Startup’s Geosocial App Takes Users into the Real World

Robert Waterson:

Thank you for having me. Excited to share the progress we've made.

Fritz Spencer:

Likewise, and a fellow accountant I've heard.

Robert Waterson:

Yeah, I started my career as a CPA, worked in auditing for about 10 years with a specialty in technology as well, and then have moved over to actually did investing for about 10 years and then saw a need when I moved to Puerto Rico about seven years ago and picked, the groups came from that need. It's a way for people to congregate in person and connect for real world activities and events. And like we had said earlier on the intro, there's really nothing else out there. There's a lot of tools that are very good for connecting people and one-to-one messaging apps and obviously event apps, but having everything all in one place is something that's unique that we bring to the table.

Fritz Spencer:

Great. And thanks for that explanation of Picnic groups. We love to hear about what you guys are building. So tell me more about what was the problem that you saw that Picnic Groups is seeking to solve?

Robert Waterson:

Mainly it's a replacement for one-to-one messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, they're obviously very powerful and WhatsApp is 15 years old and they've continued to add really interesting features and grow and evolve along with the technology space and what their users needs. But it's certainly become this massive platform and complicated and cumbersome. So we wanted to offer people an alternative and the WhatsApp fatigue you hear from a lot of people is something that we felt like we could solve. So we don't allow any bots or any of those really super useful tools that Telegram has. But in terms of connecting in person, it's a lot of overkill in terms of websites or larger platforms. Similarly, Eventbrite would be something that people have used, but again, that's more geared towards larger events and paid events. They do a lot of concerts and things like that, dining and restaurant events.

Fritz Spencer:

So you touched a little bit on the niche and I guess you might call it your customer base. Who is most interested in using picnic groups?

Robert Waterson:

The customer base is really local service providers that we found the most traction with. So yoga teachers and sound healers and people who are really conscious about bringing people together in person. And we've had some happy hours. We've had some meetups, we've had some vegan chefs, we've had some florists. So really people who are trying to connect in person. I think the ideal member that would gain the most out of the unique features of the app is somebody that has an expertise in a particular area or a passion project and is looking to try to turn that hobby into a side hustle. You can start a group and manage a group and do everything that you can with a regular chat group. And then right there within the app you can host an event or a class or a workshop and help monetize that side hustle and like I said, bring people together in person, which is really kind of our reason for being

Fritz Spencer:

Really emerging out of Covid. I love to hear that, especially since we were in such a remote world before getting out. And I participate in sporting events at least once a week. So whether it's my kickball team, softball team or hockey team, we're out here in group chats all over the place and I can understand that It definitely gets quite messy. And the next piece I'd love to learn about more, which is kind of what you mentioned is cleaning that mess up is the technology that you've built. Tell me a little bit about the platform, what you've built and how it got started.

Robert Waterson:

It was built through several friends of mine, again in Puerto Rico, and it's not very unique in terms of the technology. I think the uniqueness is just the focus and the commitment to something different in terms of not having an ad generated space. Obviously WhatsApp captures a lot of your information, uses ads. And so I think by moving towards a different business model and has in a space that's focused on members' needs, our business model is to charge a flat membership to the host that make money on the site. And so we make money when members put down their phone, and that's a really important differentiator. We're not going to win a technology game against the big tech guys. Where we'll win is having more off the shelf adaptable solutions. And so technology wise, we certainly want to stay one step behind in terms of technology, but the advantage is really more on the business side and focusing on the customer. And obviously we're working on some AI things and we've worked with a company called Grok that is really a leader in AI space and have some cool things with that that should be coming out shortly. But again, these aren't kind of parlor tricks like making videos of bulls running through China shops and things like that. Our focus is on making something that's useful and really helps connect people in person

Fritz Spencer:

As long as you're going in the right direction. So you mentioned there a little bit about the technology that you guys are developing, and I know we spoke initially on our intro call about some of the integration that you guys are doing. Is there anything that you can shed light on about those integrations that you've built out that make picnic groups more adaptable for those customers?

Robert Waterson:

Yeah. Well, one of the things that we recently added was for payments using Bitcoin. And I've been in Bitcoin for a while and have seen it as more of a digital gold, but recently there've been a lot of layer two solutions which allow you to transact, make smaller transactions on the network with the same security and reliability that you have with Bitcoin, just a far less cost. So we've integrated a payment called the Lightning Network within Picnic. And so what we've done, we've had customers in Argentina and Dubai and they're looking for alternatives. PayPal actually doesn't work in those two countries. So Bitcoin is an opportunity to give a local solution or a global solution to a local audience as well as trying to build a circular economy and create some resilience within the communities we serve. And so I think it's an important tool that, again, that's a differentiator that is unique to the marketplace that Picnic Group brings to local communities and the hosts.

Fritz Spencer:

Wow, that's a great add-on to a company that's not focused on just people that operate in USD. You're focused on the global community and those smaller communities that are around the world. So what is Picnic groups looking to do next?

Robert Waterson:

Our next step is really we're just focused on growth. We want to get the word out and get people to connect and start build groups and move their groups from WhatsApp and Telegram mainly. We do have an import feature that's kind of buried within the app that we're going to move to the web. I think we struggle with how much do we want to be a safe and secure ecosystem for people and how much do we want to be on the web? Privacy and security are super, super important to us. We never expose email addresses or phone numbers within the app. And again, we don't have any public APIs. Again, the web app is probably the most technological thing, but our focus in terms of a company is again, getting the word out and moving to new areas. Puerto Rico is a good place to start because it has a lot of the English or Spanish speaking culture as well as tourism.

And we're going to move to more places like that that have a lot of digital nomads, sort of an expat culture. Argentina, we've seen some traction in Barcelona, we've seen some people Dubai, we've seen some groups forming there. I think that's something that Covid has opened up in terms of being able to work from anywhere. And if you move to a place that you don't have a lot of friends or a support system, you can use picnic groups to find things to do and really connect with locals. And we want to be able to strengthen those social bonds and connect people from different social classes and groups.

Fritz Spencer:

Great. Thanks for sharing that. And it's so important in the data age that we're in that I'm glad that you mentioned your priority on security. And I want to mention, you also spoke about your focus is really on growth. Have you done any investment rounds? Have you brought in any investors or are you looking to raise funds?

Robert Waterson:

We've had some interest from some folks and we're going to entertain some investment rounds and we actually, we would like a strategic partner, but we want somebody that is going to come in and be able to help us bring in the right teams, whether it's again, somebody from Big Tech that will be able to help us out or somebody that has the right human resources to be able to bring additional team members on board. So that's really our focus is trying to find the right partners. And again, not doing it just to try to get some cash in the door, but doing it in a way that's going to allow us to grow and a long-term sustainable pace.

Fritz Spencer:

Understandable, of course. Now, one thing that we typically ask on Tech Talk is about conversations that we have on our day-to-Day. And has there been any pivotal conversations that you might've had lately or in your life that have that resonate with you on your day-to-Day basis?

Robert Waterson:

Yeah, and conversations. I think moving to Puerto Rico was really a really pivotal moment in terms of my outlook in life and understanding a different mindset. And so that really forms a lot of what we do into Picnic is not having preconceived notions about things and trying to look at it from someone else's shoes. And really having true empathy is something that's important and it allows you to kind of build things differently with the goal of, again, a long-term sustainable solution in mind as opposed to something that's just a quick fix that's not going to provide real value over the long term.

Fritz Spencer:

Well, Robert, I want to thank you for taking the time to have this conversation with me today, and thank you to picnic groups as well. And a special thanks to our listeners. Thank you for tuning into Tech Talk. All the entrepreneurs and innovators who turn to EisnerAmper for accounting, tax and advisory solutions to help propel their success, subscribe to the EisnerAmper podcast to listen to more tech talk episodes or visit eisneramper.com for more tech news that you can use.

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