Show HN: FriendsTonight – Meet new people nearby with your friends

https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/app/friendstonight-meet-new-friends/id893671630?mt=8&uo=6&at=1000l3jI

by friendstonight • 11 years ago

54 72 11 years ago

geo.itunes.apple.com

vonklaus• 11 years ago

I am pumped for you launching an app and completing something probably feels great. I think it is a bit derivative of grouper and tinder, and social networks have the chicken and the egg problem, but seriously, nice!

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!

friendstonight19• 11 years ago

Thanks vonklaus- you're completely right- it is very similar to tinder and grouper- however FriendsTonight has a few main differences

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

loceng• 11 years ago

Everything is dating.

willow98863• 11 years ago

The last thing the world needs is more social networking and dating apps. Why do people still think this is a problem?

eljimmy• 11 years ago

I don't think anyone thinks it's still a problem. They are just trying to get their piece of the pie.

rimunroe• 11 years ago

In my experience, Tinder was a huge improvement over things like OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, etc, but Tinder has a super clunky app and is still geared mostly toward hookups. There is always room for improvement!

liviu-• 11 years ago

Tinder was a huge improvement over things like OkCupid

How so?

brobdingnagian• 11 years ago

Look you at you, Mr. Destroyer of Hopes and Dreams.

willow98863• 11 years ago

:) that's a nice title.

sp332• 11 years ago

Social and dating networks are massive and growing industries, so there are aspects of the problem that are still being addressed.

detaro• 11 years ago

Is it not a problem? Is everybody happy with all the people they know/not know?

(not that I think that most apps/sites out there actually does help solve the problem, but there clearly is potential for improving things)

morgante3• 11 years ago

Why do people still think this is a problem?

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.

friendstonight19• 11 years ago

Hey willow9886, thanks for your comment- there's plenty of dating apps, but there aren't too many apps for you to meet new people in real life.

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

willow98863• 11 years ago

Makes sense. I also enjoy meeting new people. But to me, and of course this is just my opinion, it seems like the challenge of meeting new people in the real world is exactly why it's so rewarding. It takes a personal investment that is so much more significant than a swipe on a smart phone.

uniclaude• 11 years ago

Interesting concept, and congratulations on shipping! I think you should rework the copy ("you group = liked"?!), but I'm interested in seeing whether this gets traction.

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.

1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_dating#Japan

friendstonight19• 11 years ago

Thanks uniclaude!

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.

friendstonight19• 11 years ago

Hey uniclaude, I have no way to message you directly, you can email me at sam@friendstonightapp.com

jetpm3• 11 years ago

So I need friends to find friends, and an iPhone. Damn. But It looks cool, if I had friends and an iPhone I'd probably use it.

friendstonight19• 11 years ago

Hey jetpm- I totally agree. I wish we had an android version, but it's too hard for me to manage two codebases at once.

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!

hbcondo714• 11 years ago

I'm sure the HN community can help you with this issue. There are a few platforms like PhoneGap that allow you to develop mobile apps on multiple devices using one codebase.

morgante3• 11 years ago

Cool idea, but I'm interested in the choice of matching groups together.

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.

friendstonight19• 11 years ago

Hey morgante,

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?

morgante3• 11 years ago

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.

leoplct• 11 years ago

I think is embarrassing meet an unknown man/woman and start a conversation based on the fact that they have to meet each other because they matched with a social app. The problem is not "How to meet people". I think socialization is a more complex process that is very difficult to engineering.

This article explain it more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/fashion/the-challenge-of-m...

friendstonight19• 11 years ago

Great article leoplct- I definitely read this article and it influenced the way I designed my app.

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 : )

wangii• 11 years ago

Nice app! congrat!

I'm interested in how you guys plan to solve the empty restaurant problem.

friendstonight19• 11 years ago

Thanks wangjii!

I'm still figuring that out, but I know it involves a lot of hustlin' on my end.

apoverton• 11 years ago

Looks like a competitor to weCliq (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wecliq/id965067652?mt=8)

friendstonight19• 11 years ago

Yep, it's the same concept, but different implementations.

For FriendsTonight, we really want people to be spontaneous. So all likes, matches, and chats disappear at the end of the night.

ectoplasm• 11 years ago

Often people have more than one social circle. Sometimes I've met some new people because one of my friends has decided to get some people from two of their social circles together, and I'm in only one of them. Maybe you could work this into your app - I've rarely hung out with people I have no social connection to.

friendstonight19• 11 years ago

That's true- but I think it would've made the app even more difficult to work. Maybe it's a feature I can add when I have more users.

However FriendsTonight will show you if you have any mutual facebook friends.

wehadfun• 11 years ago

A way for a group of guys to arrange to be with group of girls sounds awesome. Me and my buddies would have loved this.

friendstonight19• 11 years ago

Thanks!

It's not just for groups of guys and girls- mixed groups can meet as well!

friendstonight19• 11 years ago

I have no idea how I got so lucky, but FriendsTonight is also on ProductHunt- please check us out! http://www.producthunt.com/tech/friendstonight

nirmel• 11 years ago

I once tried starting something like this. What I found is that people have very little motivation to meet strangers for the purpose of friendship. Another company built a very similar product, but focussed on dating, and they did much better, while my product failed. Not to say that you didn't figure out how to do this, but I think there's wishful thinking among some founders (like me) that people want to make new friends and will use an app to do so.

jetpm3• 11 years ago

When I think about it, it feels like there is some sort of mental barrier that I have to overcome to make plans with strangers. Maybe when the meetups would be less personal like 20 random people going to a bar or club, I'd rather join in on something. Then nobody would realize if I leave, but if I bond with some people its fine.

degenerate• 11 years ago

When you meet a stranger, the actual purpose of small talk is to try to find some common ground. Some people are better at it than others (I am horrible)... but if some common ground can be established, both people will have an easier time making conversation. That's why so many meetups are centered around an activity/topic. I would much rather attend a group of "20 random people that list kayaking as a sport they enjoy" than "20 random people".

friendstonight19• 11 years ago

Hey nirmel- would love to chat more about your experiences! Please email me at sam@friendstonightapp.com

jkeel• 11 years ago

I hope your app does well and catches on. I enjoy meeting new people and not always just dating. I'm going to spread the word!

friendstonight19• 11 years ago

Thanks jkeel!

swah2• 11 years ago

I was thinking about this the other day...

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)

JeremyMorgan• 11 years ago

Studies have shown you make a lot more from IOS apps than Android. There is a culture of "we already have it, and it's free" with Android that makes monetization tough.

friendstonight19• 11 years ago

Hey swah- do you want to develop apps for home country or for the US?

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.

swah2• 11 years ago

Wherever there is more money to make :P

(I think EasyTaxi is the only big app hit from Brazil in the last few years).

dhimes• 11 years ago

As others have pointed out, the 'young single' scene is primarily about dating, whether it's obviously so or not.

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.

friendstonight19• 11 years ago

Great point dhimes! Not everyone that uses the app necessarily has to be "on the prowl".

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

joeyspn• 11 years ago

I definitely was thinking about people in their early 30's and how hard to meet new people at that age.

Well, that definitely depends on your social abilities...

jchrisa• 11 years ago

Shared child care. As in, a when a handful of parents and kids are hanging out, it's way easier than just one family. So just make a big red button that says "my kids are driving my crazy can you bring your kids over to tire them out?" and the app does some kind of recommendation / reputation to make sure I'm introduced to the right folks.

dimxasnewfrozen• 11 years ago

I fit this scenario perfectly. I moved out of state, bought a house in a small neighborhood and my wife and I just had our first child a few months ago.

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.

mhurron2• 11 years ago

Just stop having friends.

dotBen• 11 years ago

or kids

contingencies• 11 years ago

While we fall in to your "couple with youngish kids" demographic, we don't do the western property ladder career path thing and actually choose not to live in the west at all. I read your post and was like "Hah, 1950s automobile suburban [dys|u]topia strikes again!" By way of example, we just spent 3 months travelling around Europe, in some cases visiting people we'd met randomly in restaurants here in Asia (and their llamas). Never assume the world operates similarly to your own turf.

jmtame• 11 years ago

Essentially Grouper, but you choose the groups and it happens immediately. I think the model where you take something and make it happen a lot faster is compelling and this seems like it has potential for the 20 somethings in the big cities. Good luck.

friendstonight19• 11 years ago

Thanks jmtame. FriendsTonight is similar with some key differences

- 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

friendstonight19• 11 years ago

Wow. It's been a crazy day. http://www.businessinsider.com/new-app-friendstonight-wants-...

Show HN: FriendsTonight – Meet new people nearby with your friends

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