Socioly: chat for organisers
Socioly solves the problem of arranging mutually convenient times for the participants of meetings and events. It does this elegantly by combining the convenience of a shared calendar with the simplicity of a chat application.
Socioly was born from a problem many of us face - difficulty arranging mutually convenient times for the participants of meetings and events. It shouldn't be too hard, and it's strange that no break-out solution has yet presented itself. This is, after all, something people struggle with on a regular basis. For now, though, it's open for the taking.
Sure, there are some great calendaring tools out there, but somehow, when it comes to organising something on-the-go, it's hard to do so without reverting to back-and-forth messages, multiple calls, or long, annoying, group chat threads. Socioly solves this elegantly by combining the convenience of a shared calendar with the simplicity of a chat application.
I won't reveal the name of the Socioly founder at this point, as she's still working full time (this is pretty much the norm with DQ portfolio founders, and it is what makes us unique among venture builders and accelerators), but she's been working on this idea for several years. We'll call her "M".
Like many of the people we talk to, M is extremely passionate about her venture, but she has struggled to give it due time and attention. Although she had been through several iterations of the app, talked with hundreds of different stakeholders, investors, accelerators, potential users, and technology partners, when M was introduced to us, Socioly still felt like a difficult, perhaps impossible, dream.
Fortunately for all of us, we hit it off from the get-go. It wasn't long before agreements were signed and we went into business together. With DQ onboard, M could focus on bringing home the bacon, while the DQ team helped to refine the Socioly concept and positioning, formalise the business plan and financial model, manage the administration of a small pre-seed funding round, and continue product prototyping.
Although Socioly wasn't our first portfolio company (that honour went to WeNetwork), it is our first venture that matches what we set out to achieve - namely launching high-potential, fast-growing technology companies (note: we hope WeNetwork will continue to grow fast too, and there is definitely a tech element to the business, but it's hard to call it a technology company). Spurred on by the enthusiasm our early testing was met with, we just invested $100,000 from our own fund (what we call DQinvestments) to accelerate product development and go-to-market efforts. More to come on this soon...
(Cover photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash.)