The idea for MessageParty, like most startups, came from a combination of personal frustration and curiosity.
Amanda Peyton, writing for the Huffington Post, was at a large music festival and needed some information, but she had no idea where the information tent was or who to ask. All she had was her phone — and trying to navigate their super-fancy website from her iPhone was a pain.
It would be so great, I thought, if I could talk to someone who could answer my question without having to track down the information tent. But this did not yet exist.
MessageParty is a location-based messaging application (download it here). It uses your phone’s location to provide a list of nearby “parties” where you can trade messages with those around you. You can also create your own parties for shows, events, conferences or whatever you like.
The power of location-based mobile technology is the way that it will change how people interact in the real world, not just online. What if at that same music festival I could talk with other fans while the show was happening? To me, even just the potential of something like that seemed like magic.
The most exciting thing about startups is the opportunity to build something new. Entrepreneurs, especially in the tech industry, seem to share a love of the unknown and embrace how quickly the market can change. It’s easy to forget that giant companies like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are less than 10 years old.
The first step to becoming an entrepreneur is simply declaring yourself as one. Paul Graham’s essay on How to Start a Startup was a huge driver in pushing us to start a company, and demystifies much of the ambiguous process surrounding early-stage tech startups. Listening to stories from many successful tech entrepreneurs, we learned that the path to success is not always straightforward, and relentless persistence often leads to success.
Photo by MessageParty.