Hey there, thanks for opening my first newsletter!

You’re getting this because you’re my family, friend, or maybe we’ve lost touch but I thought you might be interested. If you don’t care for this content, all good, feel free to unsubscribe — I promise I won’t be offended.

So what is this? I’m running an experiment where I’m going to work more in public (er, online). These newsletters will be semi-regular, probably every week or two, and contain both some personal and some professional content. I’m going to share fun photos, what’s going on in my life, things I’ve learned, cool resources, concepts I’m developing, and my experience taking a run at solopreneurship.

This is my first newsletter, so I’ll really be figuring it out as I go — expect it to change. I love receiving feedback, so if you have any thoughts, positive or constructive, hit reply and let me know!

If you want to help out on my journey, scroll to the bottom for my ask of the week, or forward this along to a friend.

I’ve learned a heck of a lot from others who share their work & their process online, and I can only assume it’s given back to them if they keep doing it. At the very least, they’ve helped me, and I’d love to pay it forward.

I’m also in a unique moment in my life. I’ve taken a step back from social media, I’m in between jobs, and I’m building my own product in the gap. This has granted me a story worthy of sharing. And yes, worthy, is a subjective word here, but I’m pushing through my fear of rejection, so just roll with me.

So, the why is three fold: share with others as an intrinsic good, challenge myself to overcome my fears, and use the medium to reflect on and improve my own work.

At the very least, I hope it helps me connect a little more with each of you :)

I like intentions because they help me set a direction, they’re not pass/fail. And a season can be as long or short as I want. I set these (or themes) most years and they seem to work. I also have goals, but they rotate frequently and are more granular. It feels good to check them off when achieved, but they’re too far in the weeds to guide my life. They flow out of my intentions.

So, here’s the direction I’m heading in:

It’s been a busy start to January. Here’s a few recent pics from my photo reel:

A theme has emerged in my life: spending my time well. Well for me is with with people I care about, learning, and building useful things in the world.

With the confluence of events in my life, there couldn’t be a better time to build a product that brings people together!

More and more, I’ve found it easier to spend time alone instead of with others. I think part of that is a natural aspect of aging, but I’m certain another factor is how much screens have gobbled up our attention and time.

When I do organize plans with my friends, it can sometimes feel like herding cats. And I bet my friends feel the same way about me. It’s no-ones fault, it’s just that we have complex schedules, varying interests, and differing circles of friends. I have yet to find a tool that makes it easy to overcome this.

Then, there’s the matter of making decisions. Like who should I reach out to? Which group chat should I post in? Do I start a new one? Do I message people individually? What activity do we do? Where do we go? When should we meet? Where do I save/find these details in the endless conversation?

I’m building a product to fix that! It has three main components:

It’s early days right now, but here’s what it will look like:

My mind always goes to getting crushed by competition. But in doing research, I found what’s scariest is the graveyard of other companies who have tried something similar and failed. The biggest challenge for this product to overcome isn’t getting squashed, it’s never getting off the ground.

That being said, the graveyard provides a lot of lessons about what NOT to do. Apps to organize last-minute hangs NEVER seem to work, the app needs to be a useful tool for the organizer, and it needs to minimize zeros — interactions where someone opens the app and there is nothing to do.

Despite the low rates of success in this space (Consumer Social), there have been a few notable exceptions in recent years like Partiful (with 500k+ monthly active users & $100M+ USD valuation) and Saturn (millions of monthly active users and sold for roughly $140M USD to Snap Inc.)

And there are some apps in the space picking up traction, like Howbout, Den, and Flare, which means there’s demand. Down to Lunch was also a relative hit in the mid 2010s before the founders found a more lucrative venture in crypto.

This moment in the world is also a little different. More people than ever are quitting social media, AI slop is rendering time on online social platforms less meaningful, and I see more and more people looking for real connection offline. The mid 2020s could be a golden era for apps that help people get off their phones.

Without a doubt, the biggest competition is Whatsapp & iMessage. Everyone uses it, and it does a good enough job at helping us organize. What these apps lack though, is the ability to manage groups of connections well, filter out the noise that goes along with planning, and focus the user on this task — to spend more time with others in person.

The hypothesis driving Herd is this: If organizing hang-outs became effortless, people would prefer to use texting to simply organize rather than hang out on. If true, the goal becomes more important than the means, and a tool like Herd has a real shot.

In time, there’s also real opportunity to bring value to the broader events space by expanding Herd to clubs (think run club, book club, etc.) and public events. That will stay on the back-burner though, we can cross that bridge when we get there.

Having mulled on this idea for roughly four years, and being passionate about clubs for 10, I would have regrets for not seizing this moment to build Herd.

I plan to spend the next few months focusing on this product, and re-evaluate in May. Whether or not Herd gains traction, I know I’ll learn a tonne along the way. I hope you’ll stick around to learn with me.

I want to hear about your pain-points when trying to spend time with friends. Any and all input is welcome! To do that, you can reply to this email, give me a phone call, or book 30 mins in my calendar here.

I’d also love to hear your feedback about this newsletter. Tell me want to see more of, less of, your constructive ideas.

Ciao for now!
- Brendon