The IRL connection economy is a $400B+ market.
And companies are racing to own it.
In the last 6 months, $800M+ in capital was deployed on "IRL" bets.
@Tinder invested $60M into a new Events feature for connecting matches in-person. They're pivoting to IRL and offering experiences such as speakeasies, raves, and pottery classes.
@222place: raised a $10.1M Series A to curate blind social experiences for Gen Z. Personality-matched groups sent to hyperlocal nightlife events.
@JagermeisterUSA launched BestNightsVC - the only venture fund in the world dedicated solely to nightlife and IRL connection. 16 portfolio companies across 4 continents.
@timeleft: dinner with 5 strangers, every Wednesday. €18M ARR. 6,500 dinners/week across 200+ cities.
Dion: members-only social app where the first move is buying someone a real drink, redeemed IRL. 10K members, 30K+ on the waitlist founded by @revekkapal.
Pie: Bonobos founder @dunn built an IRL friendship app. $24M raised. 130K+ MAU.
@weroad_official: group trips for 20-30 year olds who don't know each other beforehand. $150M valuation.
Matchbox: is an algorithm-powered matching platform for IRL events and has powered over 100,000 connections. founded by @liamjmcgregor (prev @MarriagePact)
New dating apps like Known @Celesteamadon, Cerca @MylesCerca, and Ditto @AllenWangzian are aiming to improve connection amongst young people.
Billion-dollar companies are paying $$$ for community and events leads:
- @AnthropicAI: Marketing Events Manager ($255k)
- @tryramp: Community Manager ($223k)
- @tryramp: Events & Culture Manager ($181k)
- @duolingo: Senior Community Manager ($193k)
- @NotionHQ: Community Programs Lead
Everyone knows the more time we spend online, the more valuable real-life connection becomes.
The question isn't whether IRL wins.
It's who facilitates it best.
This isn’t just about getting fitter.
It’s about becoming someone who can execute under pressure.
Someone who stays composed when it hurts.
Someone who doesn’t quit when things get uncomfortable.
#hyrox
Go-to-market is having a moment.
We talk a lot about how AI has made building easier. Anyone can ship. The question has shifted from can you build it to should you build it — and then, once you decide to build, can you make sure the right people know it's for them.
GTM has always mattered. But I think it's becoming THE skill.
Here's something that's been on my mind: vertical-specific marketing is not a new idea. Notion doesn't talk to a college student the same way it talks to an enterprise team or a solopreneur building their second brain. Stripe doesn't pitch a scrappy startup the same way it pitches a marketplace or a global enterprise. Different landing pages, different messaging, different entry points — all leading to essentially the same product underneath.
The landing page did the work of making you feel seen. Then you dropped into the same experience as everyone else.
AI changes that equation completely.
The cost of building is approaching zero. The ability to understand context, adapt tone, surface the right features, and shape the entire experience around who you are — that's no longer a moonshot. It's just a product decision.
Which means the vertical-specific landing page doesn't have to stop at the landing page anymore. It can carry through the onboarding. The default settings. The suggestions. The entire product surface.
The student and the enterprise team don't just get different ads. They get different products — that happen to share the same infrastructure.
We're at the beginning of a world where GTM and product are the same thing. Where the message you used to acquire a user becomes the experience that retains them.
That's a pretty wild shift in how we should think about what gets built — and for whom.
Life is unfair, accept and deal with it.
The only way one can make it better is by choosing to surround yourself with people who genuinely care for you.