Have you always wanted to go paddle boarding on Lake Michigan but couldn't get any of your friends to do it with you? Well, a new Chicago "experience" startup has created a service that organizes group outings for like-minded individuals.
WeDo, founded by Kim Kunzler, is a membership-based program that offers customers monthly experiences in Chicago. The startup, which launched a beta program in July, has started accepting members, but its first event, an improv class, isn't until Aug. 16.
WeDo memberships cost $39.99 per month and allow members to select one experience every month from a handful of activities that WeDo curates. So far, nearly 200 people have signed up for the service, Kunzler said.
Before launching WeDo, Kunzler worked at ViralGains, a Boston-based startup and a winner of startup accelerator MassChallenge. But she quit her fast-paced startup life last year to travel Southeast Asia for three months. During her travels, she noticed the value in organizing local activities for people that were either traveling solo or had just moved to the area.
“That’s when I realized if I could give this experience of community and experiencing a city to everyone, that’s what I would want to bottle up and sell," Kunzler said. "[It] would change people’s lives because it’s the happiest I can remember being."
Besides improv classes, activities offered on WeDo include stand-up paddle boarding on Lake Michigan, pasta-making classes and sky diving. Groups range from 12 to 25 people, though the average group is about 15 people, Kunzler said.
“WeDo is cultivating a community that is committed to getting out of your apartment and checking things off your bucket list,” Kunzler said.
Other experience-based platforms, such as Airbnb Experiences, are providing similar services to WeDo. Though Airbnb is primarily a home-sharing company, it launched an experiences service in 2016 to allow travelers to book activities across the world that are handcrafted and led by locals.
Kunzler says ideally she'd like to expand WeDo to other cities and countries down the line, but is focusing on building Chicago's network for now.
“The idea is that not only are you meeting a diverse group of fun-loving people, but you’re meeting people who are really committed to experiencing the best of Chicago," she said.
