I think about how easy the substitutes for real human connection have become. Want a friend to make you laugh? Turn on Netflix. Want a quick hit of your favorite people? Pull up social media. Want intimacy? Fire up Tinder. This basic idea, that someone can deliver you a nice day around the city like ordering a pizza is maybe not so off base. It may seem like an incredible lack of imagination that people couldn't figure out what to do with a free day and a friend in NYC, but maybe imagination is in short supply these days.

Yes, I don't think that the answer to too much technology is more technology.

"something" and "someplace" are the problems here.

What will they like? Which places will be interesting?

It's not at all a given that someone with data and information can't give a more informed opinion on what options are available that may be popular with a set of people than those people themselves.

Why should curated activities only be for tourists on vacation?

There are tons of activities people aren't aware are available, or are aware of but don't know whether would be suitable for them, and which they avoid because there's an opportunity cost to making the wrong choice. Exploring that yourself can be fun, but it's also hit and miss.

The biggest problem to me with this idea isn't the idea that they can do better, but that even the founder took an emotionally charged situation to get to the point of verbalising that this was what he wanted. Wanting to help people who aren't necessarily aware that there's an issue someone could solve for them is tricky.

I live in London. There's stuff to do all over the place. If anything, the challenge is filtering and curating. I'd love a site that did it for me. Especially if it could also book things. Heck, I might even pay for personalised recommendations if it could cut the time I spend on choosing.

But I don't think I'm typical.

I suspect a lot of their potential userbase would be really hard to reach.

I believe Google had a service like this for a bit but it got killed. Don't recall what it is called.

You could book an activity on Airbnb, they offer that. You could go kayaking. You could go apple/pumpkin picking. etc. etc

You just have to think of things.

Yeah, but its thinking of things I'm likely to enjoy that I may not even be aware of are options and researching the options for that activity and which providers are worthwhile that makes it time consuming. Some people enjoy that aspect. I don't.

EDIT: With respect to Airbnb, they're all group activities, which for the most part makes them less interesting to me. I'd like the idea, a map, tickets/bookings if necessary, but for the most part I'd have no interest in guided activities. I get that makes it harder to profit of because you're giving away half the work by telling users about the activity.

>> What will they like? Which places will be interesting?

That's the point. Pick something at random, you'll learn what you find interesting together. You can even bond over discussions about what you didn't like. As long as "random" isn't something that's a hard NO for either party you should be good.

When I lived in SF, sf.funcheap.com was my go-to for this kind of thing, especially random tinder dates.

Everywhere I've lived since has lacked this sort of resource, and it's made meeting people & getting out and exploring much less newbie-friendly.

Maybe I just need to build the change I want to see in the world...

discovering these event discovery websites themselves is one of the challenges.

nyc has theskint, differnet neighborhood specific events listings (bushwickdaily, brokelyn come to mind for me), industry/event category specific listings (like different calendars for music / concerts, calendars for comedy, etc).

one problem is that these event discovery streams are scattered across mediums. for example you might find some nyc events scattered across some promoter's IG account, some that are advertised on TikTok, some on some old fashioned blog style website like those I initially listed above.

aggregators exist as well but they tend to be un-sexy and not likely to find long-tail / niche stuff / cooler more underground stuff.

the solution is often to ask people around you or involved in the space you're interested in how they find out about events. they will then tell you about the mailing list, or the IG account, or the website, or whatever.

of course, smaller cities and towns often don't have as large of 'scenes'. and anywhere you go, it's often more fruitful to just create the scene you want to be a part of.

Woah! Thank you so much for sharing that website

Yeah this is kind of the issue. For some going for a walk and exploring IS the activity. For some, like op, that doesnt seem like its bonding or actually connecting.

It's probably generational and based on how one interacts with others (are most of their friendships online or not).

But most people don't just go out and randomly walk around. And with the exception of high-density cosmopolitan cities, even if you did, you'd just end up in somewhere extremely boring.

One of the more effective ways of knowing where to go, is by talking with friends and collecting, curating that information over time. I don't know if this start-up is capable of replicating that experience - there are tons of urban blogs and the like that claim to do the same that I rarely use - but the problem domain and general solution seems reasonable.

"something. Anything". Optionality and lack of time to explore options is the issue. There is nothing wrong with taking a suggestion. It's obvious that this removes some possible serendipity but it also removes barriers to making something happen in the first place.

A certain sort of tourist on a certain sort of holiday at that.