Originally started to answer the question "Are any of my friends going out tonight" and to compete with apps such as Beer Buddy and Timeleft. The app started as a bar visitor focused app but shifted to a B2B approach after realizing how important the data was I was collecting for the bar owners Chainlink's goal is to bring the "dumb fun" of Beer Buddy and the social aspect of Timeleft and turn it into a CRM and retention tool for specifically bar, club and lounge owners.
One day about two years ago I was sitting in my room on a weekend night, wanting to go downtown with my friends: I asked everyone I typically hung out with and all got no's. Then the question came to mind that started the 1.0 version of Chainlink - "I wonder which of my friends are down to go out tonight or already out".
Paired with my already technical background I quickly started designing how an app would work to solve this issue so I could always know which of my friends where down to go out tonight. Several months later Chainlink: Find Groups & Bars was released. It gathered 400 signed up users completely organically. But there wasn't any significant acceleration of growth. After some good introspection of the product I realized that the core idea wasn't the issue, its that the UI/UX was confusing and overcomplicated for the simple question I was asking and I was attempting to monetize the bar visitor type of user.
I had to stop working on the app for almost a year due to personal reasons so I was hands off most of that time. During that hiatus I occasionally spoke to other business-oriented friends about the idea, one of them, completed shifted the direction of the app by saying "Why aren't you marketing this to the bars themself?". I was reluctant to the idea at first but after much thought I essentially had a eureka moment. It made perfect sense. This type of "I want to go here tonight/im here tonight" type of data is great information for a bar owner. Paired with "dumb fun" features such as posting your drink to increase engagement was a perfect storm of a organization/entertainment customer facing app, and valuable business data for the bar owners themself
Chainlink 2.0 is currently in progress to bring business growth and analytics to bars and clubs that want to appeal to the younger population. I am aiming for a EOY 2026 full MVP release of both the new patron mobile app and bar web app
I am also seeking bar owners anywhere in the US (Indiana preference) to fill a limited number of 5 seats to agree to adopt the software for testing and improvement purposes, in exchange for free access to all it's features
I'm very excited for the future of Chainlink, its come a long way since its conception
- Devon, Founder
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A CRM for nightclub owners sounds way too "corporate" for an industry that still runs on free shots and bouncers recognizing regulars. Plus getting a manager to check cohort retenton at 1 AM)
A CRM for nightclub owners sounds way too "corporate" for an industry that still runs on free shots and bouncers recognizing regulars. Plus getting a manager to check cohort retenton at 1 AM)