Everyone has been on a group text message chain that drones on with no end in sight. What began with a simple question – "What are we doing tonight?" – has somehow morphed into Star Wars memes and a link to the latest "Lip Sync Battle" episode. (Channing Tatum totally killed it, by the way.)
Inevitably, you'll all get dinner at the same go-to spot and end with drinks at the same go-to bar.
There's nothing wrong with routine, but Robinson Greig thinks there's another way. He's created Ferris, a event recommendation platform accessed through the same medium where this dialogue began in the first place: text messaging.
"When you're planning a night or weekend, you might be texting several friends to chat about options," Greig told me. "By using text, Ferris becomes a natural part of the process."
Greig studied mechanical engineering at Northeastern for three years before leaving and discovering the startup scene – eventually ending at Change Collective, where he led product development for the past two years. A consummate entrepreneur, he left there in November "and started exploring product concepts that might support my own adventurous lifestyle."
What he landed on was events. Or, more specifically, curating experiences for people in Boston looking for something to do.
"There's plenty of research (and common sense) that suggest that the experiences we live, rather than the items we possess, are what make us happy," he said. "Twenty years from now, you'll likely remember a vacation you took with friends or family, but the same can't be said about buying a piece of furniture. This principle applies to our day-to-day life as well."
Right now, it's pretty straight-forward. Send a text to Ferris at (857) 600-1195 anytime, and he'll help you find something to do in Boston.
"Ferris aims to enable and encourage people to get more out of this city," said Greig. "The tech isn't quite there yet, but eventually I'd love to see Ferris included in group chats, as if it were just another member of the group that's going out."
The service is powered by actual people—for now, one person; when you text in, the man behind the curtain is Greig, manually curating and recommending events on a text-by-text basis. Fully automating the curation is not the goal, Greig said.
Greig set up the phone number about two weeks ago, and already a few hundred people have given it at try, thanks in part to Greig posting it to Reddit Boston.
I tried it myself before revealing that I was a journalist interested in hearing more about it. When we met for a beer, I got to see him in action, recommending a free swing dancing lesson in Kendall Square to someone who legitimately seemed psyched with the suggestion.
The biggest bottleneck right now is event curation, but Greig is building a few tools that will allow local venues to easily add their events to the platform and have them promoted, as well as focusing on making the platform bigger and smarter without losing the human element.
"There's something really social about how we plan our free time," he said. "It's a process that should be personal, conversational even. When you Google "Fun events in Boston this weekend," Google slaps you with a wall of options, which can paralyze the process. Ferris hits on that social note; when people text Ferris, we chat a bit about what they're interested in, which allows me to offer an option that I honestly think they might like."
Oh, and if you're wondering about the name ...
"I wanted to humanize the product by giving it a real name," said Greig, "and Ferris Bueller somewhat embodies the philosophy of breaking free from routine and doing something new."
Images via Robinson Greig.
