by giarc on 12/12/24, 9:33 PM
"The primary value proposition of Mozi (today) is simple: It lets you know when you’re going to be in the same place (city or event) as someone you know."
This is fairly shortsighted. How many people actually travel from city to city. I bet the vast majority of people have a 3km bubble around their house and work and that's as far as they travel 90% of the time. Additionally, it tracks when you are going to an event. At that point, you are already out of the house around other people.
I like the idea of an app that is "private. Non-performative. No public profiles. No public status competitions. No follower counts. No strangers." but I think it doesn't need to hinge on always going out and traveling. It should simply prompt you to check in with friends (not in the mental health status way) but simply "Hey, you haven't chatted with Sarah recently, say Hi" or "Steve's birthday is coming up, wish him a Happy Birthday". Simply just connecting with friends will perhaps result in "IRL" connections, but basing the whole app on connecting after those plans are made seems a bit "cart before the horse".
by naming_the_user on 12/12/24, 8:32 PM
To me, this looks like a fantastic idea, and something that could be really useful in a niche, but I think it's going to fly over the head of a lot of folk because it's fairly obviously targeted at highly mobile, maybe HNWI's who do a lot of travel - it's not going to be useful for "most" people.
by evbogue on 12/12/24, 7:43 PM
This kind of reminds me of the original version of the app called Color, where you'd see social posts organized by geo coordinates. Imagine being in a coffee shop and seeing a feed of every post and photo posted from within the coffee shop. The benefit being you could make friends in your area.
Does anyone else remember this app? It came out around the same era as Path.
by anttiai on 12/12/24, 7:44 PM
by some_furry on 12/12/24, 9:39 PM
I wish you the best with your social app, but I'd like to offer a cautionary tail.
Barq, a furry fandom-focused app, has some of the same features. It's primarily for local meetups or seeing when your friends are in town for a convention. Unfortunately, Barq's location data has been used to dox and harass people before (even though they implemented a system that returned "fuzzy" GPS results).
If the primary value of the app is "know when person A is at location X", think through all of the ways this information could be used to hurt people. Even contrived and silly ways. And then try to safeguard it as much as possible.
I recently shared a blog post about how BlueSky could implement "limited audiences" without changing their current infrastructure. (Spoiler: It involves state-of-the-art cryptography.) It may be worth reading.
https://soatok.blog/2024/11/29/imagining-private-airspaces-f...
by duxup on 12/12/24, 7:45 PM
>For example, I just got back from Miami. Before going, I put my plan (just the city and what days) into Mozi. This information was shared just with my contacts (minus any I wouldn’t want it to be). So, even before going, I was able to see both the people I know who live there and other friends who were visiting at the same time, so we could meet up and make plans.
>Mozi also helps you decide where to go. “Events” on Mozi (currently a beta feature) lets you see who you know may be going—or considering going—to a conference or event before you go. (If you happen to be going to SXSW, join the Mozi event. I’ll be there too.)
Seems like more of a "networking" app as opposed to friends as it mentioned ...
Still, I don't dislike the general idea.
by mintplant on 12/12/24, 7:54 PM
Huh. At the risk of being crude, this is already a feature of queer hookup apps, including recording your plans and seeing who else in your network will be attending an event or visiting your area.
by trustinmenowpls on 12/12/24, 6:52 PM
he doesn't discuss financials, but that's my first and only question: how is this gonna be funded if it takes off?
by taylorhughes on 12/12/24, 9:01 PM
There are so many challenges with building a social app, especially around contacts... I'm not sure how they'll mitigate all this stuff, but fun to think about it and hope they do succeed in doing so anyway.
A few considerations off the top of my head:
- relationships are extremely fragile and can exist in all sorts of awkward middle states, outside of just "friend enough to notify when I'm in town" vs not. the risk of creating awkward meatspace side effects is extremely high with this kind of thing, with very large downside risk that human beings are very attuned to. for example: exes, former bosses or colleagues gone sideways, people you said something weird to once at a party, stalkers, etc. are all people you might have in your contacts
- relatedly, contacts growing out of sync organically over time is actually a feature, not a bug. it's easy to let contacts die when they die by themselves without having to prune them -- and nobody's delicate feelings get hurt by letting this happen
- existing on a mobile phone while not being an attention-sucking nightmare cesspool -- while also not /creating/ another attention-sucking cesspool, despite having all the social data necessary to do so -- seems like an impossible challenge. how do you get people to remember your little app in a sea of Trending Flamebait notifications? (others have noted this related to funding model, but that part feels surmountable, especially as a passion project from a billionaire)
by quinncom on 12/13/24, 1:48 AM
I would love for this to be a thing, but it’s always going to be super niche. There have been other similar tools, with limited success: Nomad List, Doppler, TripIt’s now-gone social features, Apple’s Find My. So far, the best way has just been to share travel plans in friend chat groups.
I just connected Mozi to my nearly 1000 contacts and it found zero matches, meaning I’m the first one in my network to use it. I suspect to be solo for a very long time.
by skybrian on 12/12/24, 8:57 PM
Sending Christmas cards is old-fashioned, but it’s a pretty good indicator of who you actually know well enough to have their mailing address. (Or well enough to ask for it without it being weird.)
No special app needed, since it can be done with a spreadsheet.
by tarboreus on 12/13/24, 9:46 PM
Weirdly, AIM was a great social media application. Anyone on AIM was on because they wanted to talk. I actually miss AIM a good amount, now you can reach anyone but you're always interrupting their life.
by srameshc on 12/12/24, 8:13 PM
I have thought about this problem a lot in the past and I feel the older you get the harder it becomes to make new friends. If you have moved to a new place then you loose all those connections slowly and it's a challenge to make new friends. At least that's what happened to me. And on top of that your financial status that defines who accepts you as a friend. Also how much you can afford and are willing to invest to make and keep a friend. Something more than can fit in an app and a problem that a business can solve for you. But I am glad someone is trying to do something about it.
by nikolay on 12/13/24, 8:28 PM
Not bad, but, please, don't display kids DOBs - just the age. Also, marriage should have an anniversary date to be social per the bold claim. Parents and other relatives should also be added, and each related person should have an invite link that links their name to the future profile. No usernames? That's refreshing, but I really hate when companies at usernames late and I can't grab my usual one on time, because I missed their emails, etc.
by nswizzle31 on 12/12/24, 9:49 PM
Pretty interesting idea - we really need more ways to nudge us to connect in real life. I actually created a fun little platform for people to try niche social networks together in a 30-day "cohort" and this seems like a great example of a social network that would be fun to discuss! Anyone can join at
https://soshials.com/platforms/moziby _hao on 12/12/24, 10:33 PM
Name has no connection to the important Chinese philosopher Mozi[1] which was my first association. As for the value proposition of the app I personally don't see it. If I want to speak or catch up with friends - I message them and/or call them. I don't see how yet another app makes this easier.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozi
by motohagiography on 12/12/24, 8:25 PM
Is this good? I can't tell.
It feels like the last social dating taboo is open time bidding. something like: "here's my instagram. I've got an extra seat at performance X, a reservation at restaurant Y, or lift tickets for resort Z. intro yourself if you want to be my guest, or bid cash for dutch"
it's like everyone's dancing around that as if they're above it somehow.
by jamesshamenski on 12/13/24, 2:14 AM
This is very similar to Dopplr.com - started in 2007ish and had a bunch of hype but not many people formed a habit of using it. It was acquihired by Nokia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopplrby joshdavham on 12/12/24, 9:48 PM
I’ve heard from some recent YC videos that people have been making these friend finder apps for something like 20 years. Is this true? And if it is, what are some previous apps that are similar to this one?
by rexarex on 12/12/24, 8:05 PM
It’s a nice idea. I know someone who released something super similar called TreeTop. There’s also something I’ve been getting ads for called NomadTable. There’s an urge for connection out there.
by denysvitali on 12/13/24, 8:26 AM
Are you only allowed to have friends if you use iOS (and they all do)?
There's no Android app (yet) and no website - effectively making this an iOS only social network.
I'll pass, thanks
by neonate on 12/12/24, 8:16 PM
by impure on 12/13/24, 2:38 AM
So it's a social network for digital nomads? I was thinking of making an app like that.
by clarge1120 on 12/12/24, 10:02 PM
I love this idea, but wonder if it's really more of a missing feature of WhatsApp.
by griomnib on 12/12/24, 9:23 PM
“I realized I had spent too much time on startups and not enough on building relationships. So I decided the only way to fix it was another start up.”
Huh?
by pockmarked19 on 12/12/24, 9:31 PM
This is a very well done launch. We ought to be taking notes.
As for the app itself, it looks more like something niche Ev made in an attempt to enrich his own life than a business poised for growth. There is a place for that. I hope, anyway.
by taco_emoji on 12/12/24, 9:40 PM
Lmao, this is exclusively for the wealthy jetset. Give me a break
by aimazon on 12/12/24, 7:59 PM
Most people have a few friends and they’re in the same place. “My people” are in the same place today that they were in yesterday and will be again tomorrow. Most people prefer the inefficient and imperfect group chat because it’s personal. Most people can’t imagine anything worse than bringing more technology into their personal relationships. I’m sure this app is great for the small number of us that are fortunate enough to live like ev, without a care in the world, vibing our way around the world… partying with tenacious founders hungry for an exited-founder’s co-sign, but that’s, what, a few thousand people? That’s not social, it’s niche.
by cynicalsecurity on 12/12/24, 7:43 PM
Someone wants to pull Zuckerberg's trick again.
by dzonga on 12/13/24, 8:31 AM
nope!!
this thing like medium, will become enshittified quickly.
by Yhippa on 12/12/24, 7:36 PM
Sounds like a problem for the jetsetter crowd. Good for them! I have much more mundane social network needs.
by meiraleal on 12/16/24, 11:35 AM
> (BTW, we are fully staffed right now but will be slowly adding to the team this year. If interested, please reach out.)
Isn't it interesting how the vibes for hiring changed? Before, every founder would write something like "we are hiring!". Now it is: send us your curriculum, but we won't reply.
BTW I just tried it and what a terrible app. Feels like a ghost town.
by meiraleal on 12/15/24, 6:26 PM
Cool! He re-invented couchsurfing (yes, it is a social network besides the couch, people just hangout in the towns they travel to)
by ilrwbwrkhv on 12/12/24, 7:34 PM
Mozi is the private social network that helps you build real-word relationships.
Isn't that Whatsapp or Signal is?
I also have come to realize that most repeat founders who are in the same space usually do not make great founders. They almost always make the same mistakes.
I would not fund this company.