Hello, everyone. I am Raul Madoff. For the past few months, I have been building a mobile app that empowers university students to find and meet people they want to be friends with, mentors, or relationship partners. The ultimate goal is to help people find their crew—the circle they want to be surrounded by. We often hear that you become the people you surround yourself with; you are the average of the five people you are always around. It is essential for individuals to remain open to meeting new people because that is how you grow. You grow through the people around you. You find individuals who complement you, allowing your strengths to rub off on them and vice versa. I believe that is what peak friendship is about, and in some ways, that is also how peak relationships work. You do not necessarily look for someone who is exactly like you; rather, you seek someone who complements you like a puzzle piece. This is precisely what Orbit is designed to do. We help you find the person who perfectly matches your puzzle piece.
We are all puzzle pieces in this world, and to make your life worth living, you must surround yourself with the right pieces. We will assist you in doing that through our app. We are targeting university students and individual universities because we believe this phase of life is crucial for meeting people who can transform your life in many ways. University should be a place where meeting new people is easy, as that is how you grow, discover yourself, and maximize your potential. By surrounding yourself with peers on a similar mission and mentors willing to help, university becomes the perfect community to find and discover not only who you are but also who you want to be surrounded by.
I have heard countless stories of successful individuals who became successful because they were friends with someone who drastically shifted their perspective on life, leading to a complete change in their future plans. Through Orbit, we strive to help people unlock their potential within their university environment, enabling them to make the most of their university experience by connecting with the best people. This not only benefits you in the long term but also helps you right now. Numerous studies show that people surrounded by supportive and encouraging friends perform better academically and feel healthier and more satisfied with their university experience.
As previously mentioned, we want to help people make the best of their university experience, and a significant part of that is enabling everyone to meet the people they wish to connect with. We are targeting two main user types: Mark and Ken. Mark is a first-year university student who recently moved from Brazil to Canada for his education. In the first few weeks of university, despite engaging in many conversations and enjoying events, he struggled to find someone to connect with on a deeper level. He met people who enjoyed soccer, which he loves, but he did not feel any emotional connection with anyone. Despite being outgoing, he felt dissatisfied with his university experience. This is when he discovered Orbit, our app, which enabled him to find others seeking deep, meaningful friendships.
Now, let’s look at the other user perspective, Ken. Ken is an exchange student from Japan who prefers one-on-one interactions and does not enjoy large crowds or group settings. Although he is interested in socializing, he finds it challenging to approach people due to his introverted nature. He longs for the connection he had with his best friend back in Japan and feels isolated at university, which demotivates him from studying and engaging with campus life. One day, while having lunch surrounded by groups of people, he wished for a way to connect without the fear of rejection. This is when he discovered Orbit.
After creating an account, he saw a posting by Mark that included meetup details matching his schedule. As he learned more about Mark, he realized they shared a desire for meaningful conversations, which Ken had not found in his previous interactions. Ken decided to seize the opportunity, and the next day, they met for lunch. They both enjoyed discussing their struggles with fitting in and their desire for connection. After their meetup, they exchanged contacts through our app and planned to meet again.
This is the ideal journey we envision for users discovering and utilizing the app to find meaningful friendships. I believe current platforms that facilitate friendships and relationships are flawed, as they often focus on appearances rather than inner qualities. Our approach prioritizes who individuals are on the inside. Once a connection is established, users can then see each other’s external profiles, including social media links.
We plan to launch publicly at the University of Calgary in the fall semester and are looking for Kins, Marks, and anyone else interested in trying our app. We invite you to join our Discord server to communicate directly with me and the team. We want to understand your needs and build a platform that genuinely helps you in your university journey. We are not building this for ourselves; we are building it for you. Your input, feedback, and thoughts are crucial for tailoring the app to address your challenges in university life.
We are determined to get it right. We believe this app is necessary in today’s world, where making friends is more challenging than it should be. I understand this app may not be for everyone; some people are content with their current friend groups or do not seek new connections. However, for those who wish to expand their circle or find a better fit, we invite you to join us on this journey. We will not quit; we will continue building this vision so that every university student can easily find their group.
Despite my busy schedule, I am more than willing to sit down with you to understand your pain points and what you want this app to solve for you. I promise to do everything in my power to help as many university students as possible make the most of their experiences and the people around them.
One last thing: our app is open source, and you are welcome to contribute. There are various issues on GitHub that you can tackle. As mentioned, join our Discord community for further discussions or calls whenever you like. I hope you will be part of something bigger than any of us. I am doing this because I love people. I genuinely feel a connection with everyone I encounter. I cannot help it; I just love connecting and bonding with people. This passion fuels my desire to build this app, enabling everyone to connect with the right individuals.
Within each person lies a universe waiting to be discovered. Through these connections, you can learn so much about yourself and teach others about themselves. That is the beauty of friendships, connections, and relationships. There is nothing more powerful than two people engaging in deep conversation and understanding each other’s universes. In my opinion, it is the most powerful force in the world, and I want to help enable that for everyone, especially in university.
Each person in orbit will need to verify that they are students of each university. For now, it will only be the University of Calgary. Therefore, you must verify that you are a UCalgary student.
We understand that people do not want to meet up with everyone or may not be compatible with everyone. This is why we will have AI features that can find the right person based on the information about their inner qualities. All of this data will be shared anonymously with these AI models and users. No one will have their information shared publicly or connected to them.