A meet-up app for the savvy professional.
A meet-up app for the savvy professional.
“Unlike other apps, we focus on business professionals because we feel they have a high willingness and motivation to network for different purposes.” - Erik Lorenz, Founder, HeyMeet Pte Ltd
How would HeyMeet be more advantageous than its rivals?
We try to be the fastest way, from digital to real-life communication, by making it very simple. We focus on three event types: Eat, Coffee, and Drink – things we do every day. Our clear target group is the business district, and that’s what we do. Unlike other apps, we focus on business professionals because we feel they have a high willingness and motivation to network for different purposes.
Is a six-hour RSVP time limit for confirming meet-ups sufficient?
The longer you wait, the higher the cancellation rate. I think busy people wouldn’t plan lunch or coffee for tomorrow, they’d look at the schedule and go, “For once, I have no lunch plans today, so why don’t I create an event and see who’s available?” It is more adaptive to their style and how they live, which is very short term, and making easy to fit into their schedules when they need it, without the planning.
While HeyMeet facilitates easier meet-ups, how does it minimize the chance of a bad date or networking session?
A bad meeting would be if you believed that you had the opportunity to use the time in a better way. The investment for me is time, because that’s what you bring when you go for Eat, Coffee, and Drink events. If you feel, “I’ve went for this event and met these people, and I would have been better off eating on my own at my desk, or meeting my usual colleagues”, then, fair enough. For me personally, the events I’ve gone to, I’ve met people whom I’d never have met otherwise, and we had interesting conversations.
HeyMeet focuses on F&B establishments for meet-ups and there are tie-ups. Can you explain how it all works?
It works in two ways. One, F&B establishments can put up deals for people who create HeyMeet events at their place, making it more interesting for our users to choose certain locations for their meetings. Two; we allow the F&B establishments to create their own events. They can take up to 10 people per listing, set it at a certain time, give discounts, add a theme.
Are your users more inclined towards casual meet-ups, or do they favor networking for work?
We’ve only been out for less than a month – we’re very happy with the pickup (rate) so far, downloads were a bit above expectations. We obviously know that a casual meet-up through an app is a better-known concept, right? That’s what people adapt to in the beginning. We see a majority of our users trying out casual meet-ups at the moment, and we have a clear target: to establish HeyMeet for the business world.
Text: Liu Hongzuo/ Photography: Tan Weite / Art direction: Ken Koh
