Mantel

Community for Collectors

120 followers

Community for Collectors

120 followers

Mantel is a social network for collectors, where you can share the stories behind your favorite sports cards and memorabilia, and connect with others who share your passions. Co-founded by Alexis Ohanian, Mantel is an early-stage startup that is growing fast.

Free

Launch tags:Android•iOS•Social Network

Launch Team / Built With

Viktor.comAn AI coworker that actually does the work

Promoted

Business Dad with Alexis Ohanian

Hunter

📌

As someone who's built communities (shoutout to Reddit) and is a massive collector (sports cards, comic books, video games, toys,... lifesize statues of Iron Man…) Mantel, a social network for collectors, hits home for me. The collectibles market is a whopping $450 billion industry, yet there's never been a go-to community destination that truly brings collectors together in a fun, engaging way. Until now. Mantel combines two of my greatest passions in business and life: community and collecting. The fulfillment and joy people experience through social engagement around heartfelt hobbies can’t be overstated. There's nothing out there like it. I find myself glued to the screen when scrolling through the feed. Shout out to the team on what they’ve built so far, and the improvements and updates they ship constantly. There’s finally a non-toxic, purpose built place to go deeper down the rabbit hole. Check it out, and make sure to give me a follow!

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2yr ago

Mantel

Maker

@alexisohanian Thanks for hunting Mantel! You hit the nail on the head. There isn't a go-to social media destination for collectors, and these hobbies are far too fun and interesting to dive into without a community. As broad-interest social media networks get more driven by algorithms, ads and content the DEVELOPERS want you to see vs. content YOU want to see, we figured there had to be a better way. What if we built a site with features and tools built for a specific audience? What if we made it easier for people to find content that brought them joy? What if we made it possible to meet people online who share similar interests? And what if we did it in an app free of trolls and triggers? The goal is lofty, but we're placing a bet that people will seek out niche community sites as the incumbent social networks continue to get more stressful. And if collectors want to find a new home to hang, share, learn and connect... well let's build it for them (and, as collectors, us). We're a team of collectors (I'm too deep into sports cards, memorabilia, watches and toys... and I'd own a fleet of old Mercedes sedans and Chevy trucks if I had the cash and space). We're incredibly passionate about this product. And we hope that collectors of all types will come check us out, join the community, and help us build something special. Thank you for taking a look! Let us know what you think!

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2yr ago

ScaryStories Live

@alexisohanian @evaneparker Love the vision behind Mantel! It’s exciting to see a platform specifically designed for collectors, providing a space that isn’t driven by algorithms and ads. As someone who enjoys niche communities, this sounds like a much-needed shift. Can't wait to check it out and see how the community evolves!

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2yr ago

Mantel

Maker

@alexisohanian @tonyabracadabra thank you! Please pass along your feedback- would love to know what you think.

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2yr ago

Mantel

Maker

@alexisohanian Completely agree! I truly believe Mantel is special for bringing collectors together in a way that feels authentic and engaging. It's incredible to see a platform built with such thoughtfulness around community and shared passions—kudos to the team for creating a space where collectors of all things can find community! Can't wait for what's to come!

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2yr ago

Mantel

Maker

@alexisohanian I couldn’t agree more—your perfectly captured what Mantel is all about! As a team, we’ve worked hard to build a space that brings collectors together in a way that feels authentic, engaging, and, most importantly, fun. The joy of collecting is something truly special, and creating an environment free from politics, toxicity, and the usual online chaos is a big part of what makes Mantel unique. It’s a place for the passionate—an escape, a celebration, and a community all rolled into one.

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2yr ago

IntroJoy

@evaneparker, @keegan_wagner, @quyen_hua , @shane_deol1 , @alexisohanian , Congrats on the launch. How do you plan to keep the community free from trolls which is a big challenge in communities these days?

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2yr ago

Mantel

Maker

@keegan_wagner @quyen_hua @shane_deol1 @alexisohanian @ashitvora thanks for the question. Keeping the community safe is our top priority. We have a mix of built in safety features (blocking/reporting) and human moderation right now, and we’re working to implement some AI moderation as well. And we rely on our community to help set the right tone and keep Mantel safe. This will be daily work for us though- we will need to focus on it constantly to make sure we keep improving our mod/safety features.

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2yr ago

Mantel

Maker

@evaneparker @keegan_wagner @quyen_hua @alexisohanian @ashitvora This is definitely a challenge. Safety of users is at the top of our minds. Currently we have a team moderating for anything suspicious. We plan to introduce some tech for moderation, which will come soon.

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2yr ago

Mantel

Maker

@evaneparker @keegan_wagner @shane_deol1 @alexisohanian @ashitvora Thanks for raising this, it’s a challenge every community faces, and we take it very seriously. To help protect against trolls and maintain a positive experience for everyone, we’ve built features that allow users to block, report, or even hide posts and comments from their feed. These tools are designed to give each user more control over what they see and how they interact within Mantel. We appreciate your attention to this—it’s questions like yours that make communities stronger. Keep them coming!

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2yr ago

Business Dad with Alexis Ohanian

Hunter

@keegan_wagner @quyen_hua @shane_deol1 @ashitvora @evaneparker I sadly know a thing or two about this and y'all have made it a priority in so many subtle smart ways, I'm optimistic y'all can stay ahead of it even as the platform grows massively.

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2yr ago

minimalist phone: reduce your screentime

Hey Evan and the team – I can see you already have some solid user base. What has helped you the most (from marketing perspective) to grow the community? Did you use ads or what was the main effort? Thanks

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2yr ago

Mantel

Maker

@busmark_w_nika thanks for your question. We kicked off a tiny ad campaign yesterday for our launch, but before that, we’ve grown through content (our socials @onmantel and our newsletters), and word of mouth. The beauty of a community platform is if people are enjoying it, they tend to tell their friends.

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2yr ago

Mantel

Maker

@busmark_w_nika Community building and word of mouth before launch has been a large part of efforts. We feel like we have attracted the right super fans of our product who would vouch for us!

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2yr ago

Mantel

Maker

@busmark_w_nika @onmantel @evaneparker Thanks for the great question! I think of the approach multiplication over addition—creating something so engaging that users naturally invite others. A strong community grows exponentially when people feel connected and excited enough to share it. Word of mouth, combined with authentic content and strategic launches is definitely a powerful way to scale!

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2yr ago

minimalist phone: reduce your screentime

@onmantel @evaneparker @keegan_wagner What good advertisement or marketing effort made you to share it with your friends and circles? :)

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2yr ago

minimalist phone: reduce your screentime

@onmantel @evaneparker Where can I subscribe to the newsletter?

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2yr ago

Makes a huge amount of sense - I think a lot of people have these collections but it's not always the easiest to find a place to have it hosted - Instead it's a bunch of niche online forums etc. Personally I love collecting old books but I have no clue where I'd begin to get in touch w/ people who have a similar hobby! I like the fact that it's bringing people together & I think that's worth a huge amount, it's not another Instagram etc. where it's bombarding people with content, they can actually seek out the things they like.

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2yr ago

Mantel

Maker

@cranqnow thanks for the kind words! I hope you’ll find Mantel to be a fun place to meet more book collectors and enjoy your hobby.

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2yr ago

@evaneparker I hope so too Evan :)

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2yr ago

Mantel

Maker

@cranqnow I'd love to hear more about your passion for collecting old books on Mantel! Our new Groups feature, launching soon, will make it easier than ever to connect with others who share your interests, fostering meaningful connections without the overwhelm of traditional social media.

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2yr ago

Osaurus

?makers any plans to support ActivityPub and connect to the rest of the social web? I love the value prop of this kind of network, but I'm reluctant to sign up for yet another social platform that doesn't connect to my other profiles.

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2yr ago

Mantel

Maker

@chrismessina Appreciate the question. No imminent plans but hearing what people care about/want helps us develop the roadmap, so we'll discuss! @quyen_hua

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2yr ago

Mantel

Maker

Great write-up about what we're building from TechCrunch: https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/1...

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2yr ago

Mantel

Maker

Shane from the Mantel team here. We'd love to hear your feedback and experience on the app. There is so much you can do with the app. Scroll the feed, engage with collectors and have fun sharing your stories about what you like to collect. Let us know what you think!

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2yr ago

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