Why we decided to solve the awkwardness of making friends in a new city
Moving to a new city where you know absolutely no one? That’s hard. Meeting people and making friends once you get there? Even harder — especially if your workplace isn’t very social, and you’re not interested in dating.
With the rising number of people relocating, telecommuting, and even just traveling, our team stumbled upon an interesting problem: It’s not easy to meet people and make friends in a new city.
One would think that with the rise of social networks and advancement in technology, this should be an easily solved problem. But current solutions fall short. Mainly because... they’re extremely awkward.
Meetups are more professionally oriented and not conducive to actually developing relationships. Social apps always end up as an extension of finding someone to date. “Networking” apps seem forced, and attending a public Facebook/Reddit event by yourself induces social anxiety.
That’s why we decided to focus on making meeting new people as comfortable (i.e. not awkward) and as convenient as possible.
After all, 1-on-1 connections can be rather uncomfortable. What if you don’t vibe with the person you meet? It’s a bit weird to just dip. On the other hand, if the group is too large, things become impersonal, and suddenly it’s hard to find someone to speak with.
Instead, group sizes that range from 6 to 15 seem to be the sweet spot. Small enough that it’s natural to speak with others, but big enough that if you get into a weird conversation, you can lateral quickly to chat with someone else.
To make our events convenient, we look to host get-togethers that are close to where you live and fit around your schedule. Once you’ve come to a few events, you’ll start connecting with people who live in your neighborhood and have a similar schedule.
But most importantly, all of this still needs a human element. It’s always easier to go to a friend’s party if you know someone there. Thus each of our events will always have a liaison who will guide you to the group, introduce you to the others, and make everyone feel comfortable and involved.
Ultimately, our vision is to actually bring people closer together… and if we get to help people explore the city and have fun while we’re at it? All the better.
Interested? Join our beta: https://collide.launchaco.com/
