WeGoOut has released a new version of its event discovery iOS app and revamped its website, the startup has announced.
As you may remember, its Portuguese co-founder Frederico Camara was one of the entrepreneurs who pitched at 21212 Demo Day in Rio de Janeiro last October after WeGoOut graduated from the accelerator. The startup was also a finalist at Startup World: Brazil earlier this year, and is currently operating from Brazil and Portugal.
While the native language of WeGoOut’s founding team is Portuguese, the app is also available in English, as their ambition is to make it global and enter the US before other competitors. Still, they pay particularly close attention to the Latin American market, on which they learned interesting lessons with the startup’s previous iteration, a dating app called Loveblip.
According to Camara, his team decided to pivot when they realized that users were more interested in partying – and maybe finding a casual date – than purely seeking online dates. Instead of focusing solely on dating, they decided to create an app that lets you find interesting events and connect with other attendees once you are there.
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In practical terms, WeGoOut’s app and new website let you browse a geo-localized party guide that shows you pictures of the venue that were taken over the last few days via Instagram or WeGoOut itself.
Its guide is also social, and relies on Facebook and Foursquare integration, plus its own check-in system that includes ratings. In addition to letting you know if your friends are there and enjoying the party, it also tells you if friends of friends and influential people in the area are going.
While the dating element has been toned down, it is still there if that’s what you are looking for. For instance, you can check out the percentage of men and women at a party before you decide to attend. More importantly, WeGoOut includes an IceBreaker feature to communicate with other partygoers.
“You can send one of four predefined icebreakers (“May I buy you a drink?”, “Shall we dance?”, “Let’s have a chat?” or “May I steal a kiss?”). If the other person accepts it, both your device’s screens light up, asking both of you to raise your hands up… and voilà, you found each other,” WeGoOut explains.
Camara points out that the team’s experience at 21212 was very good. “We had very good mentors, and pushed deeper on trying to solve the problem.” It seems that mentors in 21212 mentoring network also enjoyed working with Camara and his co-founder, André Moniz:
“They have shown that they possess both vision and the ability to put their plans in motion,” said Dirigo Advisors managing partner, Patrick McGinnis. “It was a a pleasure to work with such a disciplined and visionary team,” Adriana Cisneros added (see our previous interview).
The startup now has new milestones on its roadmap, starting with the Android app that it will release at the beginning of 2013 to complement its iOS version and mobile site.
While the company is aware that Facebook could enter its segment, it is convinced that its sole focus on nightlife will help it find its place in this niche, and become a key partner for event promoters:
“We have been talking to several promoters all over the world, and understanding their needs and current challenges. So, we have created a complete business intelligence set for them. They can use it to manage their guest list, analyze their audience and behavior, and promote their event to a specific kind of audience,” WeGoOut explains.
In addition, the team is working on a marketing tool to help promoters interact with their audience through discounts and other offers. This could be an interesting strategy to help the platform gain traction, as it could rely on promoters to spread the word about it.
WeGoOut’s initial focus on Latin America also seems a good choice. As we reported, competing app Vamos has recently revealed that this region was already driving one in three downloads of its iOS app, a local growth that it now hopes to boost with the launch of its Android app.
➤ WeGoOut, via the App Store
Image credit: Thinkstock
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