships (look for gōkon[1]), so if you don't have the growth you're looking for in the US, try on the other side of the Pacific. Ping me if you have a question.
You definitely hit it nail on the head about meeting up in groups- it's a lot less awkward and safer.
FriendsTonight is less about dating and more about meeting new people- I envision it as more like meeting new people at a houseparty- there's no expectation of a people being single.
Growth has been tough- it's definitely a chicken/egg problem. Would love to hear more of your feedback, I'll definitely ping you.
This article explain it more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/fashion/the-challenge-of-m...
FriendsTonight can't force you to meet new people, but we try to make it as less awkward as possible by making it "groups meeting groups" not "person meeting person".
It totally is a very complex process to meet a person, but I'm trying to make my dent in the world : )
- you don't need to be single - mixed groups and odd numbered groups are okay (2 women vs 5 men and women) - it's free - all chats and likes disappear at the end of the night to get people to be spontaneous
Should I get an iPhone? In my country the Android has 90% market share but... richer or artistic people mostly have iPhones. They probably spend more on apps and services as well.
So, to make money, should I get an iPhone and build apps for iOS? (Of course, I'm rooting for Android to reach the same quality in the long run)
I used to have an android version- but it was so difficult to maintain two code bases.
Also it's very difficult to make (decent) money in the app store just by selling your app.
(I think EasyTaxi is the only big app hit from Brazil in the last few years).
However FriendsTonight will show you if you have any mutual facebook friends.
For FriendsTonight, we really want people to be spontaneous. So all likes, matches, and chats disappear at the end of the night.
It's not just for groups of guys and girls- mixed groups can meet as well!
I'm interested in how you guys plan to solve the empty restaurant problem.
I'm still figuring that out, but I know it involves a lot of hustlin' on my end.
How so?
And lastly, there's no real negative social stigma attached to it, partially because it's so popular. With traditional dating sites, people think you're a loser if you have a profile.
We live in world of bubbles, and apparently mine ends where yours begins.
Really, this is entirely your problem. I've never used dating services or apps, but I've had several great long-term relationships which started in a variety of weird ways. That's just life, man.
(not that I think that most apps/sites out there actually does help solve the problem, but there clearly is potential for improving things)
Because it is. I would like to know more people and have more friends, and if an app can help with that I'll sign up.
I really enjoy meeting new people, but I'm in a committed relationship, so it's awkward for me to use tinder or okcupid.
Some of the best nights I've had were meeting a new group of people with my friends and having a random night.
I'm hoping to recreate that with FriendsTonight