Comment by nprateem

I worked on a similar app. Did several iterations before binning it.

If I were to do it again I'd focus solely on business model & value proposition canvases and research. You need to find a USP that both sides of your market really value (ideally leading to viral growth) and that meetup can't replicate.

This is absolutely not a technical problem despite how shit meetup is.

There are several informative videos on YT from the founder from several years ago. They probably tried most of what you're thinking of doing. You can learn from them.

Good luck!

PS I have actually found a new take that I think solves a lot of the issues I had (revenue, cheap scalable marketing, growth). I'm keeping it close to my chest, but at some point I may give it a go. There are novel approaches out there. Be creative and original.