MintzTech Connect Industry News: Spotlight on Walkabout

Walkabout is tackling loneliness for the masses in a way that is deep, sustainable, and highly scalable, holding the potential to redefine community in today’s tech-enabled society. Unlike traditional social platforms that prioritize engagement metrics, Walkabout drives users to prioritize and engage in meaningful in-person connections based on the shared value of being neighbors.

Walkabout offers residents an app that aggregates everything on the internet across all platforms (including social media and business e-newsletters) attached to people and places within just a few miles of each user. From there, customized hyper-local interest feeds of people to meet, things to do, and places to see drive users to engage with each other in real life at places nearby. Features include the ability to announce their interest in meeting by text broadcast to neighbors and anonymized chat that, like Uber, allows neighbors to find one another and connect safely in real life. Users earn hyper-local loyalty points redeemable at equally local businesses.

Businesses do not pay to participate but by providing perks and discounts to users that stay local and attract their neighbors to do the same, Walkabout’s local small businesses are thriving, even at normally dead times, while giving Walkabout users more for their time and money.

The Walkabout app is free but for those seeking deeper community engagement, the Walkabout Local Insiders Club expands on the hyper-local loyalty rewards, gives access to exclusive community events, and unlocks users’ ability to announce their interest to meet up.

The platform has gained strong early traction with over 5,000 active users in its first year in urban San Diego, growing by 500 new members monthly. Remarkably, more than 20% of members engaged daily with nearby activities, 80% multiple times per month, even on accounts older than 180 days — an unprecedented level of sustained community integration driven by the platform. When proof of sustainable profit and impact is secured in San Diego, Walkabout will expand.

Walkabout presents a unique case study in sustainable startup growth. By forgoing traditional ad-based revenue models and instead prioritizing human connection, Walkabout stands out as an innovative force in the intersection of technology, social good, and scalable business success. 

Its sustainability is further reflected in its unique cap table, composed of a multi-generation family and Greatscale Ventures, a pioneering impact investment firm dedicated to socially responsible technology ventures. Unlike traditional venture capital, which often pressures startups toward unsustainable hyper-growth, Walkabout’s shareholders focus on high-value creation for the paying customer — the resident — and Walkabout profits from that success for its financial viability and scalable social impact.

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