A Scottsdale-based entertainment startup is leveraging artificial intelligence to change how people socialize, network and date.
Gatzby's technology works with AI to forge social connections at the company's events by matching attendees on a personal, professional, platonic or even a romantic level based on interests and preferences.
Attendees who wish to be matched with others at Gatzby's events are asked to fill out a form with questions about hobbies, favorite music, memorable moments, professional experience and qualities they are seeking in a friend or partner, among other things.
From there, the company's technology "plugs into AI" to scan the internet and determine how and why two people would be compatible, said Aspen Gatz, founder and CEO of Gatzby's.
“Then, it sends it back to our technology and we facilitate matches in that way," Gatz said. "We also have some of my own logic plugged in there."
Attendees receive a synopsis explaining why they were matched with another person along with talking points to begin a conversation, Gatz said.
While Gatzby’s platform can determine compatibility between people, it’s unable to predict chemistry or what the relationship will become, she added.
“That's entirely up to our members,” Gatz said.
The company’s curated events are designed to combat loneliness and forge meaningful connections between people.
Currently, the company is capable of hosting events at a single destination for matches to meet. In the future, Gatzby's may expand its business to include what it describes as “Narratives,” where members will meet at a large, central location and then be transported to various venues throughout the evening to meet their matches. Then they'll return to the initial meeting point for a finale of the event.
“Since we're orchestrating this whole thing, we can kind of capture — throughout the course of the night — key moments of people meeting up and then turn those into visuals, so that people can quite literally see their part in the grander narrative play out before their eyes," Gatz said.
The company's next event is June 3 at Walter Studios in Phoenix where guests have an opportunity to be "AI matched."
Gatz felt disconnected while living in LA
Gatz, who is pursuing a master's degree in innovation and venture development at Arizona State University, launched Gatzby’s in September along with Christian Grundemann.
Gatz has a background in the hospitality and entertainment industry and was inspired to create the company while living in Los Angeles in 2019.
“I had never felt more disconnected, lost or confused. We were going to these big entertainment experiences where there was all this opportunity to meet and talk to people, and hopefully find what I was looking for,” she said. “But still, I was coming up with nothing because there was just no organized anything out of the chaos, even though I love these experiences so much and I've spent my entire professional career in entertainment.
“There's just a sense of disconnect between what the dating and networking apps facilitate in the sense of intentionality, technology and introductions," Gatz continued. "Then, there was incredible entertainment experiences that were just chaos. So combining what works in both worlds is really what we're attempting to do in a couple different capacities as we scale.”
To date, Gatzby’s has hosted three events and has more than 81 founding members.
The company is opening its events to nonmembers throughout the summer but will shift to a membership-based business model — similar to a social club — by the end of the year, Gatz said.
In the future, the company is eyeing expansion to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Chicago, Miami and New York, she said.
Gatzby's recently received $10,000 from ASU's New Venture Challenge hosted by the W.P. Carey's Center for Entrepreneurship and New Business Design.
As Gatzby's grows, it will also further refine its technology.
“We're excited to test this out, but at the same time, we are really working to gain exposure right now and for people to trust us and understand what we're doing,” Gatz said. “We want to bring our current and future members along with us on this journey of, ‘We’re this young, hungry startup doing something different.'"
