3rd spacesocial.

co-founder & ceo · chicago · 2025 — 2026

an IRL social startup — a matchmaking platform for real-life friendship. we curated the room, guided the night, and closed the loop so strangers actually became friends.

the mission: help create 100,000 new connections.

the whole room squeezed into one film frame at a 3rd Space Social experience — one room, one flash, everyone in it

1,700+

members

4,500+

users

55+

experiences hosted

5 figs

ticket revenue

[01] the story

[01]the problem

chicago is full of people and somehow everyone's lonely. after college the default paths to friendship disappear — there's no shortage of places to go or people to meet, yet 'we should hang out' almost never turns into actual friendship. what's missing isn't options. it's someone willing to make the first move for you.

[02]the bet

3rd Space Social was a one-stop platform for meeting, connecting & reconnecting in real life. a matchmaking algorithm grouped strangers by compatibility, and we curated everything else — dinner with your closest matches, SMS instructions guiding the night, then a second venue where the groups collided. meeting someone is only the first step, so we closed the loop: tell us who you clicked with, and we'd form the friend group.

[03]the run

we launched the mvp in july with four curated dinners and 160 users. eighteen months later: 1,700+ members, 4,500+ users, and 55+ experiences — supper clubs, open gyms, museum lunches, beach socials, a formal. i ran growth, ops, product and the content engine that filled every room, week after week.

[04]the ending

we wound it down in 2026. the honest lesson: community scales like a craft, not like software — every great room was hand-made. i learned more about product, distribution and people in those eighteen months than anywhere else, and everything i build now — the events, the apps, the content — traces back to this.

[02] the product

the platform underneath the parties — a matchmaking engine, an SMS concierge, and a feedback loop that turned one good night into a friend group.

onboarding survey asking members to rank what they want — make a close friend, meet new people, have a good time — [a] tell us what you're afterthe intake — priorities, personality & interests feed the matchmaking algorithm.

SMS from 3rd Space Social inviting Freddy to a curated dinner with his closest matches — [b] get the textevery experience arrived as a text — curated dinner, closest matches, one RSVP link.

details-for-tonight screen with the dinner reservation, time and directions handled — [c] just show upnight-of logistics handled end to end — table booked, directions sent, zero planning.

follow-up text recommending the matched group meet again at a chicago taqueria — [d] close the loopafter the night, the algorithm kept the group alive — tell us who you clicked with, we set the next one up.

the app

v2 was the full app — the SMS concierge rebuilt as a product that carries you from discovery to a formed friend group. designed end to end, in development when we wound down.