When the startup Lunchclub raised a $4M seed round last year from Andreessen Horowitz, I don’t think anyone imagined business networking would become virtual and random due to Covid-19. Lunchclub has done an excellent job connecting folks globally based on my experience. Special shoutout to my friend Dev Ramnane for the invitation to join. I hope virtual business gatherings can leverage this model to create 1:1 connections by parsing their database of attendees.
I was an early user of a similar 1:1 business networking solution called CoffeeBreak localized to entrepreneurs in the Seattle area. I’m sure it’s popular now.