A new app wants to connect you with travel or activity buddies

(Photo by Moyan Brenn)

Philip Pun was visiting London and he really wanted to go on the London Eye. “But I didn’t want to go alone,” he laughs. He wasn’t looking for a date; he just wanted to find someone who wanted to join him on a quick trip to ride the London Eye.

He tried using dating apps like Skout in order to find someone, even though he really didn’t want to hook up. It felt like a huge challenge to find a sociable buddy, Pun says.

He ended up going on the London Eye alone.

That’s when Pun, who’s from Hong Kong, saw the need for an app that would become his next – his third – startup. He set up a new company in 2014, and a couple of months ago launched PlanDo on iOS and Android.

Connecting

PlanDo steers clear of the world of dating and also gives a wide berth to the realm of mobile messaging, but it sort of combines elements of both. Essentially, it’s a social network where you, your current friends, and lots of potential new buddies can create posts about upcoming activities and find things you’d like to join in. People can sign up with their Facebook ID.

“It’s like Meetup.com for mobile,” says Pun, with an emphasis on groups of up to six people doing something together, like a bike ride, running, a photography expedition, or a jaunt to a new mall in the neighborhood. Or a visit to the London Eye. The idea is that it’s safe yet spur-of-the-moment – activities should be able to find eager participants just hours or days in advance. “It must be more spontaneous. Things are now done more quickly than before because of tech and mobile.”

Pun’s third startup comes after a specialist estore in Australia that sold glasses. That started eight years ago. It went well until UK retail giant SpecSavers saw an opportunity in Australia, which blindsided his fledgling business. Then came a fintech venture in his native Hong Kong, which is still running although Pun is now devoting his time to the PlanDo team that he heads as CEO.

Before all that, Pun was studying in Australia and then moved into doing tech stuff for banks in the country. When he came back home three years ago, he got a taste for working on faster moving ventures during stints at Cathay Pacific and local telco Telstra.

Local activities

The PlanDo app already has a premium subscription for people or small businesses who want to deal with groups of larger than six people. For example, a gym that wants to bring people into a yoga class. The app can feature the class, and the startup makes money from this form of advertising. The broader plan is to turn PlanDo into more than a social app by adding a platform for event organizers and local businesses to add listings and take payments within the app. Right now, users pay in cash if they opt to join an activity posted by a business, but in future the startup can take more of a cut of the action by controlling the payments as well.

All of that will be tied into notifications to users telling them of activities in their area that the app thinks will interest them – so I wouldn’t be shown an ad for the yoga class, but I would get nudged to look at a bike shop that runs day-long off-road treks.