
1-1 virtual coffees with top tech talent sourced from Twitter - trulykp
https://www.getcuppa.io/
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dang
A Show HN can't be a landing page with a wait list. Please see the rules:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html).

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trulykp
Sorry about that. I didn't know that rule before I posted it. But it makes
sense to limit mass email captures by scammers.

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bradleyjg
I’m skeptical about the sourced from twitter part.

I used to be very impressed by industry celebrities. The kind of people with a
zillion SO or HN karma, blogs, books, podcasts, conferences speaking
spots—-real name recognition at least in some corner of the tech universe.

But then over time I’ve found myself in workplaces with some of these folks
and it turns out that if you do all of that, well that’s what you do. Building
your own personal brand is a job and it doesn’t leave much time to build
either software or engineering organizations.

Personally I’m not much interested in building a personal brand (different
strokes though) and so I don’t think it would be all that exciting to talk to
a bunch of people that are experts in doing so.

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mathattack
This! I’ve worked with several 30 under 30 folks, and the majority were so
busy building their personal brands that they didn’t get much work done. There
are some exceptions, but I’ve generally become suspicious of people too into
brand building. (This is separate from being helpful or part of a community,
and separate from using social media to advertise a company)

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SQueeeeeL
Who is this for? I can't imagine "top tech talent" is going to want to subject
themselves to endlessly being pitched to by VC's who thinks that writing their
entire app for them means you get just 5% of the company. And I can't imagine
without coders, it would be useful to VC's trying to recruit...

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trulykp
Hey! Founder of Cuppa here.

I hear you, it was one of my concerns at the start. But we highly curate the
beta invites and through the onboarding we consistently mention it is NOT for
self-promotion or pitching because that leaves a sour taste in most cases. And
we take the membership seriously, 3 strikes of such incidents reported and
you'll be suspended!

We are attracting folks who love talking shop in a friendly environment on
video. Most of our users are makers/founders (70%) and they love showing their
projects and getting feedback or jamming with other peers.

Check out this page with lots of such good examples:
[https://www.getcuppa.io/love](https://www.getcuppa.io/love)

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SQueeeeeL
Three strikes is a HUGGEE number, if I sign up for this thing and get pitched,
I'm just gonna bail, not report it

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anm89
I totally fail to see the appeal of this from the angle of anyone involved
besides maybe recruiters and whoever is trying to charge for it.

I love how it has to mention their creep prevention system in the first couple
of lines as if that has been a big problem for them.

Also almost all of the positive comments in this thread are either the CEO or
someone with less than 20 karma (new accounts created to pump this)

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trulykp
Totally understand, it may not be for everyone. We have 500+ beta users from
26 countries who are finding value in meeting with peers to talk shop and
brainstorm.. in times like this.

Had to laugh at the "creep prevention system" comment, it was not BECAUSE we
had such a problem at Cuppa but because we all have used "Chatroulette" in the
90s and remember how quickly it can turn into a perv magnet. Early checks and
balances are good for the community in the long run :)

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alextheparrot
I think a lot of people in the tech community would be open to a few 1:1
conversations with people out of their normal network now and then. This
approach chimes with how (I think) community can be sustainably built and
expanded in tech, both parties benefiting from possible out-of-band
experiences. There’s no guarantee of that, of course, but that’s a risk people
can assess when spending their time. People love talking about what they do,
both for personal brand and personal enjoyment (Meet-ups and less corporate
conferences are clear examples of this).

Wish the expectations of these conversations were more outlined, though. “Get
on the waitlist” is a bit of a black box.

Also, maybe this is personal bias, but allowing for non-Twitter handles (I
think my HN handle better resonates with my technical leanings than my
Twitter, which is mostly just me posting more or less random thoughts). Looks
like they’re using Twitter authentication, though, as well the “We met up”
tweets have some virality, so I understand that design choice at the current
moment.

After seeing a former teacher of mine ask about people who’d be willing to
talk with his high school students, I think there’s also an extension of this
platform to help match speakers with educators trying to help students
understand what it means to work in technology (Or other fields). When I was
an undergraduate we’d run part of a summer program teaching high school
students how to differentiate stem cells into beating heart cells, hard to say
that example wouldn’t be formative for students trying to figure out what to
pursue in the future.

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trulykp
Hey Alex, thanks for the thoughtful comment. We're very early in the journey
so had to stick with only 1 use case to calibrate acquisition well.

I love the idea of connecting speakers with educators trying to help students
get into tech. A lot of communities have reached out to us as well to run
"Cuppa for X" programs to build engagement within their network. It's on the
roadmap!

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chrisdietr
Hi, early cuppa user. I've had some very interesting conversations with a VC
scout, several makers from EU, US and India. Only one meeting was a bit weird.
But that happens in real life as well. I enjoyed the serendipity a lot
especially during corona lockdown and it made me understand the value of
twitter more as well.

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trulykp
Thanks for giving it a spin, Chris! We try our best to make sure our users
have the best experience by curating the invites. But again, there's always
one or two misses. Just like in life. So glad you were part of the beta
anyway!

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kavir
I've been using Cuppa since June and I've met really interesting people on it.
That list includes therapists, no-code makers, entrepreneurs.

No agenda and no hard selling on anything. I've personally had a better
experience on it than Lunchclub, which I felt like a substitute for a sales
channel.

I was building an app and I received a lot of good feedback and encouragement
on it. In a time, when I was completely socially isolated, these conversations
really helped.

Ways to reduce abuse of this platform is to restrict the number of coffee
chats you can have in a week.

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trulykp
Thank you Kavir, so glad to have you in our early beta club :) And congrats on
your recent project launch! We're considering limiting the number of Cuppas to
5-7 per week soon!

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benatkin
Wow, this looks great! I've seen different takes on this but I love the
approach you're taking with marketing, starting the community off slowly, and
using a calendly and x.ai style calendar. Hoping this takes off.

I have a suggestion that I wonder whether it has been tried - how about having
a checkbox of whether someone will be having coffee or tea. That really helps
create the atmosphere. It can still be pretty inclusive. On Comedians in Cars
Getting Coffee someone has herbal tea.

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trulykp
Thank you, Ben! Our go-to-market since March has been attract interesting
builders/makers from both code and no-code community via Twitter. It's been
going great...had over 1100+ Cuppas (30 min virtual coffee dates) so far!

The onboarding has a set of questions like "Whats your fav coffee shop in your
city?" but totally agree the "coffee/tea" would add a bit more personality to
the questions!

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bvajresh
I started using Cuppa in July and have met around 30 people from various
backgrounds. I love that you don't know who you are going to meet till you
select their table. Cuppa has been a major value-add to me. The "no sales
pitches" rule is awesome and has resulted in meetings where both of us have
walked away with something useful from the call.

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amoyee
Totally love using Cuppa cos its more consistent than a random encounter IRL
(built amounts twitter) and very close to the rich, life-changing encounters
you have at an awesome conference (everyone there is probably interested in
what you do). Would love to see this used for meetups and topical convos on a
rolling basis.

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trulykp
Thank you Edmund, so glad to have you in the early beta club!

Still remember those video summaries you shared on Twitter abt your experience
on Cuppa.

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mizanrr
I discovered Cuppa few months ago. I started using it frequently. It's a great
opportunity meet people with different expertises from around the world. I
have learned a lot and connected with many experienced people on Twitter.

Also, We have got first customer for our startup thorough Cuppa (totally
unexpected).

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trulykp
Cuppa's core idea is simple enough but the early community with people like
you is what makes is extra special. Thank you Mizan and so great to see your
recent success!

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dawnerd
So basically just influencer marketing?

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trulykp
hey, not sure what that means.

Think of like a virtual cafe where you can serendipitously run into folks you
know from Twitter.

One day it could be some one big (let's say an influencer!) or another day it
could a peer maker/developer with just 100 followers but who has a cool
portfolio.

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whitanderson
I've had around virtual 10 cuppas and all were pretty great! Super enjoyed the
ability to introduce myself and talk about what I'm working on. That's a
muscle I haven't had to use often while in Covid.

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ptillement
I had quite a few cuppas during lockdown. Not so much since then but I need to
get back to it.

Made some awesome connections and had a ton of interesting chats around many
different topics. Big up to KP and Michael for building Cupa

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codenameuser
Cuppa is an amazing experience. The double opt-in and the cache of the
community makes for an actual valuable USP. So much better than lunchclub or
any other competitors. Most importantly, it gives you a reason to come back.

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trulykp
appreciate that. We love Lunchclub too who are working hard in the same market
but we like to think we're way more community-driven and a simpler UX (no AI
just one big community calendar with people's open time slots):)

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gnabgib
Seven comments from accounts that are either new, or have never commented
before except in praise of this product (complete with replies from the
poster) - this all seems rather shady, like a voting ring.

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Gurvinder656565
If it was new accounts then its like a job interview. What is your work
experience answer if you dont give me job then how can i have experience. + if
they never commented then at least you cant say anymore that they never
commented. There is a chance that they are shady but there is a chance that
they are genuine and they follow or respect only few people. Those people who
shows them real path.

Some people are good front of camera & some are behind the camera.

I hope you got my point.

Enjoy your days!

I am enjoying cuppa & my suggustion to you just give it a try!

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Gurvinder656565
I found cuppa around march / April & enjoying it since then. I learned a lot
from makers & founders even i learn a lot in automation afyrr joining cuppa.

I am glad to be in early usrrs.

Gurvinder

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garrett_scott
Love this!! Takes all the hassle of the whole “Twitter Dm” -> “Let’s Zoom
sometime” -> “Scheduling a time” routine.

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trulykp
Thank you Garrett, that was the best explanation of our value prop haha :)

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1nikoalvin1
Wondering who "top tech talent" is.... probably just start-up founders, not
like elon musk.

