When I saw Lunchclub.ai mentioned by my friend Mark Schaefer, I knew I wanted to check it out. Mark is an author, teacher, speaker, and all-around insightful marketing thought leader. He is like a curator of what he sees that is coming next. Check him out if you don’t know Mark’s work.
Lunchclub is a small startup of 15 people who has a $100 million valuation as usage has spiked during the quarantine. So, someone besides Mark thinks this is a good idea.
Lunchclub’s tagline is smart introductions to relevant people. The premise is simple.
Lunchclub connects professionals with common interests. You can meet the type of person you might bump into at a conference. Some of my best connections came from sitting next to someone at a trade show or a marketing event and striking up a conversation.
Originally, the site required an invitation to join, but I believe anyone can join now.
Let’s Meet for Lunch
What started as setting up in-person lunch meetings pivoted during Covid to arranging Zoom calls for connections. Those of us in non-traditional businesses like consulting need to keep meeting new connections. Lunchclub provides us the chance to connect to people with shared interests and needs.
To sign up, you go to the website, enter your contact information, and list areas of interest. You can add short bios, links to websites, etc. Through its AI algorithms, you’ll get introduced to people with an agreed-upon time for a call. Lunchclub sends you an introductory email, and then you and your connection determine how and when to meet.
There are plenty of stories of people sharing a particular passion for specific music genres who get connected. Or startups are looking for investment capital – or business owners in need of marketing coaching, advice, or consulting services. Or people who meet who are working on a similar challenge and get to share ideas, inspiration, and best practices with each other.
Last week, I spent an hour hanging out with Joost, who lives in the Netherlands and shares a common interest in marketing, wellbeing, and entrepreneurship. I learned about his business, and he found out about the marketing consulting work I do advising small to mid-sized companies. We had some sound issues but there is nothing stopping us from hopping on a call again.
Wednesday, I get to meet Alison, who has a passion for new product innovation and is based in Chicago. Her background is filled with shared interests and, without an introduction, I doubt we would have been connected. According to our email introduction, she is an insight strategist who develops new product ideas, leads product ideation workshops, and designs and facilitates marketing research to learn about consumer attitudes and behaviors. We had one connection in common and our discussion was a two-way street of offering help and assistance to each other.
Will something come from this- time will tell. But I’m happy to make a new professional friend and, if possible to be helpful to her on her journey.
AI – Continuous Improvement Model
The exciting part of Lunchclub is that over time, and with your feedback, the AI algorithm should keep getting better and better at matching you to the right type of people you want to meet. Like Netflix, it learns about the success or failure of a connection – and continuously improves.
I like to think of Lunchclub like LinkedIn, except it facilitates connections since both parties are open to a call. But LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft, isn’t in the introduction business. Their model is different, so Lunchclub has some wide-open space to explore.
Over the next few months, I plan to schedule at least one call each week and report back on my experiences. Who are you meeting for lunch today?
Groucho Marx
“I would never want to join a club who would have me as a member.”
Got a marketing challenge?
I can help. You can set up a time chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Our initial conver?sation is free. You talk, I listen. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com or call me. 919 720 0995. Visit my website at www.themarketingsage.com. Let’s explore working together today.
Photo by Jonas Leupe on Unsplash
