Comment by rickcarlino
1 year ago
I run a meet up group of about 1000 members for a makerspace in the Chicago suburbs. I’m glad to see alternatives coming about, but I’m also somewhat skeptical this can actually solve our dissatisfaction with Meetup. As an event organizer, I don’t really need that many fancy features. I need a product that is moderately priced and will actually get people to walk in the door when I schedule an event. Focus on building network effects because that is what group organizers are ultimately paying for. I think this is solved by gaining large amounts of capital to support a promotional strategy to compete. I don’t think a lot of energy needs to be spent on building every feature that an attendee would want because ultimately they will never pay for anything and will continue to use the service as long as interesting groups stay put. Put differently, I don’t think you need to make features your differentiating factor to win. Event organizers, a.k.a. the people who ultimately pay for the service, have serious problems with the pricing strategy they are being offered by Meetup but have no viable alternative. I’d be happy to hop on a call with you and give you free opinions on our experiences over the last eight years. I’m very easy to find. Reach out anytime.
Thanks for the feedback and the kind offer, Rick - I'll definitely take you up on that and reach out!
I scheduled a call with rickcarlino awhile back--I didn't know him before doing so. He is very sharp and very genuine. You should definitely take him up on his offer.
I’d also be happy to host you virtually for our entrepreneurship group if you want to be a presenter and talk to our Meetup members.
Would you be willing to share the name of the makerspace/event? I'm in NW suburbs and have been looking for something similar, but can't seem to find anything good on meetup... Thank you in advance!
Sorry for the slow reply. Fox Build maker space in Saint Charles. I’m Rick, one of the managers.
Real life meetup platform doesn't really need network effects. The most engaging "meetups" I go to are small events, friendly attendees with similar interests, and no more than 20 people. In these settings I get to have meaningful face to face dialogue.
Our meetups generally have about 20 people. The problem is that without generating network effects, you can't generate awareness that the event is happening at all. We've had a brick-and-mortar location in a Chicago suburb for over 8 years. In the early days, Meetup's network effects were the only way to get people in the door, until much later when word-of-mouth spread.
Meeting up in real life is all about network effects - people make friends through networks, organize events through networks, and discover new opportunities through networks. If you're talking about small events that you found out about through sites like Meetup, those are typically successful when you have a large-enough network of people who _might_ be interested.
But how do people know about said event? Print and post adverts on telephone poles?
Yes! I went to a professional meetup with 80 people. Every single person I met was interesting, but they keep moving, so I had to pull aside the person I was talking to at the moment just to continue a conversation.