
Apply HN: Krewe- Help people make a group of close friends in their neighborhood - baron816
https://www.gokrewe.com/get_started
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nairboon
Growing small groups is an interesting idea. How will you match them? Although
the faq says not on interests, you still need to decide who to put into which
group if there are too many people in an area, just random? If you just "fill
groups" on after the other, you'd actually implicitly match on "early
adopterness"

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baron816
When users sign up they enter their home address and pick an age group and a
category (professional, creative, blue collar, none). It'll then search for a
group within a half mile that matches all their two criteria (that isn't
already full). If it doesn't find one, then it'll create a new one and the
next person to sign up in the area with the same criteria will join.

So it is essentially random, but so is everything. The kids you were friends
with in school were just the ones who lived in your school district. Mature
adults are mostly able to get along with anyone.

Even if you don't like the people you're placed with at first, you do get to
grow your group and meet more people. But some of my best friends are people I
didn't really get along with at first. We became close because we spent a lot
of time together. I influenced them and they influenced me. We discovered new
common interests, and built a culture around it.

I think having a group of friends can be a situation where the whole is
greater than the sum of its parts. There are safeguards to remove people who
really don't fit in, but I really hope that people will take the time and try
to get along with those they're placed with. If it doesn't work, then
implementing some sort of interest based system wouldn't be that hard.

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baron816
The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that the system will work as
is. Adults who _want_ to meet people and make friends are really easy to get
along with. We needed interests to bind us together when we were young kids in
school because we hadn't had any life experiences by that time. We had all
essentially lived the same life up until we graduated college. But once you're
an adult, you have so much more to talk about--so many stories to tell.

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jrsnyder
This is interesting. I have definitely seen a similar idea before, even down
to the "six people" setup.

A quick search turned up:
[https://www.smeeters.com/](https://www.smeeters.com/)
[http://www.sixr.com.au/](http://www.sixr.com.au/)
[https://www.joingrouper.com/](https://www.joingrouper.com/)

It would be interesting to know how successful those services have been.

~~~
baron816
Those are all dating apps/services. If you're a guy who wants to do it, you
have to have two other single male friends who are willing to do it with you.
If you're new in town and don't know anyone, you're sh __out of luck. You can
use Krewe if you 're one of the 60 million people in the US who says they're
lonely.

Groupers also a one time event, with people from all over town. Krewe is meant
to get you to see the same group over and over again.

I do know people who have done Grouper and have loved it. Six seems like a
pretty cozy number. You can fit into a booth at a bar, and hold a single group
conversation pretty comfortably.

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aheebs
This is cool. The small groups and geographic area are intriguing... Fun to
think about knowing and being friends with lots of people in my immediate area

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akassover
Interesting idea. My wife and I joined something similar but specifically for
new parents in Seattle called "PEPS"
([http://www.peps.org](http://www.peps.org)) when we had kids. We got together
once a week for twelve weeks. We had a facilitator who loosely guided us in a
discussion theme. Of course we all had one big thing in common (kids born
within about 3 months of each other), but it was still surprising how well we
got along. I've heard similar comments from people in other groups.

So, a few questions...

1\. Where are you right now in bringing this to life?

2\. What are you finding difficult about getting this launched, and what are
you doing to address those challenges?

3\. Describe the person who really fits your target audience - what defines
them as a group?

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baron816
I've soft launched it. You can sign up now. Still in the early days, so not a
huge user base yet. But it's fully capable of doing what's promised.

I really think anyone who doesn't have a really great network or feels like
their part of a community would benefit greatly from using it. It's not just
about meeting a few people, or make a couple friends, it's about building a
really powerful community.

However, the people I think would benefit most are the ones who have recently
moved to a new city or even a new neighborhood in the same city and don't know
many people nearby. Kids coming out of college would be an easy target, but
middle and old age people also tend to be the most socially isolated.

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harmegido
As someone who is in the scenario you describe (new city - don't know many
people), I really love this idea. I would definitely use it if it were a big
thing, but it will be a less than ideal experience in the early stages (not
many prospective friends/groups).

I think one of your biggest challenges would be getting enough users to start.
Also, it seems like you'd run into problems that face online dating, where if
the service is successful, your users will no longer need you. Have you
thought at all about how to deal with that problem?

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baron816
It's true that there aren't many filled out groups yet. If it were an online
dating type thing where you have to choose people from a list, then it would
be a problem. But placing people into groups is handled automatically, choice
is removed from the equation. That's definitely a feature, not a bug. No one
in history has ever chosen who their friends from a big list. User's sign up
and then forget about it. When they get a notification that people join their
group, then they can become active on the platform. I can grow slowly and
organically to get to the point where groups fill out and they start hanging
out together. Once they do and they really start loving it, I hope it'll pick
up a lot.

I think there is already a lot there for people to want to keep using it.
First, expanding the group is kind of a slow process (so you're given enough
time to become close to people). So if you want to have that expansive
network, then you'll keep using it. A lot of the time on dating apps, you're
looking for one person and then you're done. But you're allowed (expected) to
have multiple friends. So it doesn't end with your first group. Second, I
think the group messaging system is pretty solid. You're "born" into, so you
don't have to go to Facebook messenger and set up a group there. Third, the
activity creator is also really solid. It get's rid of all the back and forth
involved in getting people to hang out, so it helps alleviate that pain point
too.

I have a lot of other ideas for features to add in the future that will keep
people engaged, but I won't get into them here.

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baron816
Hi HN,

Krewe places people into a group of six of their peers who all live within a
half mile radius of each other. Since it starts with a small group dynamic,
it's comfortable to meet up at first. And since everyone lives so close to
each other, they can meet up often and become really close. Eventually, they
can expand the group and build up a strong local community and a network they
can rely on to succeed in their careers, find romantic partners, and enjoy an
incredible social life.

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314159265358
Interesting idea, and definitely different than any other social networking
platform I've seen. If this is already active, have any "krewes" been matched
together yet? If so, did you get feedback from the krewemembers on how they
liked the experience? It seems to me like it wouldn't be easy to get six
random strangers to actually commit to meeting up for something.

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baron816
It is active, but still a bit too early for that.

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cpach
What’s your plan to reaching profitability? Have you run any ”pilot groups”
and how did they get along?

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baron816
I have a lot of ideas for revenue and I don't want to get into all of them in
public. The app includes an activity creator that suggests a few bars,
restaurants, and coffee shops in the area to meet up at. I could have
establishments sponsor it and they would be featured at the top. We could hold
our own ticketed events or advertise local events. A freemium model could also
be explored.

~~~
cpach
Good ideas!

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buss
Why do you think proximity is the most important factor in friendships? Or
does proximity and ease-of-hangout trump other factors for friendship like
common interests?

How will you get people to use your platform? What's the advantage of this
over meetup.com?

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baron816
Proximity is important because it promotes persistence. Having a group of
people right in you neighborhood means you can get together everyday if you
wanted to. If you've had a long day at work and you get home late, you can
still walk down to a local pub and sip on a beer for 20 minutes with your
friends, complain about your boss, and then head home. You don't have to make
plans weeks in advance.

I'm hardly able to endure traffic to see my own friends who I already know I
like. I think people aren't going to go see people they don't really know yet
if they have to trek across the city to do it.

Meetups are ok for meeting people, but they're not great for making good
friends. They can be really crowded and intimidating, or you have to awkwardly
ask someone out on a friend date, and it's likely that they could live kind of
far from you. Krewe starts you out with a small group, so you're singling
someone out when you're trying to do something with them.

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buss
This is a really good point I was definitely undervaluing. Casual friendships
are useful for eliminating loneliness and the feeling of not knowing anyone in
your neighborhood.

I would definitely try this in a new city, but maybe not if I've lived
somewhere for a while and have an established friend group.

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billhendricksjr
Can you talk about your team? How many people are working on this full time,
what are their skill sets, how long have they been working together, and
previous accomplishments and work experience?

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baron816
It's only me at this point. That's definitely my biggest disadvantage, I know.

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palakz
It might not be the biggest disadvantage if you're building the right product
for people. Yet, having good and right cofounder & team can help you a lot.

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_AllisonMobley
Did I see this pitched on 4chan?

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baron816
I've never posted on 4chan, so I don't think so.

