FriendShipMate.com is my new project


Blog / Wednesday, April 22nd, 2015

I’ve been busy lately. Work has kept me busy, in a good way. I really enjoy what I’m doing. But I’m always wanting something more, something I can control. Enter FriendShipMate.com.

Some time last year, Tinder was a really popular app for people looking to have some sex with strangers. Many people I talked to wanted to know why a similar app didn’t exist but just for meeting platonic friends. People to fill some voids in your free time who have similar interests as you do. There were a few options on the market, but none of them really fit the bill of spontaneous, friendly hang out sessions. So I started taking notes on what people wanted to be able to do, then boiled it down to what I was capable of producing. And a new website was born.

FriendShipMate - The place to meet friends!

FriendShipMate is my baby. I’ve had projects which I think are great ideas and I work on them for a while, but I never nurture them to the point where I really, truly want to release them into the world. But I’ve been working on this one for over 6 months now, and it’s something I’m even more proud of as each day goes by.

Why FriendShipMate?

Let me try to boil down what it is FriendShipMate does. Let’s say, hypothetically, all of your friends graduate college and find jobs elsewhere but you took a job locally because you wanted to stay near those friends. You wake up one day and realize your social life moved away gradually and now you’re stuck going to work and coming home to watch Netflix alone before sleeping and doing it all over again. The goal of FriendShipMate is to give that social life back to you. Say instead of wanting to watch Netflix after work, you want to hit a gallery and look at some art but aren’t comfortable going alone. Simply log into FriendShipMate.com and let the world know what you want to do, when you want to do it, and where. People in your area can see your event and let you know if they want to do it too. It’s not foolproof, but it’s another option to get us off our couches and interacting with people, and we can do it on our own terms.

FriendShipMate Event Page

I have many plans for future development of FriendShipMate. I want to add a matching system and an anonymous feedback system. I like to compare it to dating websites when I start talking about all the features I want to include (and just like dating websites people will be skeptical and it won’t be for everyone). I have smaller things I want to include like email notifications when someone messages you. Or the ability to once-click RSVP to an event. And this and that and a whole lot of other things.

What next?

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in using, I encourage you to sign up. More importantly, if you like it, I encourage you to help get the word out by sharing it with your friends and family and coworkers. This is one of those websites that succeeds only if enough people are using it, everywhere.

There was a brief stint where FriendShipMate received a lot of traffic over the course of a week and the general takeaway was “There’s nothing in my area.” I looked at those comments and thought, “Well then you can be the first to create something in your area.” But I couldn’t think of a tactful way to say it, so I refrained.

Long story short, I’m loving my new job and I’m trying to create something great on the side. Please do take a look at it and sign up, for free. I also welcome any and all feedback.

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