Why Did We Start This?
It all began with one simple question:
Why does meeting new people as an adult feel so awkward and painful?
I was having a late-night call with a close friend who had moved from Toronto to Seattle for work. He had left behind his entire social circle and was feeling lonely in a new city. “It’s just work, screen, sleep, repeat,” he told me.
I suggested he try out new social dinner apps where you meet a group people over a meal that I had recently learned about. He tried it, but the conversations felt shallow, sometimes only one or two people showed up. Instead of more friends, he was left with more frustration.
That story felt too familiar to be unique, so I started asking around. Friends, friends of friends, work colleagues, strangers. As it turns out, loneliness was everywhere, and soon I realized there were some common themes:
⭐Moving to a new city and leaving your social circle behind
⭐Friends moving to different life stages (marriage, kids, relocation) and suddenly they aren't as available anymore
⭐Remote work eats into social interactions
⭐Showing up alone to anything new feels awkward
⭐Trying to make friends through networking events involves small talk and shallow conversations
Then, as if by some stroke of fate, I joined a casual pickleball drop-in. I wasn’t good (far from it) but something clicked. It was fun, light, and surprisingly easy to pick up. No pressure, no awkwardness.
And that, my friends, is when it hit me. I called my friend and said, “I’ve got it. I know exactly how we’re going to tackle the loneliness pandemic.” And just like that, The Social Buzzer was born.