Who is this for? I can't imagine "top tech talent" is going to want to subject themselves to endlessly being pitched to by VC's who thinks that writing their entire app for them means you get just 5% of the company. And I can't imagine without coders, it would be useful to VC's trying to recruit...
I hear you, it was one of my concerns at the start. But we highly curate the beta invites and through the onboarding we consistently mention it is NOT for self-promotion or pitching because that leaves a sour taste in most cases. And we take the membership seriously, 3 strikes of such incidents reported and you'll be suspended!
We are attracting folks who love talking shop in a friendly environment on video. Most of our users are makers/founders (70%) and they love showing their projects and getting feedback or jamming with other peers.
Think of like a virtual cafe where you can serendipitously run into folks you know from Twitter.
One day it could be some one big (let's say an influencer!) or another day it could a peer maker/developer with just 100 followers but who has a cool portfolio.
Wow, this looks great! I've seen different takes on this but I love the approach you're taking with marketing, starting the community off slowly, and using a calendly and x.ai style calendar. Hoping this takes off.
I have a suggestion that I wonder whether it has been tried - how about having a checkbox of whether someone will be having coffee or tea. That really helps create the atmosphere. It can still be pretty inclusive. On Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee someone has herbal tea.
Thank you, Ben! Our go-to-market since March has been attract interesting builders/makers from both code and no-code community via Twitter. It's been going great...had over 1100+ Cuppas (30 min virtual coffee dates) so far!
The onboarding has a set of questions like "Whats your fav coffee shop in your city?" but totally agree the "coffee/tea" would add a bit more personality to the questions!
I think a lot of people in the tech community would be open to a few 1:1 conversations with people out of their normal network now and then. This approach chimes with how (I think) community can be sustainably built and expanded in tech, both parties benefiting from possible out-of-band experiences. There’s no guarantee of that, of course, but that’s a risk people can assess when spending their time. People love talking about what they do, both for personal brand and personal enjoyment (Meet-ups and less corporate conferences are clear examples of this).
Wish the expectations of these conversations were more outlined, though. “Get on the waitlist” is a bit of a black box.
Also, maybe this is personal bias, but allowing for non-Twitter handles (I think my HN handle better resonates with my technical leanings than my Twitter, which is mostly just me posting more or less random thoughts). Looks like they’re using Twitter authentication, though, as well the “We met up” tweets have some virality, so I understand that design choice at the current moment.
After seeing a former teacher of mine ask about people who’d be willing to talk with his high school students, I think there’s also an extension of this platform to help match speakers with educators trying to help students understand what it means to work in technology (Or other fields). When I was an undergraduate we’d run part of a summer program teaching high school students how to differentiate stem cells into beating heart cells, hard to say that example wouldn’t be formative for students trying to figure out what to pursue in the future.
Hey Alex, thanks for the thoughtful comment. We're very early in the journey so had to stick with only 1 use case to calibrate acquisition well.
I love the idea of connecting speakers with educators trying to help students get into tech. A lot of communities have reached out to us as well to run "Cuppa for X" programs to build engagement within their network. It's on the roadmap!
Cuppa is an amazing experience. The double opt-in and the cache of the community makes for an actual valuable USP. So much better than lunchclub or any other competitors. Most importantly, it gives you a reason to come back.
appreciate that. We love Lunchclub too who are working hard in the same market but we like to think we're way more community-driven and a simpler UX (no AI just one big community calendar with people's open time slots):)
Totally love using Cuppa cos its more consistent than a random encounter IRL (built amounts twitter) and very close to the rich, life-changing encounters you have at an awesome conference (everyone there is probably interested in what you do). Would love to see this used for meetups and topical convos on a rolling basis.
Totally understand, it may not be for everyone. We have 500+ beta users from 26 countries who are finding value in meeting with peers to talk shop and brainstorm.. in times like this.
Had to laugh at the "creep prevention system" comment, it was not BECAUSE we had such a problem at Cuppa but because we all have used "Chatroulette" in the 90s and remember how quickly it can turn into a perv magnet. Early checks and balances are good for the community in the long run :)
I've been using Cuppa since June and I've met really interesting people on it. That list includes therapists, no-code makers, entrepreneurs.
No agenda and no hard selling on anything. I've personally had a better experience on it than Lunchclub, which I felt like a substitute for a sales channel.
I was building an app and I received a lot of good feedback and encouragement on it. In a time, when I was completely socially isolated, these conversations really helped.
Ways to reduce abuse of this platform is to restrict the number of coffee chats you can have in a week.
Thank you Kavir, so glad to have you in our early beta club :) And congrats on your recent project launch! We're considering limiting the number of Cuppas to 5-7 per week soon!
I’m skeptical about the sourced from twitter part.
I used to be very impressed by industry celebrities. The kind of people with a zillion SO or HN karma, blogs, books, podcasts, conferences speaking spots—-real name recognition at least in some corner of the tech universe.
But then over time I’ve found myself in workplaces with some of these folks and it turns out that if you do all of that, well that’s what you do. Building your own personal brand is a job and it doesn’t leave much time to build either software or engineering organizations.
Personally I’m not much interested in building a personal brand (different strokes though) and so I don’t think it would be all that exciting to talk to a bunch of people that are experts in doing so.
Hey Bradley, sourced from Twitter is just a go-to-market strategy. Apart from top celebrities and influencers, Twitter's got a set of quiet subcommunities (like #nocode, #remote) and we wanted to attract people from these first.
Overtime, our goal was to get to HN and PH as well. Most Cuppa users have less than 500 Twitter followers but they are relatable and interesting because they are makers/devs/founders with cool projects :)
This! I’ve worked with several 30 under 30 folks, and the majority were so busy building their personal brands that they didn’t get much work done. There are some exceptions, but I’ve generally become suspicious of people too into brand building. (This is separate from being helpful or part of a community, and separate from using social media to advertise a company)
I discovered Cuppa few months ago. I started using it frequently. It's a great opportunity meet people with different expertises from around the world. I have learned a lot and connected with many experienced people on Twitter.
Also, We have got first customer for our startup thorough Cuppa (totally unexpected).
Cuppa's core idea is simple enough but the early community with people like you is what makes is extra special. Thank you Mizan and so great to see your recent success!
Hi, early cuppa user. I've had some very interesting conversations with a VC scout, several makers from EU, US and India. Only one meeting was a bit weird. But that happens in real life as well. I enjoyed the serendipity a lot especially during corona lockdown and it made me understand the value of twitter more as well.
Thanks for giving it a spin, Chris! We try our best to make sure our users have the best experience by curating the invites. But again, there's always one or two misses. Just like in life. So glad you were part of the beta anyway!
Seven comments from accounts that are either new, or have never commented before except in praise of this product (complete with replies from the poster) - this all seems rather shady, like a voting ring.
If it was new accounts then its like a job interview. What is your work experience answer if you dont give me job then how can i have experience. + if they never commented then at least you cant say anymore that they never commented. There is a chance that they are shady but there is a chance that they are genuine and they follow or respect only few people. Those people who shows them real path.
Some people are good front of camera & some are behind the camera.
I hope you got my point.
Enjoy your days!
I am enjoying cuppa & my suggustion to you just give it a try!
I started using Cuppa in July and have met around 30 people from various backgrounds. I love that you don't know who you are going to meet till you select their table. Cuppa has been a major value-add to me. The "no sales pitches" rule is awesome and has resulted in meetings where both of us have walked away with something useful from the call.
I found cuppa around
march / April & enjoying it since then. I learned a lot from makers & founders even i learn a lot in automation afyrr joining cuppa.
I've had around virtual 10 cuppas and all were pretty great! Super enjoyed the ability to introduce myself and talk about what I'm working on. That's a muscle I haven't had to use often while in Covid.
37 comments
[ 4.2 ms ] story [ 73.3 ms ] threadI hear you, it was one of my concerns at the start. But we highly curate the beta invites and through the onboarding we consistently mention it is NOT for self-promotion or pitching because that leaves a sour taste in most cases. And we take the membership seriously, 3 strikes of such incidents reported and you'll be suspended!
We are attracting folks who love talking shop in a friendly environment on video. Most of our users are makers/founders (70%) and they love showing their projects and getting feedback or jamming with other peers.
Check out this page with lots of such good examples: https://www.getcuppa.io/love
Think of like a virtual cafe where you can serendipitously run into folks you know from Twitter.
One day it could be some one big (let's say an influencer!) or another day it could a peer maker/developer with just 100 followers but who has a cool portfolio.
I have a suggestion that I wonder whether it has been tried - how about having a checkbox of whether someone will be having coffee or tea. That really helps create the atmosphere. It can still be pretty inclusive. On Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee someone has herbal tea.
The onboarding has a set of questions like "Whats your fav coffee shop in your city?" but totally agree the "coffee/tea" would add a bit more personality to the questions!
Wish the expectations of these conversations were more outlined, though. “Get on the waitlist” is a bit of a black box.
Also, maybe this is personal bias, but allowing for non-Twitter handles (I think my HN handle better resonates with my technical leanings than my Twitter, which is mostly just me posting more or less random thoughts). Looks like they’re using Twitter authentication, though, as well the “We met up” tweets have some virality, so I understand that design choice at the current moment.
After seeing a former teacher of mine ask about people who’d be willing to talk with his high school students, I think there’s also an extension of this platform to help match speakers with educators trying to help students understand what it means to work in technology (Or other fields). When I was an undergraduate we’d run part of a summer program teaching high school students how to differentiate stem cells into beating heart cells, hard to say that example wouldn’t be formative for students trying to figure out what to pursue in the future.
I love the idea of connecting speakers with educators trying to help students get into tech. A lot of communities have reached out to us as well to run "Cuppa for X" programs to build engagement within their network. It's on the roadmap!
Serendipity-as-a-service at it's best
Still remember those video summaries you shared on Twitter abt your experience on Cuppa.
I love how it has to mention their creep prevention system in the first couple of lines as if that has been a big problem for them.
Also almost all of the positive comments in this thread are either the CEO or someone with less than 20 karma (new accounts created to pump this)
Had to laugh at the "creep prevention system" comment, it was not BECAUSE we had such a problem at Cuppa but because we all have used "Chatroulette" in the 90s and remember how quickly it can turn into a perv magnet. Early checks and balances are good for the community in the long run :)
No agenda and no hard selling on anything. I've personally had a better experience on it than Lunchclub, which I felt like a substitute for a sales channel.
I was building an app and I received a lot of good feedback and encouragement on it. In a time, when I was completely socially isolated, these conversations really helped.
Ways to reduce abuse of this platform is to restrict the number of coffee chats you can have in a week.
I used to be very impressed by industry celebrities. The kind of people with a zillion SO or HN karma, blogs, books, podcasts, conferences speaking spots—-real name recognition at least in some corner of the tech universe.
But then over time I’ve found myself in workplaces with some of these folks and it turns out that if you do all of that, well that’s what you do. Building your own personal brand is a job and it doesn’t leave much time to build either software or engineering organizations.
Personally I’m not much interested in building a personal brand (different strokes though) and so I don’t think it would be all that exciting to talk to a bunch of people that are experts in doing so.
Overtime, our goal was to get to HN and PH as well. Most Cuppa users have less than 500 Twitter followers but they are relatable and interesting because they are makers/devs/founders with cool projects :)
Also, We have got first customer for our startup thorough Cuppa (totally unexpected).
Some people are good front of camera & some are behind the camera.
I hope you got my point.
Enjoy your days!
I am enjoying cuppa & my suggustion to you just give it a try!
Made some awesome connections and had a ton of interesting chats around many different topics. Big up to KP and Michael for building Cupa
I am glad to be in early usrrs.
Gurvinder