Pie App: Make New Friends with AI - Andy Dunn

Bonobos Founder Tackles Loneliness with New Social App

Andy Dunn, the founder of the online clothing brand Bonobos, remarked to TechCrunch, “We’re a long way from pants.” He is now focused on a different endeavor: facilitating the creation of new friendships.

Introducing Pie: A Platform for Real-World Connections

Dunn’s latest project, Pie, is a social application designed to foster in-person interactions.

Having secured $11.5 million in Series A funding, and with resources allocated to compensate event hosts, Pie has attracted over 130,000 monthly active users. This growth has been achieved despite the app’s current availability being limited to San Francisco and Chicago.

The Challenge of Scale: Maintaining Intimacy in Growing Events

As Pie’s user base expanded, the events organized through the platform became increasingly crowded. This presented a challenge to the core goal of facilitating meaningful connections.

The company recognized a key issue: how can attendees easily identify individuals to engage with in a large, unfamiliar setting? How can genuine friendships be formed amidst a sea of strangers?

A Problem Born from Success

“This is the beauty of building a startup,” Dunn explained. “A solution creates a problem.”

Fortunately, a potential resolution to this challenge emerged relatively quickly.

Acqui-hire and the Integration of Sparked Connections

Two Pie event organizers had independently developed a tool called Sparked Connections, leveraging AI to predict compatibility between individuals at social events. Pie subsequently acqui-hired the creators, Samir Mahafzah and Sam Stubbs, and integrated the quiz into select events, now branded as “Sparked by Pie.”

How "Sparked by Pie" Works: Personality Matching

At Pie’s “Coffee with Strangers” events, participants who RSVP are asked to complete a brief personality assessment. Respondents indicate their level of agreement with various statements on a scale of 1 to 5.

These prompts cover a diverse range of topics, including: Are you willing to sacrifice stability to pursue a passion? Do you believe in astrology? Do you pray? Do you vote? Do you have any toxic traits?

Prior to the event, the quiz’s algorithm groups respondents into clusters of six, based on predicted compatibility. These small groups are then connected via a dedicated chat room within the Pie app, allowing for preliminary introductions.

Leveraging ChatGPT for Enhanced Matching

“We’re starting to power it through [ChatGPT]. And then when we get feedback loops of who connects with who, and who invites people to stuff, we’ll start to see, well, why do people hit it off?” Dunn stated. “And I think that’s such a dark art that without the AI inflection point, I think it would be an almost unsolvable problem.”

Addressing a Growing Need for Connection

Given the increasing prevalence of loneliness in the United States, the reliance on algorithms to facilitate friendships might appear disheartening. However, many individuals have already integrated AI into their social lives, whether through connecting with others on Instagram or using dating apps like Bumble.