What is "Bunch Out"?
UPDATED!
What is Bunch Out?
Short Answer: “Bunch Out” is a list of interesting groups of people in your city!
Long Answer: “Bunch Out” lists all the interesting social circles in your city. Browse around and choose a group you would like to contact. Find like-minds and go out in a group!
How does it work?
1) Browse group listings in your city!
A listing is similar to an advertisement - you CANNOT “join” a listing, or “add a friend”. You just find a listing you like and contact them.
2) Create a listing for your group(s) of friends!
Listings get you in touch with people you want to meet. How?
If Jane in interested in your listing, she hits “Contact Them” on your listing. You will be shown Jane’s group listing, and you’re invited to send her a message (or ignore her).
Why use Bunch Out?
Expand your social circle, and help like-minds find you! Unless you absolutely don’t want to meet anyone for the rest of your life, list your friends on Bunch Out.
Entirely New Front Page + User Experience
Thanks for all your feedback on usability, copy etc. It really helped me re-think a lot of the interactions and communication with the web application.
Also, just wanted to share a few snippets of encouragement from my emails. (Names not included to protect their identities)
… cant wait for the KL groups to launch proper. I see real
potential in this app for people like me. I can’t wait to be able to
browse a hundred groups and pick a random bunch of people to “bunchout” with. kudos!
… probably its the gonna be one of the worlds best web applications, im seeing the potential already
… cool! anybody can decide whether they want it as an innocent thing or whether they want it for endless gangbangs!
o_O
You’re free to use Bunch Out to meet groups of like minds in your area, and what you want to do it with the people you meet is your own story to tell ;p
So you have a great idea, what’s next? Here’s how to move your idea forward.
Little ideas, that tickled and nagged, and refused to go away… should never be ignored, for in them lie the seeds of destiny.~ from the movie “Babe, the Pig”
“That’s it!”
You’re showering, soaping your body, but your mind is elsewhere, chewing on an idea you can’t seem to let go of. It could be the next big thing. 
Your road to a better life.
Whatever it is, it’s one helluva good idea. What’s the next step?
I get this question often, so I thought I’d share some of the things I do when all I begin with is an idea.
Like most people, I’ve had plenty of ideas. Some fizzled away. Some led to larger things.
I’m hoping my idea for Bunch Out would lead to something huge (time will tell).
For all the ideas which haunt me, and never let go, here are the next 3 steps I find most useful in moving them forward.
(These steps are discussed in the context of an internet business, service, product, or website)
1. Set up an idea bucket
When I’m really excited, I try and write down as much as I can, and not worry about structure, choosing the right words, or self-censorship. I just dump it all in an idea bucket. Use a Word document, a piece of paper, or your thigh, whatever.
Get it all in there, quickly!
2. Pick out “Excitement Points”
“Excitement Points” are specific things about your idea which excites
- A user of your website/service/product
- Yourself as an idea driver/ entrepreneur
- A potential funder, or any other stakeholder
You really want to do this because it’s the very same excitement points you want to refer to when
- You forget why you were so excited in the first place, and want to give yourself added motivation
- When you want to motivate your team, or inspire the people who might be working with you on your idea
- When you want to “sell” a potential user of your product/ service, write convincing copy etc.
Warning: At this point, do not “get skeptical” on yourself. Do not play “devil’s advocate”. That’s not useful in the ideation stage. The biggest tragedy is to kill your idea before you let it blossom to its fullest!
Having said that, use these questions to help get some really big excitement points out of your idea!
- What’s in it for you, personally, when your idea becomes a reality?
- Why does your idea need to exist?
- Once your idea takes off, what are the possibilities for it to grow even larger?
3. Develop the elevator pitch
It’s usually quite easy to get emotional and tell long stories about your idea and its potential. That’s cool.
Now, try encapsulating it in a 30 second pitch!
The goal is to have a succinct way of infecting others with your idea. The way I prefer to do an elevator pitch is start with
- TITLE: Working name for your business idea…
- AUDIENCE: Who is it built for?
- FUNCTION: What does it do for them?
- HOW: How does the business do all of the above?
You can use the above, to form a sentence…. “TITLE” will help “AUDIENCE” “FUNCTION” by “HOW”.
Eg. SlapMyFace will help someone who wants to get slapped in the face find someone to slap him/her in the face by promoting him/her via an profile online, embeddable in blogs, Facebook, Friendster etc..
The sentence above is on it’s way to an elevator pitch… to complete it? Add a sentence about how your idea makes money, and you’ve got your elevator pitch.
That’s just a starting point on how you might want to excite someone in 30 seconds. Feel free to get creative, there really isn’t one perfect way to go about it.
As long as you can communicate your idea succinctly, and ideally excite someone to know more, you’ve got step 3 nailed.
What’s Next?
As quickly as possible, get a “prototype of the idea” out. Even if it’s just a sketch on paper. Start visualizing and refining it as much as possible… get it to a “usable” state, then send it out to relevant users for “proof of concept”.
I will share some resources and tools on these next steps in a separate post. Would that be a good idea? ;p
For today, do let me know if this article was useful, and share some links, or ideas to build upon it. Happy idea generating!
Browsing Opened in Kuala Lumpur
Just for the heck of it, I have opened up limited browsing of group listings in Kuala Lumpur. Browse group listings in Kuala Lumpur now.
What’s Next?
Ok, I’m holding on the press release etc till I fix up some of the points you guys brought up:
- Making it clear that you can Bunch Out in any city in the world
- Making it clear that you can Bunch Out for all kinds of hobbies, interests, activities etc
What’s next on Bunch Out?
- Launch the full app… allow you to browse and contact others…
- Get RSS/ Email notifications if new groups get created in a category
- Adding tags/ more categories to group listings
- For every group listing - show # of views (+ number of contact requests?)
- Promote your group listing! Embed in your blog, or social network…
- Allow Community to flag ‘naughty’ profiles so I don’t have to be the only one keeping them out
- Facebook App!
- Add Testimonials on group listings you’ve met?
What do you think? Do you have any ideas?
Bunch Out Open To Public
Finally… Go have a look 
Everything you need to know about Bunch Out should be communicated from the website itself…
Hopefully the website convinces you to create a group listing, too!
Yeah, go have a look and tell me what you think!
Update: Minor typos fixed. Thanks for all the feedback!
Bunch Out: Based On A True Story
It began with a burning airplane.
A burning airplane full of snakes. And diamonds.
And Chuck Norris.
I was down to my last bullet, a silver one. As the tip of my gun gently aimed itself in my mouth, I hesitated.
I don’t usually hesitate.
But it was a matter of life and death. Mostly death, to be honest.
Then it hit me.
Despite having millions of people cramped into one city, going out with a new group of people you actually enjoy being around with isn’t that easy.
And to make it easier for everyone, I should build a straightforward web application, and get the world to use it!
Yes! Yes!
I guess it would be fun huh.
If the story of Bunch Out had some fancy “how it all began” bit. Especially if when Bunch Out gets really popular all over the world.
But the real Bunch Out story is not your typical “Ah-ha!” moment, or “Against the odds” story.
Heck we’re only at chapter one right now. As I write this, the app isn’t even live yet.
But let me tell you the story behind Bunch Out anyway.
Hey is Chuck Norris really part of the story?
If you really really want to know… I’ll be honest with you. I’ll tell you the TRUE story.
And there are 3 parts to this story.
Part one is seemingly innocent.
We’ve all been there.
With the same group of friends, doing the same s**t you did last Saturday.
Yes? Ok well at least I’ve been there.
My friends and I were back at the same club, surrounded by hundreds of people.
We like the place. Sure, we have fun. Doing other stuff as well. But we sat there, as though we’re missing out on something more…
We wondered:
- Wouldn’t it be nice if we could hang out with that group of people over there. They look interesting.
- Maybe they are a group of like-minds, and we could talk about fixing the music industry, or organizational design, or the wonders of lima beans.
- Maybe we’ll finally find people to start a dance class with. Or, they could be additional members to a potential art project. Or running partners to train with.
- Or maybe they’re just a cool bunch of people who are just cool to hang out with.
And while we were thinking about groups of people, and friendship…
We recounted memories of how meeting new people (in groups, through groups) was such good fun. And how we met each other. How we met our ex-es/ current partners.
How we met the very same people we now call friends.
… we met them in groups.
The second part of the story will only connect later.
Yeah, this second part is personal.
It’s about how I ended up here: with a small bunch of misfits from over 11 countries, launching new internet ventures in personal development. And pumping money into developing new ideas like BlinkList, SocialRank, and *ahem* Bunch Out.
Have I introduced myself?
Maybe I should. I’m Khailee. Hello.
I’m a 23 year old guy, and the founder of Bunch Out. That’s a picture of me sweating profusely in someone else’s Viking hat.
Since I can remember, I’ve always enjoyed creating new things, with Lego, with words, or crafty stuff. But I never got involved with the cool scientific sounding stuff like stem-cell research, quantum physics, or tap dancing.
The internet was more convenient, and it naturally became my playground. I chose to equip myself with a healthy dose of web design, business-school, and travel… and while reading some random blog, I stumbled upon MindValley’s website.
I was impressed by their credentials and their story, and was keen to meet them.
I soon discovered what an awesome bunch of people they are, and got a job with them. Been with them for over a year now - and it was tough when I found myself considering leaving them.
It was those few months the idea of Bunch Out haunted me. And I was toying with the idea of going all the way… on my own.
Part Three is when it all comes together.
Beaten…
Like a dead horse - How the internet is affecting the way people socialize.
Yeah, online dating, social networking a la Facebook, MySpace etc… I was thinking it would be easy to just “use the internet” to help my friends and I shop around for a new bunch of people to do stuff with.
We thought it would be nice to go out with a new bunch of friends.
But not just ANY group of friends. We hoped to “shop around” first.
As half of my group were girls, we wanted it to be in a group setting - seemed more natural, and low risk. We wont be kidnapped as easily, and if we meet weirdos - we can just call it a fun night out.
So we explored online classifieds like Craigslist, group meetings like Meetup.com, Facebook groups, etc… they were a means to an end, although not the easiest.
I also found myself on other online dating sites too. But it really didn’t help. Because this isn’t just about dating, or mating for that matter. I was more for activity partners, and connecting with like minds.
In many cases, finding like minds is much harder than finding a date.
There HAD to be many groups of friends in my city. Sociable, interesting, and fun people (who, perhaps, are also as selective about spending time with new people).
And there HAD to be a more straightforward way. Don’t make me leap through hoops. (And don’t make me pay money ;p)
Make it EASY, FREE, and make sure I find groups of people I will like.
So I started designing the application - the business plan, how it would look, how it would be used… I bounced it off my team at MindValley, and they too, shared my excitement for the idea.
I knew I could go out and do it on my own… but when MindValley offered to fund it, develop it, and share ownership of it - it was perfect.
We moved quickly.
The very next day, I found myself with great programmers, designers, and advisors, building the web application now known as Bunch Out.
Cool. So, what’s next?
What’s next? I want to launch Bunch Out in your city - right now.
I mean it.
I want you to immediately start browsing group listings - look around and see if there’s a group of people you might like to hang out with.
But I just can’t do it with a snap of a finger. I need your help. Why?
You see, a city needs to have 100 group listings to launch - a pioneer batch of people get on it first, so it will be populated and useful by the time other people from your city sees it.
If you can get 100 group listings for your city, I will launch it, and promise to hear you out - to build Bunch Out as YOUR preferred, FREE service to meet new groups of people.
Now I’ve told my bit of the story.
The rest of the Bunch Out story is written by you, the sociable person reading this.
You’re going to decide if people all around the world will find it easier to go out with new groups.
And I really really hope you can help!
Get friends (and strangers) in your city to make a group listing on Bunch Out . It should quickly add up to 100 listings, and we can launch there…
And what about Chuck Norris you say?
I guess if you really want Chuck Norris to be part of the story, you can tell him about it. After all, as much as I would like to write out the rest of the story, I know you - the user - you’re taking the lead, and I can’t do it without you.
Click here to launch Bunch Out in your city, right now.
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