Robert Chen
Robert Chen is the Founder of a social events platform called mmddyyyy (pronounced “middy”), which aims to be an alternative to mainstream social media, focusing on real-life events by reversing social media priorities: in-person moments first, digital sharing second.
Tell us about your life before the venture/ leading up to your venture?
I was a software engineer at a fintech company during the day and it was a really good job with a high salary and great benefits, but yet I felt unhappy and unfulfilled. I knew it wasn’t specific to the job, but rather the overall 9 to 5 culture in general. After work hours I would host volleyball and social events to cheer myself up. I found it was difficult to organize across 5 different messaging apps with 8 different group chats. So I started building a simple attendance app to organize the chaos, then organically it grew into a platform combining social media and events.
Tell us something about your organization. What is it about and how is it helpful for people?
The goal is to simplify creating in-person events and build communities with meaningful connections. The majority of the population would agree that social media has impacted society more negatively than positively, but there hasn’t been a good alternative for people to go to. I believe social media as a tool can be used for good, but the powers that be right now are abusing it. It’s intentionally designed to be addictive, because that’s how shareholders make their money. I’m building my social media platform in a way that feels familiar to TikTok and Instagram, but it’s designed to get people to go outside into the real world to get their dopamine. We leverage user generated content to create FOMO so that people would attend events instead of being trapped on their screen.
What has been the response of the consumers towards your venture?
I’ve been hosting free volleyball consistently for 14 months now with a high rate of returning players. I’m mostly doing it for fun while testing my own software. Last week one of the newer guests said “Robert you started a movement, look at all these people, they’re here because of you”. It didn’t really hit me until I heard that these people are repeatedly commuting across the city to play for 2 hours after working 8 hours. They look forward to Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays because that’s when I set up my volleyball nets. In my mind this venture is still early stage work in progress, but in reality this is the vision coming to life right before my eyes.
How has your life changed because of your venture?
My overall happiness and quality of life is moving up. I meet so many new people from all kinds of backgrounds and because we’re just here to play and hangout, no one leads with “So what do you do?”, in fact that question doesn’t come up until they’ve seen each other several times and are on friendly terms. We’re making memories in real-time and learning about the other person for who they are rather than what they represent. My overall mood is happy, positive, and fun because that’s how the people I’m spending time with feel too.
What are you working on right now?
I’m currently testing product market fit after defining a niche in luxury buildings with underutilized amenities. They have the space and the people, but lack community, which fits perfectly with the solution that mmddyyyy provides. I also like the idea of charging luxury buildings to subsidize services for everyday users. I’m in the process of producing a sitcom web series to demonstrate the product’s value and stand out from competitors. The story will follow six neighbors who meet because their building adopts my software, they become friends and we as the audience watch each character grow and their relationships with each other grow.
Give a motivational message for the audience/women who are reading this.
If you try to challenge the status quo, there will be doubters, you’re going to get pushed back especially in the beginning, but when you keep at it, you’ll find supporters that push you forward.
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