I sort of built something like this and i can give you all the advice in the world but it looks like you are on the right path. You are going to have a chicken and egg problem, I don't know if you've attempted this solution yet but you can lower the adoption friction of new users by letting them tweet. Then you can use the twitter api to, say, find all of the tweets with the #shoutt hashtag and process them. This way you can make use the the massive platform that is Twitter and users don't even need to signup or install an app.<p>Good luck.
Thats super cool, some of the issues you may need to address before this becomes too cool.<p>1. Prevent people from advertising, ok this can be a revenue model also :P<p>2. Allow me to shout to places other than where I live, like suppose i am visiting a new place. It will be cool to shoutt at the new place before I reach. Though this is not necessary, just a thought.<p>3. Some kind of block list where I can block certain noisy neighbors whose shouts I dont like.<p>4. Someone shouting for needing security or SOS, can be highlighted, people around should receive these help requests on priority basis. Can help prevent robbery, protect women from potential harrassments.<p>Overall this can bring communities together, glue them. Wish you luck with the startup.
I worry that you're trying to be everything to everyone. Just because your backend can handle anything type of "shout", have you considered effectively turning it into a white label, and creating dedicated "sport" brand, etc.<p>If you manage to get X number of people to sign up, currently they likelihood of finding someone who wants the same thing is significantly lower than if those X people all signed up to looking for a similar thing.<p>Though I should imagine there is some advantage to keeping it generic to a point (sport over tennis) as someone may just be after someone to play games with, and might also be up for badminton or basketball or whatever.
Isn't this what BlockChalk [1] and many others have attempted before? How are you going to solve the chicken & egg problem? How are you more than a GPS centric twitter?<p>I'm genuinely interested. I actually created and submitted this exact type of application when Android first came out and had their app contest. Of course, the market has grown a bit since then. ;) I've since moved on but it always did seem like a good idea.<p>[1] <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/01/08/blockchalk-location/" rel="nofollow">http://techcrunch.com/2010/01/08/blockchalk-location/</a> (Deadpooled)
I want to know what you're going to do to attract the every day user? Why would someone choose this over meetup.com or posting on craigslist or reddit, etc.<p>There're a fair number of ways for people to interact with their local community nowadays (even beyond their local social circle), and I can't see anyone adopting this as just one more way to do so. Perhaps I'm missing something.
Two friends of mine made a similar app called spotvite [1], It's great for pickup sports. I find these type of apps only excel in popular areas.<p>[1] <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spotvite.android" rel="nofollow">https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spotvite.a...</a>
You're doing what 100 other startups are trying to do right now, connecting like-minded people through activites, just to name a few: Spontacts, Woofound, spotvite, aka aki etc.<p>They have all failed because if you're trying to be everything for everybody, you just end up being nothing for no one.
Speaking specifically towards tennis, this idea has been tried before. There is a definitely a market here some how though; just last week I got a text message from my old tennis coach/boss, "what about a website where people would meet to play tennis, is that profitable?"
Very nice! I've been wanting something like this for a couple years now.<p>I don't live in a city though, so the value of this (people I <i>don't</i> know using the service) is low. Have you thought about how people like me can help get the word out easier?
Not that I'm offended, but you might want to find a replacement for 'retarded' on your launch page. Sure, it gives a colloquial vibe, but it comes off as a little immature.
Update: We just uploaded an introduction video - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0LC54QaMf4" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0LC54QaMf4</a>