If you’d told me that two middle-aged, slightly overweight blokes from Leeds could come up with a new social networking platform, I’d never have believed you. But nobody told us that it couldn’t be done, so in our naivety, we went ahead and did it.
My business partner Simon Glenn came up with the idea but once I had seen it, I had to be part of it. Meeow is a portmanteau of ‘Meet Now’ and was inspired by the first lockdown. I was literally in a panic thinking, “How on earth do I meet people during lockdown?”. I am an extrovert and all my business life I’ve met and interacted with people to generate new business.
How on earth was I going to do that when I couldn’t leave my front door?
Simon had attended networking groups on Zoom and Teams, but the obvious problems of finding people to invite and then organising a time when they are all free made this tricky. The other disadvantage is that you have to know people in order to invite them to a meeting. Zoom and Teams are great platforms for connecting those you know but not for meeting new people.
Meeow solves that problem. It’s a networking platform, yes, but more than that, it’s a forum for meeting and connecting with new, like-minded people.
The Power of Random
In old-school networking, online, you are often just a spectator. In a room with dozens of others, if you don’t feel naturally comfortable meeting people, you can struggle to get your voice heard. You often never venture beyond the confines of particular groups and that can limit your horizons. You’re cut off from the magic that happens when serendipity is given a chance to get involved.
Meeow solves those problems. It introduces people through random connections (we call it the ‘power of random’) but with an intelligent engine behind it. We use language mapping techniques – a form of artificial intelligence – to group people with common interests or associations. The more you use Meeow, the better it works at introducing you to who you want to meet. By taking in your feedback, location preferences, and more, it matches you with people who are ultimately going to grow your business.
Users can’t specify who they want to meet as we believe that you don’t know who you need to speak to, and choice allows people to cut themselves off from opportunity. You can tell us who you’d rather not network with and how far from home you’d like to roam. It’s up to the Meeowists in the room to help navigate you to the people they know who might be able to help or who could be your ideal customer.
Small groups of four are how this really gets going. Four gives people the chance to have an intimate conversation, be heard and really get to know each other. It could be about business, the weather, the problems faced during lockdown. Anything really, as long as everyone is on board.
Forming bonds
~Business Game Changer Special Promotion~
After an hour session, people can continue to chat in a private space or connect seamlessly on Meeow. Business is all about building connections and doing it virtually is the easiest way of meeting new people and growing your network. The pandemic has made it normal to connect this way and we now trust people without ever having to physically meet them.
But look at all the other advantages. You don’t have to leave the office and drive for an hour to a meeting that may come to nothing. You aren’t restricted to local contacts but can talk to people from around the world. You can expand your network to meet people you never expected to meet.
Virtual meetings are definitely here to stay. I’ve met people on Meeow that I would never have met any other way. I have a brand-new network in North America that is life-affirming in its positive impact on me and Meeow. Not possible, pre-Meeow. The best thing is, you can do it all from the comfort of your own home or office, without wasting hours getting to meetings.
That’s the beauty of Meeow.
Try Meeow for free for 30 days, then £10 per month.
By Chris Rabbitt, co-founder, Meeow
About Chris Rabbitt
Chris is a career sales professional whose portfolio practice was detonated by COVID in March 2020. An avid networker, Chris is never happier than when faced by a room full of strangers but understands that, to most people, this is a terrifying prospect, especially if you’re new to networking. Meeting people is hard and was made harder by lockdown, so Chris & Simon created Meeow to make networking easier through technology. He lives in Leeds with his young family and rides motorcycles when he isn’t meeting people on Meeow.
