We’ve all seen friend groups fall apart. Is there a real business in fixing that?
Most recurring social groups don’t end with a fight. They just drift.
Someone cancels. Someone else stops replying. A few weeks pass without a message, and suddenly a group that felt alive goes quiet.
It happens with game nights, D&D campaigns, rec leagues, side project teams, and even casual hangouts. Not because people don’t care, but sometimes momentum just dies and no one knows how to bring it back.
PreFriday is a tool being built around this exact problem. The idea is to help recurring groups stay on track when life gets messy.
Early concepts include:
- Smarter scheduling (soft vs. hard RSVPs, recurring polls, fallback plans)
- Optional post-session check-ins (light emotional feedback, no forms)
- Shared expectations (lightweight social contracts)
Is there a business here?
Would love thoughts from the Indie Hackers crowd on:
- Whether this pain point feels real to you
- If you’ve seen a group fall apart like this
- Whether this sounds like a tool you’d use or build
What audience this could really stick with (accountability groups? local clubs? coworking pods? meetup organizers?)
Landing page is here: https://getprefriday.carrd.co
Still early, not selling anything. Just trying to validate the shape and depth of the problem.
if i am being brutally honest?...
I think this is a horrible idea. Heres why:
Nagging
I would hate the idea of my phone nagging me to go hangout with a specific friend. I would probably start to resent the app and the friend who made me use the app.
"Growing apart" is more accurate then "fell apart". In the same way you don't try to wear clothes you grew out of because if you did you would damage the clothes, or in this case damage the relationship. Growing apart is healthy and a part of everyday life.
Awareness
Most people are busy chasing goals they set for themselves or goals life has put on their path. Their friend groups are a result of chasing that goal, not the actual goal.
Japan
In japan they have an app that allows people to rent a friend. This is the closest idea to your idea that has seen success. I am not sure if you are japanese but this is a potential role model for you if there is a strong compulsion to go down this path.
Scheduling your friends
This make being your friend feel like a job. i now need to synchronize my schedule around yours so that we can make time to hang out. There is nothing wrong with this but the idea assumes people are dissiplined enough to execute on it. Humans are more feral then they would like to admit and thus lead a fairly spontaneous life. They only show up on time because they are incentivized to do so with money. Once you remove incentives, you would be surprised how hard it is to get people to do anything, including things they are interested in. People barely set their own schedules, instead school or work sets the schedules for them to fall into. I hadn't realized early in life that scheduling is a skill, that unfortunately most don't have or want.
Cost & Maintenance
...actually i decided to stop here. I think i made my point enough. not trying to attack you. I just think your energy could be better spent on another idea.
Hey! Thanks for taking the time to comment.
There's a lot to break down here. Your first 4 points are very interesting, but then in the 5th you're actually listing areas where a tool like this could help out.
To make sure we're talking about the same thing and using the same language: allow me to refine my pitch. PreFriday's goal is to streamline the social and emotional labor of getting/keeping a group together.
This is the exact type of social labor I'm targeting. Regardless of group size, it takes effort to communicate, synchronize schedules, and show up. With PreFriday, you could take a look at a glance for whatever recurring group you're a part of, and know: who's in, who's out, what the fallback plan is, and how everyone's been feeling.
This again, is illustrating one of pain points I believe a tool like this could solve. By joining a group in PreFriday, you're saying "this is something I want to do, and I want a framework that makes it easier to do it." PreFriday isn't out to create motivation for people to do things, but to make it easier for people to do what they already care about.
Now imagine any group that you've been a part of where someone else takes on the role of being the scheduler. Now imagine offloading all the responsibilities that person had onto a tool. That's the goal here.
I'd be curious to your thoughts on the idea after this response. Do you still think it's terrible, or do I need to do more work my pitch and starting with the value proposition?
I stand by what i said. I have tried to build a community many times in college. It consistently fell apart for many reason i don't care to get into. Maintaining a community is easier when your young and have no responsibilities. When you get holder responsibility become more rampant and many dont have the time management skills to hangout.
I am not sure where you live or your age, and that is none of my business but your idea could work in specific places where this is part of the culture. Some plants grow in the desert while others need the wet rainforest for nourishment. Nevertheless I can appreciate the positivity you've have shown. Therefore, I suggest you try it out, and take it as far as you can. Make sure you take notes along the way and establish metrics for a success run and operation. As well as metrics for failure, and hopefully it succeeds. Some lessons can only be learned first hand.
Honestly, I think the hardest part of something like this would be convincing people it's worth paying enough for that you can make it a sustainable business. I already have so many communication apps that installing yet another one, even if it's free isn't exciting. Not trying to shoot down the idea, but capturing recurring income from end users is hard in this world where we have so many subscriptions already.
I think you're right. I've done enough validation where I'm sure that coordination is a problem that many types of group face, but I haven't been able to get a sure fire answer to the question of: "Is this a pain point people would pay to make go away."
When it comes to delivery, I actually think the best way to deliver a system like this would actually be a "link-first" tool. So no matter whether you're trying to coordinate over text/email/discord/etc, all you have to do is copy/paste a url and then people have access to your app.
If this is something I decide to develop, I'd explore shipping it as a PWA both to avoid app store costs and so that it's not another app people need to download.