Meetup Finds New Owners and I Welcome the Competition

For a long time I’ve felt Meetup’s service offerings were pretty mediocre and stale. In 2017 they were purchased by WeWork and things only got worse.

I’ve been a long time group organizer and feel very connected to the needs of the community, so much so that I’ve started working on a Meetup competitor called Club House Hosting.

Club House Hosting enables you to create a group website with modern event and membership tools for your social or peer group. Honoring the ethos of the IndieWeb, Club House Hosting lets you use your own domain, own your data and control your privacy.

Meetup, as of today, still does really share these goals but there is some positive news:

Today we’re announcing that Meetup has fully divested from WeWork and has been acquired by an investment group formed for the express purpose of acquiring Meetup. Our new partners believe in our mission, in our organizers, in the power of real human connections (in-person and online when necessary), and they’re investing in Meetup’s future success.

Even though I consider us competitors I’m thrilled Meetup is out of the shadow of WeWork. I hope the change infuses them with some productive energy.

As for Club House Hosting, things have been slow so far in 2020 but with more time available on the horizon I hope to launch a public alpha so people can start kicking tires soon™. Stay tuned.