Crickets, Then a Click
A month of digital ads got seven signups. My son with a roll of tape and some flyers got three in one evening.
We didn't launch the app with a waitlist, a teaser campaign, or a sleek countdown page. We built it. Then we promoted it.
Late, maybe. Not exactly Marketing 101. But it felt honest: get the thing real first, then tell people about it.
So we did what you're supposed to do.
Instagram ads. Nextdoor posts. Facebook outreach. We tested formats. Tweaked copy. Made them funnier. Made them more mature. Tried memes. Tried videos. Tried again.
A month of digital marketing. £800 spent. Seven signups.
It wasn't lazy marketing. We were trying.
But we're not marketers. Maybe we were doing something wrong. Maybe it just didn't land. Whatever the reason, it started to feel like shouting into a crowded room where no one could hear you.
The Bar That Didn't Say No (But Didn't Say Yes)
One afternoon, my son headed to a local bar in Berkeley we thought might be a good partner for future events. He brought a flyer and pitched the idea. They were friendly. Even interested. But the owner wasn't there, and they'd need to check first.
A soft maybe, the kind that usually fades into silence.
My son texted about the bar, said they'd think about it, then mentioned that since he was out already, he'd post the flyers anyway.
I didn't think much of it. After a month of digital efforts, why would a few flyers make a difference?
But he walked around our neighbourhood with a roll of tape anyway. Lampposts, street corners, wherever they'd stick.
No strategy deck. No timeline. Just motion.
The Text at 10 PM
That night: "Someone signed up. From the flyer on Shattuck." Then another: "Make that three."
Seven signups from a month of digital ads. Three signups in one evening from flyers.
It wasn't the numbers. It was that someone saw a piece of paper taped to a lamppost and thought: "Yeah, I need this."
No algorithm showed it to them. We didn't bid for their attention. They just... found us.
The Universe Has a Sense of Humour
A friend sent me a photo the next week. Someone had written on one of our flyers. The comment? Something about how people should make friends in real life, not through apps.
I had to laugh. Here we are, building an app to help people make friends, and someone's graffiti-ing our flyer to say apps are the problem.
They're not wrong, exactly. But they're also missing the point. We're not trying to be another social feed. The app is just the bridge. The real thing happens when you show up.
Maybe our copy could be clearer about that. (Add it to the list of things we're still figuring out.)
The Emotional Whiplash
One day you're refreshing the dashboard, watching nothing happen, wondering if you've wasted months of your life. That sick feeling right before launch never really leaves. The next day, strangers are scanning QR codes on lampposts.
One hour you're convinced you've cracked it. The next, you realize three signups isn't exactly viral growth.
But it's movement. It's proof that someone, somewhere, wants what we're building. Some days, that's enough to keep going.
Have We Solved Our Marketing Problem?
Not even close.
We can't tape flyers to every lamppost in every city and every country... But maybe that's the point. We're asking people to do something uncomfortable: show up to meet strangers, take a chance on new connections.
If we're not willing to try new things ourselves, to adapt when Plan A isn't working, why should they?
Every flyer posted, every new approach we test, it's us doing exactly what we're asking of our users: Don't give up. Try something different. Show up even when it feels like it might not work.
But we've learned something important: sometimes the simplest, most local approach actually works.
It's not about scaling up immediately. It's about understanding the place you're launching in. Being present there. Not just launching from behind a screen and hoping the algorithm delivers.
Would it be inefficient to travel to every city we want to launch in? Probably. Would it be wrong for what we're building, a platform about showing up in real life? Not at all.
The Bottom Line
Just because everyone else is doing the online thing doesn't mean it's the only way.
Sometimes progress looks like your son with a roll of tape, a stack of flyers, and feet on actual streets.
The best algorithm for human connection might just be humans connecting. Even when someone takes the time to write on your flyer that people should make friends in real life, not online. They're right, of course. That's the whole point.