Episode 58

How To Start & Scale An IRL-Meetup App (Approachable) - w/ Matt

Apr 23, 202500:44:51On YouTube too
How To Start & Scale An IRL-Meetup App (Approachable) - w/ Matt thumbnail

Matt Williams built Approachable, an app for finding friends to explore your city with, at a moment when adult loneliness keeps getting worse. He talks about the build process, why he refused to hire US engineers for early-stage development, how he made $18K from a launch party, and what user behavior data taught him about social products in the real world.

Who this is for

  • You are building something real and need the unpolished version before the launch post.
  • You would rather hear Matt's version while the mess is still fresh than get another polished hindsight sermon.

Key takeaways

  • Start & Scale An IRL-Meetup App (Approachable) - w/ Matt
  • Why did Matt build Approachable
  • Build process for the app
  • “Do not hire US Engineers to build your apps”
  • He talks about the build process, why he refused to hire US engineers for early-stage development, how he made $18K from a launch party, and what user behavior data taught him about social products in the real world.
  • "And it was pretty much out of pocket, it was like $2,000. But look at what you need to do." "I'm tired of the rest....
  • "You know, to what degree of visibility do you have on user behavior on?" "This is an episode of what other kind of...

Fast scan timestamps

00:00Intro + background
02:34Why did Matt build Approachable
05:18On pivoting away from the original AR platform idea
08:24If decent alternatives exist, should founders not build?
11:07Build process for the app
14:09“Do not hire US Engineers to build your apps”

Read the complete transcript

The complete conversation is available with timestamps, speaker labels, and links to the exact questions it answers.

Read transcript
8,472 transcript words73 timestamped blocks

Transcript-backed moments

A few lines worth stealing before you hand over the full hour.

Open on YouTube
00:00:00

"The want trans to do this other in-wake list as nothing to do with one more interview, right?" "Yeah, that's right. What's up if you have dropped somebody like that?" "Then first thing to say, people are more selective in who they will be the way offline, if you give them more information."

00:00:19

"But the less they know, the less they know." I'm Laman Pandey, and in this episode, featured not expert is Matt Belluth. Mark is the co-founder of the approachable app, which helps people find friends to explore this city or go to events with in a day and age where adults are loonier than ever in America.

00:00:37

"And it was pretty much out of pocket, it was like $2,000. But look at what you need to do." "I'm tired of the rest. I'm like, oh, this is what's up for me, call us, right?" "I feel like the journey of which you would be there for you to think about, and just see, school's going and then just straight up it."

00:00:56

"Yeah, and I see one guy, I went and I saw you in a video video, like if it was you and me, I wonder if that was the event." "And he's like, he is like, come here at this, dude." "And I was like, yeah, I do. He was like that."

00:01:10

"You know, to what degree of visibility do you have on user behavior on?" "This is an episode of what other kind of data has the 10 minutes we will see." In line with that theme of learning from somebody just two steps ahead and serve an expert,

Show notes

Matt Williams built Approachable, an app for finding friends to explore your city with, at a moment when adult loneliness keeps getting worse. He talks about the build process, why he refused to hire US engineers for early-stage development, how he made $18K from a launch party, and what user behavior data taught him about social products in the real world.

More in Build It

Same mess. Different guest. Pick the next conversation that feels closest to your real life.