Must like meeting new people, making plans

Stephen Hua enjoys making connections.

“That’s my calling or my passion here, so to speak: to find ways to bring people together and plan events,” he said.

Over the last 25 years, Hua has pursued that passion as a live events promoter and restaurateur in Winnipeg. He’s the founder of the annual electronic music festival Summer of Sound, he’s organized local concerts by major musical acts such as Drake and Lady Gaga, and he co-owns Commonwealth Kitchen and Bar on Main Street.

Now, Hua is helping people make connections via a new app.

The 46-year-old launched Hostly in the spring. The app is designed to help people connect through real-life experiences and events. The platform allows users to both create and discover events happening in their community, making it easy to meet new people and make plans.

“I believe people are lonelier than ever, although we’re really connected (online),” Hua said.

“(That’s) definitely a problem and there’s definitely a demand for finding things to do in real life and meeting up with people … We kind of solved that problem with Hostly.”

Currently only available in Winnipeg, Hostly allows users to browse local events based on their interests. They can also create events, share the details and decide who joins.

For example, if a user has extra tickets for a Winnipeg Sea Bears basketball game, they can create an event on Hostly, share the details with their friends and choose which friends to take after people express interest.

Or, if a user wants to attend a concert but has no one to go with, they can create an event on Hostly and find someone — it could be a friend or it could be a stranger — who is also a fan of that band and would like someone to go to the concert with.

Additionally, local restaurants, bars and venues can use the app to promote themselves and drive business on days when activity is usually slower.

“It’s actually a one-two punch,” Hua said. “Not only are we bringing people together to find things to do, (but) we’re also then promoting businesses as venues to host these events.”

It’s worked for Bar Italia, said Rhea Collison, managing partner at the Corydon Avenue mainstay.

Collison promotes Bar Italia on Hostly, and at least three people have chosen to host their events at the business as a result — including a group that met during the recent FIFA World Cup to watch one of Mexico’s games.

“It’s been fantastic because it just brings extra business to my establishment,” Collison said. “A regular (was the event organizer) in one of the cases, but another time for sure it was someone who had not been here before. So for me, that’s a huge opportunity.”

Collison believes in Hostly so much that she’s invested in the app.

“It’s something that works and I want to get behind it,” she said. “There’s nothing else really like it out there.”

Hua and his investors have spent around $500,000 to build and launch Hostly. The company employs about a dozen people and the app currently has more than 2,000 users.

The company’s goal, Hua said, is to reach 10,000 downloads and 3,000 active users in Winnipeg by November. Once that goal is reached, Hostly will pursue another investment round and launch the app in a second city — either Calgary or Edmonton.

“If you can scale this to one other city, you can scale it to a thousand cities,” Hua said. “Once we get proof of concept and (launch) in Alberta, then we’re going to be able to expand into the U.S. right away.”

The app is currently free to use.

Hostly has “a really good monetization model,” Hua said, though he didn’t give specific details.

Eventually, businesses will be charged a fee to use the app, and individual users will have the option to upgrade to premium plans with special perks.

Hua said he loves being around people and playing a role in their stories. “I want to be a part of your highlight reel.”

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca