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Anyone — A radically different networking app
We're bringing the 5-minute phone call back.
It's how previous generations got shit done, had time for 5 meetings before breakfast, rarely misunderstood each other, connected with the world, and called strangers for help—with energy to spare for the evening.
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Replies
@alfred_malmros I’m excited to see that Anyone can change the world :)
Are there any kinds of interaction/advice
/calls that seem successful which you hadn’t anticipated?
@pavell2l Thank you very very much for your support Pavel, hope to see you in the app?
@jackbro so so so many. I think mental health and people getting endorphins from talking to strangers and genuinely finding new energy after a 5-minute call was the most amazing.
@alfred_malmros WHAT!? This sounds bloody awesome! Gonna give it a try. Congratulations and all the best for the launch! 👍 💯
@swapdp_01 Thanks, and good luck with yours! Can't wait to speak on the app and share experiences.
I’ve picked the brains of a marketing director at Facebook, media buyer at Mr Porter, and head of product at H&M, as well as getting paid to share tips about building e-commerce businesses - without having to really do… anything. Anyone is tech doing its thing to improve lives at its very best.
@designrichly You're one of our earliest users and we can't thank you enough for your support throughout!
@designrichly Thanks Rich! Such a radical idea, right: an app that turns your phone... into a phone.
@designrichly Thanks for that great advice over Anyone, on starting an eCommerce brand when we launched Calling Cards this was just the right I needed at the time.
I've been really grateful to have you apart of the Anyone community Rich and look forward to chatting on a call again soon!
Hey @alfred_malmros, I have a question:
Are user profiles verified with a valid government-issued ID?
@lyondhur not they no, but verification is an important part of our roadmap!
@lyondhur @alfred_malmros Indeed, platform safety is critical, and verification is one of many different things that can ensure it.
@stylekit_org A little bit of everything, but mainly we've focused on horizontal interests and soft skills for connecting. E.g. creativity, something that we all share and can have meaningful exchanges on. A chef and a corporate marketer can both discuss people management etc.
@stylekit_org Great question! At sign-up, you describe what you can help out with and what you want to learn more about – this makes it easier to match people based on skills and experience. The creative community and startup/product community were among the first to jump on Anyone, so you'll definitely find a lot of people from there.
This reminds me of what @1dolinski is building with Vibehut.io (have nothing to do with it). But interesting to see several apps working in the space to create a more meaningful and 1-1 connection.
@1dolinski @salil_sethi Vibehut looks really cool! I love this new generation of social apps that are built for meaningful conversations and authentic connections.
Congratulations on the launch of Anyone! Let's keep the tradition of "5-minute phone calls" alive! #AnyoneApp #5MinutePhoneCall
Love this idea. "Democratizing information" is something the world could use more of. A great-looking product that makes it easy to get in touch with all different types of experts.
Why did you send me a spam email with this announcement today? I never signed up to your mailing list and there's no unsubscribe link in your email. If your network is built on GDPR violations like this, I have absolutely no interest in signing up.
I absolutely love this concept! 👏🏻
I was excited from the moment I read the tagline. I signed up immediately and, even though I haven't placed any calls yet, it looks like you have tons of interesting people in the network.
To my slight disappointment, the Android app is a bit buggy… It doesn't feel like a native app and sometimes I click UI elements and nothing happens. The button on the top right reads “Don” instead of “Done” and the app closed and logged me out during the on-boarding because I let my screen turn off for a few seconds.
As I was in the on-boarding screen where you add people to your favorites, I received a call that I couldn't answer because it was 2 AM and my family was sleeping. I had to hang up. Shouldn't the app ask about your availability first, before letting others call you? Or at least assume people are “unavailable” before they’ve completed the on-boarding.
That said, the visuals are amazing and the app makes me want to use it. This was totally missing from the social media landscape and I'm glad it exists now!
@anna_0x Hey Anna,
Sam here one of the cofounders of Anyone.
Thank you for the great feedback. We'll be looking into the issue you had with getting the call during onboarding and getting that resolved.
I really appreciate you checking Anyone out and hopefully we'll be on a call together soon.
p.s.
The Android feedback is great and we'll take that onboard.
@anna_0x Thanks so much for the feedback, Anna! We're early days, and beyond grateful for any bugs caught by our community. Hope you like the app!
It takes a minute to realize how radically different your life can be once you break down the barrier of connecting with people you admire and respect. Even if you can DM or subtweet anyone with a Twitter account, context matters. Anyone is a place where people are explicitly saying they want to help, and that changes everything. Happy launch day!
@sterlthewhirl Thanks so much, Sterling. We're building Anyone so that more can get further faster – so impressed by the genuine kindness and helpfulness manifested by the community every day.
Building Anyone with Alfred, David, and the Anyone team has been a journey and a joy up until this point.
When we started Anyone we wanted to create something that would help us get new perspectives, meet like-minded people and have great conversations.
Throughout the journey, I've personally had the chance to grow so much from it.
Today has been great speaking to people from Product Hunt on the app, and I look forward to connecting with more of you!
Call me on Anyone.
https://callinganyone.com/sam
never seen something more stupid than this: you only put a QR code on the page and there is no direct link to that app. people on desktop should scan that ? really ? you clearly have no idea what usability is. if someone slaps up a website like that, i don't want to know what the app looks like, no thanks.
@michael_bladowski invaluable feedback Micha(el), shame it put you off the app.
@santiago_gonzalez1 Thanks Santiago – hoping to roll out the app to more countries soon!
@cogscid Thanks so much! Hoping to roll out the app in more geographies soon. 💙💛
Normally I love signing up for new services early to try to reserve my handle, but in this case the trade off isn't worth it... I really don't want just anyone to be able to call me, even for five minutes.
Calls used to be used to get things done because 1) there wasn't another option 2) you could control access through the security-thru-obscurity of your phone number. Then robocalls came along and only regulation was able to interrupt that nefariousness.
Adding myself to world-readable white pages that would allow anyone access to me feels too invasive at this point.
Curious why others who sign up might want to invite these kinds of interruptions?
@chrismessina Thanks so much for the thoughtful reflection, Chris! Everyone on Anyone decides when and how they’re available to take calls. You can either go online manually when you feel like it, or set up a recurring schedule for office hours. The social features – Butt Dials and Switchboards – are voluntary and something you opt in to join when you feel like inserting some serendipity into your day.
We’ve noticed that users who get a lot of inbound emails and DM’s asking for their time actively ask people to call them on Anyone instead. For some, this frees up time in their calendar – for others, it makes it possible to have conversations that otherwise wouldn’t have happened. For users that are in high demand or have valuable expertise, we’re exploring a marketplace model where you can charge to take calls in specific categories and topics.
Looking forward to get your feedback on the app!
Top Hunter
@davidorlic got it — that level of control makes sense, and I already am available to be booked for calls via Superpeer. The original description and promise of the network seems at odds with professional purposes though — and seems similar to dialup.com.
Anyone