A while ago (seemingly out of nowhere), I received an email from Lunchclub, an AI-assisted meeting site that provides people with curated 1-to-1 professional connections. The email was straightforward; they saw my profile on LinkedIn, and thought it was compelling (blush), and asked me to join them.
Psst… A button to join without the wait is at the bottom of this post!
I did.
It’s pretty awesome.
It’s pretty straightforward; you tell Lunchclub about you, your background, what you’re looking for, and interests, hobbies, whatever you’re into. Every week, you let Lunchclub know whether you’d like to make a connection (you can make up to three a week). Lunchclub’s AI matches you for a 1:1 video meeting… the ones that I’ve had so far have been Zoom, Skype, and Hangouts. Whatever works for you and your connection.
In the five meetings that I’ve had, I haven’t been disappointed*. It’s a great opportunity to meet new people, and chat. It’s just that. Think of it as a lunch meeting that a professional friend has set up for you; someone they thought would be great to talk to. No one seems to be pitching anything. There hasn’t been any weirdness. In a short stretch of time, I’ve had the opportunity to talk shop with…
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A kickass creative director and designer (she and I talked about Covid, and its impact on our industry)
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A managing director at a hard-hitting creative agency (another awesome talk about creativity and our work)
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A designer-turned-concept artist (fascinating conversation about transitioning from design to concept-art, and the future of the craft)
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A senior director at a company that provides technology for Kindle and ReMarkable (talked about cool tech, and how it gets to the consumer)
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An art-driven mastermind working on all things immersive and interactive (we talked about the power of art and creativity, past and upcoming projects)
*There was one meeting that the person I was going to be meeting with cancelled for rather blunt reasons, but I have a feeling their future on Lunchclub actually isn’t very bright.
Lunchclub seems to be a great solution right now; especially with the strange things that Covid-19 is doing to our world, and our industries. It’s a nice, 45-minute break, that can result in some really cool conversations, with interesting people.
I’m not exactly sure how the Lunchclub model is going to grow. They obviously have a plan. It currently has a “clubpoints” model, where you can spend acquired points (gained from having meetings, referring friends, etc.) to further customize your meeting options (choosing to meet someone with a specific specialty, having more than 3 meetings, in a week, etc.).
Regardless of the direction that they go in… now’s the time to jump in. It’s a intuitive site that makes it really easy to set up matches, and schedule meetings. I highly recommend it.
Smash the button below, and you’re invited… (current users like me can invite people right now!) Maybe I’ll bump into you there!
