Andy Dunn's startup Pie becomes less of an events app and more of a social network
Andy Dunn's startup Pie is shifting its focus from events to social networking, introducing a new feature called Community Homes that allows users to create permanent homes for their social groups on the app.
Intelligence analysis by Llama
Pie, a social app founded by Bonobos' Andy Dunn, is evolving from an events app to a social network. The company has launched a new feature called Community Homes, which enables users to create permanent homes for their social groups, fostering deeper connections and community-building.
Imagine you're at a party with friends, and you want to stay in touch with them after the party's over. That's what Pie's new feature, Community Homes, is like. It lets you create a special place on the app where you and your friends can hang out, share events, and stay connected.
Analysis
Pie's Evolution: From Events to Social Network
Pie, the social app founded by Bonobos' Andy Dunn, has undergone a significant transformation. Originally launched as an events app in Chicago, Pie has grown to around 300,000 users, backed by investors including Forerunner, Lightspeed, Accel, and Twitter co-founder Ev Williams. The company's latest feature, Community Homes, marks a shift in its mission to connect people in real life. By allowing users to create permanent homes for their social groups, Pie aims to encourage users to join communities, where events are the natural outcome of those connections, rather than the main draw.
A Response to the Desire for Real-World Connections
The update arrives at a time when younger people are looking to make more connections in the real world, after years of online socializing. Instead of connecting solely through social media apps, they're looking to use digital tools in ways that lead them to real-world connections. Pie's new digital group homepages will offer a place for organizers and group members to connect and build relationships beyond a single event. Each 'home' has its own community feed and other group management tools, like admin and membership controls, a shareable homepage, and event-planning resources. However, anyone can share events to the group's feed, not just group's admins, to allow for more natural networking.
A Community-Building Ecosystem
The addition of the Community Homes follows on other changes designed to make Pie less about the events themselves, and more about the people who attend them. Last December, for instance, Pie changed its activity feed to showcase who you knew who was attending an event, rather than just which events were being announced. After the change, time on the app grew from 2 minutes to 10 minutes, the team found. More recently, Pie launched a 'favorites' feature that lets users build out their public profiles by adding their favorite interests. Dunn says he was inspired to build the startup after moving from New York to Chicago, where he initially struggled to find community and friendship. At the same time, a movement around joining social clubs was gaining momentum among Gen Z.
A New Era for Pie
The company has since added Nadya Okamoto, who founded a popular run club called Zoomies in New York, as a co-founder and CMO. 'I would say [Pie is] more like the original promise of Facebook and Reddit — if it wasn’t anonymous and toxic,' she said referring to Reddit. 'Rather than leading with events, which is what so many other great platforms do, I think events are more a product of having a great community-building ecosystem on the app.'
Key points
- Pie is shifting its focus from events to social networking with its new Community Homes feature.
- The feature allows users to create permanent homes for their social groups, fostering deeper connections and community-building.
- Pie's transformation is a response to the growing desire among younger people to make real-world connections.
- The company has added a 'favorites' feature that lets users build out their public profiles by adding their favorite interests.
If Pie's new feature takes off, it could lead to more meaningful connections and community-building among its users. This, in turn, could lead to a more engaged and active user base, which could drive growth and adoption for the app.
However, if Pie's shift towards social networking doesn't resonate with its users, it could lead to a decline in engagement and adoption. This, in turn, could make it harder for the app to compete with other social media platforms.
