Ask HN: Do you host or attend Meetups?

[Apane]

Hey,

I'm a fan of meetups, I've attended a few and have met great people and learned a lot - I see the value.

I'm building an app that allows event organizers to monetize the events and sell tickets to their audience using our platform, so you can still host the occasional free meetup on meetup.com, but can also use our service to post a paid event and share the link with your audience. All you do is hook-up your bank account and the ticket sales are directly deposited into your bank account within 3-5 days. We simply take a small 7% transaction fee per ticket sold.

We're in development but I'm looking for feedback, to see if any of you would use something like this.

Thanks Anthony

[webmaven]

Yes, I host Meetups (though none lately), and I attend Meetups.

Your app sounds like the sort of thing I might want to use, but I would like to hear how you differentiate between your offering and existing services like Eventbrite, Brown Paper Tickets (both of which I've already used), Ticketfly, etc.

[Apane]

So we're different in a few ways,

1. our users don't need an account on our site to buy tickets, we've basically removed the barrier. You can share the link to your event with your meetup group, and the members can easily purchase the tickets, with no account, they fill in basic info name, email, etc... They're then emailed a digital voucher that they present upon arrival, with a unique reference number that can be tracked verified by the event organizer.

2. You can create re-occuring events, and select which days of the week the event happens, e.g. [X] Mon, Tues, Wed, [X] Thurs, Fri, between 5pm-8pm.

So it's a way for you to generate regular sales on a weekly basis, by hosting weekly work shops etc... as opposed to a one off event. You won't have to keep re-creating them if you are planning on hosting regular workshops, it's sort of a new model in that way. Or you can host a one time event, and create them as you go, you have that flexibility to choose.

3. We take a small transaction fee per booking, only 7% so we only get paid when you get paid.

[nnn1234]

Don't forget splash