Kickit

Kickit (formerly Meetups Social) was Find My Friends crossed with Facebook Events — a mobile app for spontaneous social meetups. You'd get a ping when a friend was in town, or find out two friends were already at the bar across the street. We raised $750K from Norwest Venture Partners and hit 5,000+ signups in the first three months.

What We Built

• Cross-platform mobile app with React Native
• Real-time chat and event coordination
• Location-based event discovery
• Social features like following and recommendations

Why We Wound Down

We started to see real network effects, and then COVID shut down the entire premise of the product overnight. We spent a year trying to pivot — toward outdoor meetups in parks, toward fraternity social networks — neither stuck. In February 2021 we returned the remaining capital to our investors and shut down.

What I Took From It

Operating under duress: how to attempt a serious pivot without losing your team, how to be honest with investors when the original thesis is dead, and how to recognize when continuing is more about ego than the business. Returning money is harder than spending it.