INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A new startup called twine wants to help people feel less isolated and alone
family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and others due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the resulting government lockdowns and self-quarantines
The full gathering lasts for a total of 40 minutes, including the virtual guide portion where the ground rules are set.Participants choose
help people find connections by skipping the small talk and going straight to what matters
But the focus is on friendships, not dating
this idea, given that users could be matched to people who are only there to disrupt the experience, in theory at least
But the company aims to reduce the potential for this sort of shock trolling by permanently banning members who are flagged for making
others uncomfortable in any sort of way
experience.In addition, twine requires users to rate each conversation when it ends, and members have to be pre-approved before joining a
still a bit of a risk in chatting openly with strangers about highly personal topics
protections for confidentiality
rebirth of sorts, due to COVID-19
People are coming online to look for connections
Social media is actually becoming social
This is an ideal environment to test something as optimistic as twine, which at its core believes people are largely good and will use the
technology appropriately.The idea for twine comes from serial entrepreneurs Lawrence Coburn and Diana Rau
Coburn spent the last nine years as founder and CEO of mobile events technology provider DoubleDutch, which was acquired by Cvent in 2019
Rau, meanwhile, was co-founder and CEO of Veterati, a digital mentoring platform for veterans that had also leveraged 1-to-1 conversations
as part of its community-building experience.The founders already knew each other from the Georgetown entrepreneurship ecosystem
And Coburn was an advisor to Veterati, and Rau had worked at DoubeDutch, as well.Coburn describes his vision for twine as something in
basis.The app was originally intended to connect people who would meet up in real-life gatherings, but the coronavirus outbreak shifted
backed by $1.4 million in seed funding, closed on March 12, led by DoubleDutch investor, Hinge Capital
Other investors from DoubleDutch have also returned to fund twine, including FJ Labs, Brand Foundry and Bragiel Brothers
Angels in the round include April Underwood (Slack), Jay Hoffmann (Rocketmiles), Scott Heiferman (Meetup) and Vishal Kapur (Screenhero).In
currently in private beta on iOS and web
Currently, it has a waitlist of around 1,000 users, mainly from New York City and San Francisco, but twine will be available worldwide.
