Toast Mobile is going to work – officially – with its Toast Together app.
The Cary-based startup co-founded by two former UNC football players has raised $200,000 and is moving from a soft kickoff to real business.
The company formally launched this week and also disclosed the new funding.
But Toast Mobile and its app are not traditional social stuff.
“It’s altogether a new social media model. Toast Together is all about connecting people, creating new friends, and actually ‘being social’” said Ryan Watts, one of the co-founders who also is CEO.
“We’re providing users an easy way to see who’s up for meeting and coordinating the best place to go for brunch, happy hour, dinner or late night fun. At the same time, we showcase the local hotspots that are offering food and drink specials and events.”
WRAL TechWire’s Allan Maurer reported about Toast Mobile’s kickoff trials in Wilmington last week.
Co-founded by Denver Broncos kicker Connor Barth, Toast Mobile has moved into the Triangle with a full-time launch.
“I’m very excited be part of Toast Together and to be working with Ryan,” said Barth in the company’s launch announcement. “Not just because I am a co-founder, but because there is a definite need out there for people to be more social. I feel that Toast has an idea for an unmet need and a formula for success. I’ve found that the more you are out and about with friends, old and new, the happier and healthier your lifestyle is. I believe that there is one thing that you can never put a price tag on and that is making memories. I can’t wait for this to takeoff in North Carolina and beyond so that we can all raise a glass and toast!””
Watts, started his first successful online venture in 2009 while still in college at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. After chatting with friends about the fact that none of them knew where the local bar specials were – a topic of prime interest to many college students – they created Chapel Hill Bar Specials and racked up thousands of followers in a month tweeting bar specials. “It became very popular,” said Watts.
On his father’s advice he expanded the service to other college towns and charged bars a “relatively small amount of money,” to post ads. “We did fairly well, but I wanted to learn how a bigger business operates, so I was a management consultant with IBM for three years.”
Watts tells WRAL TechWire he met Barth on a plane when he was on a business trip to Tampa, Florida. “We started talking about football and other things and he started talking about life after football,” Watts says. “He mentioned mobile apps and I said, ‘Hey, that’s my sweet spot. Social, mobile.’ They stayed in touch and eventually Watts pitched an idea to Barth and his financial advisor.
His first idea didn’t fly, but in November 2014, he had another. He had been thinking there was this huge gap in the market for something aimed at people looking for drink specials. “No one did it right,” Watts says.
In addition to providing information about drink specials, brunch specials, live bands, happy hours, the app also connects users socially and lets them chat with each other to plan outings.
Barth liked that idea and became Toast Together’s angel investor. The fledgling company is based in Cary and already has a seven person team.
How are they making money? “We’re not selling ads,” Watts says. “We’ll sell information. Every bar now posts specials for free. Down the line, we’ll charge them for access to our user base. But we’re not doing banners or pop up ads like so many apps do.”
Oddly enough, the app already has users from 20 states and three countries. It’s currently available for iPhones with Android version coming.
Find the app at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toast-together/id1009263756?mt=8
