
Show HN: FriendsTonight – Meet new people nearby with your friends - friendstonight
https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/app/friendstonight-meet-new-friends/id893671630?mt=8&uo=6&at=1000l3jI
======
dhimes
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.

~~~
friendstonight
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
> 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...

~~~
freyr
I know many socially adept people who have trouble making friends in their
30s. People in their 30s often are married or in a serious relationship, and
spend most of their free time with their significant other. Or, people in
their 30s often have kids and have little time to socialize. Also, people at
this age may have an established social circle and may put in less effort to
build new friendships.

Sure, you can still make friends, but it's definitely a much smaller pool than
in your teens and twenties.

------
vonklaus
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!

~~~
friendstonight
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
Everything is dating.

~~~
davnicwil
Spot on.

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.

~~~
IgorPartola
I don't know about that. I am not looking to date anyone, but would love to
make more friends in the area. Don't forget: not everyone is young and single.

~~~
davnicwil
Totally agree, and even for people actively looking to date it's only one of
many motivations to go out and meet new people, but it is definitely a
significant one.

And since the target demographic is young professionals and recent college
graduates - indeed a very large proportion of that market is young and single
:-)

------
nirmel
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.

~~~
jetpm
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
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".

~~~
jetpm
That's a good point, completely random would be too much, at least the age
should be somewhat similar and maybe the place to meet is also a context, e.g.
a bar already indicates a form of interest, different than meeting in the
water park.

------
morgante
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.

~~~
friendstonight
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?

~~~
morgante
> 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.

------
jetpm
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.

~~~
friendstonight
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](http://www.friendstonightapp.com/#download)
in the android request section and we'll let you know asap when it's out!

~~~
hbcondo714
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.

------
uniclaude
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](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_dating#Japan)

~~~
friendstonight
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.

------
leoplct
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...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/fashion/the-challenge-of-
making-friends-as-an-adult.html)

~~~
friendstonight
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 : )

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jmtame
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.

~~~
friendstonight
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

------
swah
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)

~~~
friendstonight
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.

~~~
swah
Wherever there is more money to make :P

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

------
ectoplasm
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.

~~~
friendstonight
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.

------
friendstonight
Wow. It's been a crazy day. [http://www.businessinsider.com/new-app-
friendstonight-wants-...](http://www.businessinsider.com/new-app-
friendstonight-wants-to-get-you-an-on-demand-group-of-friends-right-
now-2015-7)

------
friendstonight
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](http://www.producthunt.com/tech/friendstonight)

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

~~~
friendstonight
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.

------
jkeel
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!

~~~
friendstonight
Thanks jkeel!

------
wehadfun
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.

~~~
friendstonight
Thanks!

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

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wangii
Nice app! congrat!

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

~~~
friendstonight
Thanks wangjii!

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

------
willow9886
The last thing the world needs is more social networking and dating apps. Why
do people still think this is a problem?

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

~~~
willow9886
:) that's a nice title.

