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Banter! — Waze for nightlife- real-time info from bars and clubs
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@orliesaurus Hi! definitely, you can find tons of happy hour specials through our discoverer feature (the binoculars). We do see some people post photos from busy restaurants, food truck parks, etc., but the majority of the use case is related to bars / clubs / drinking / socializing than restaurants / eating.
Hi everyone! Glad to see Banter on ProductHunt!
Ever go out, only to find the bar you just got to has a huge line, or worse, is totally empty? You then waste time & perhaps even taxi money going from place to place... Isn’t it ridiculous how often this happens?
Well, we agree, so we’re building a nightlife community where you can see & share information on what’s going on at nearby bars, restaurants & clubs – all in real-time!
Banter lets you do three things:
- Find dozens of things to do in your city from happy hours, to live music concerts, to DJs or comedy shows
- Find, chat with & meet people that are going out tonight; we’ll even suggest people that like to go out where you go out
- See & share photos from nearby bars & clubs, so you can know where the hotspots are in real-time.
During the month of May, we had 6,000 active users, with more than 30,000 messages exchanged between users & more than 2,000 posts in our live feed.
We’re still small but growing strong.
Banter supports over 60 cities across the globe, but the majority of our users are in San Francisco, New York, Boston, Chicago, Mumbai & New Delhi. So if you like what we’re doing but we don’t yet support your city, let us know!
Diego, Banter CEO
diego@thebanterapp.com
@dvillarrealm @thebanterapp like the idea!
But really mixed feelings on the name ha I'm sorry 🙈
@bentossell @thebanterapp haha you don't like the name "Banter!"? Why is that? Not memorable enough? ;)
@dvillarrealm I feel like banter was a word seldom used but last few years everyone has been saying about everything. Even sarcastically cropping up after shows like The Inbetweeners were using in a cringe-y way haha. Maybe it just applies to edge cases, people who watch The Inbetweeners and such haha.
Seems like it could be a British pet-hate thing haha. You can see a thread on Reddit and even on the BBC here ha!
In terms of longevity I feel like using the word 'banter' could be short lived.
Not trying to be brutal but just my opinion :)
@bentossell No worries, appreciate the honesty! We did explore the use of the word when we came up with the name a year ago, it seems like it's barely use in the US, but you're right, apparently in the UK it might not have the nicest connotations haha Thanks for sharing the links!
Congrats on being featured on PH! Downloaded. I like the idea. I think once Banter beefs up MAU it could offer a lot of value. Right now I only see 1-2 events in my nearby area and I'm in the middle of the city.
Also, have you A/B tested engagement with allowing short video clips? For me, it's hard to get the vibe of a party or meetup through just one picture in the feed. Keep up it up 👯
@jonathanzwhite Hi Jonathan, we're definitely exploring letting people post 5-second clips, I agree that seeing a short video would let you much more easily understand the vibe, etc., of a place. Especially because photos many times tend to be dark. If a video is dark, but you can still see movements and hear the music / sound, it'll still be useful.
I really like Banter. I personally don't go out that much, but when I do I like to know whats going on and I really dislike going from one bar to the other to find something nice.
It would be amazing if bars could live-stream to the banter app. Are you guys working on something like that?
@rexromanum Yes! We're launching some extensions of the app which will not only let bar managers more easily post photos, but let the customers of that same bar see those photos on the local TV's and screens.
I have been using the app for a few months now and even though I am not a big party/bar person I found it pretty useful on several occasions. Happy to see it here on PH today. Good luck to you guys!
Happy to see you on ProductHunt!
Saw @dvillarrealm pitching Banter! about 2 years ago at a "Shark Tank" event in SF. If I'm not mistaken I think they won that event.
I've seen Banter's growth and I have to say, since I first used Banter I was really impressed with it. Keep it up!
ps. I would really love to see Banter in Puerto Rico. (Let me know if you're interested)
@juangmrtz Yes! I remember that event... Banter was way different back then, we've definitely evolved and grown. Glad you like it, and definitely interested in chatting how we can expand to Puerto Rico. Shoot me an e-mail!
Idea is great, however the app seems complex. Less is more. Keep iterating, and you'll build something awesome.
@mrabramowitz Hey Corey, thanks! That's the most common feedback we've received so far, we're going to prioritize some polishing and simplifying of the app over the next few weeks. Appreciate the feedback and support!
@itsruback Thanks Yonatan! Shoot me an email if you have any feedback or suggestions!
great idea. i happen to run into this problem once in a while. i wonder what the reactions from the bars are so far; as this could potentially hurt a business ('too crowded? we skip, too empty? let's go somewhere else')?
@alexisvos We've had bars raise that question, but unlike Yelp, where you'll se positive and negative reviews, what you'd see on Banter are the best "hotspots" in real-time. You most likely wouldn't see posts from empty places because people aren't there to take photos, but you'd see photos from people that are having a great time at places with good vibes, etc.
On a separate note - we're getting ready to launch some TV applications for bars and restaurants that will enable them to connect their existing TVs to the Banter platform and show photos in real-time, as well as "announcements" (e.g. specials, upcoming events, etc.). The beauty is that these visuals won't just be visible to the bar's patrons at that time, but visible on the mobile app itself, for the rest of the community to see.
Dope idea, do you have any integration (or plan to) with Foursquare? +1 extra vote for having this available on Android at the same time as iOS!
@sarthakgrover We haven't yet. We did look at integrating with Instagram a while back, but they blocked their feed-reader API. What specifically would you suggest we integrate with Foursquare for? Places data (from Foursquare itself)? or Check-in data from Swarm?
and yeah! our team got both iOS and Android done at the same time :)
@dvillarrealm Check-in data from Swarm (I probably should have mentioned that instead of Foursquare) would probably give an idea of how busy things are looking at particular places, a heat map based on that would be quite interesting and fun. It'll also help decide whether or not I want to go to a super busy place or something less busy.
The idea behind the application seems really great and the features seem to be spot on with what you would like the application to do. IMO however the design of the App could use a lot of work, I would certainly like to see that cleaned up because I don't feel inspired to use the App based on the design, if that is updated and tightened up however, I think you will really have a great product on your hands.
@dpcleitao Dan - thanks for the feedback. You are right, if there's 1 specific aspect that we're looking to improve, it's the design and intuitiveness. For full disclosure, we somewhat "pivoted" the value prop from being map-oriented to more chat/feed-oriented a few months ago and are still transitioning, could definitely use some pointers on design, if you have any specifics!
Great idea, seems like a great product especially for the the younger audience. The party chat feature is something that caught my eye.
good stuff diego :)
@jorge_bestard Thanks Jorge! Check out the app and let us know if you like the product!
Hello Diego! I am dating coach just moved to LA who works with men who are looking for great places to meet people every night. I will be following your app to see how it progresses and recommend it to clients.
@arecenello Thanks Anthony! Feel free to shoot me an email if you'd like to talk more about how your clients might be able to leverage Banter. I'd also love to better understand what the men you coach do now.
@fabian_beringer Thanks Fabian! Please don't hesitate to share any feedback!
I downloaded this app a while back, created a user and never browsed it. MISTAKE. Banter really works, I liken it to a Waze/Yelp of nightlife, real-time and honest information on bars and clubs, I just wished it existed when I was 21. Keep the features coming!
@daniel_trevino Thanks!! glad you like the recent changes!! We're going to keep making the app better and better, making it smoother, more intuitive and better picture-taking and messaging experiences, so stay tuned!
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