Ultra-local, digital name tags
Be a smart networker, don't leave it up to chance who you talk to. Use Nowy Connect to see who is nearby and create new professional connections. It's ultra-local LinkedIn.
Now available for your iPhone or iPod touch
Download now for iPhone Get SMS with download linkConnect with Lift16 attendees
You can use Nowy Connect to find and connect with interesting, nearby people who are also attending Lift16. It’s a great way to create new professional relations. Nowy Connect helps you find someone interesting, meet them, and stay in contact. Think of it as a digital name tag + LinkedIn.
Read moreRecently, we attended a book launch party organized by an association that promotes startups in the Lausanne area, Switzerland.
At this party, we hoped to meet Swisscom representatives, the leading cellphone operator in Switzerland. Unfortunately, we didn't know if they were there and if so, who they were. There was no list of attendees. And even if there was and even if attendees wore name tags, it's awkward to look at a person's name tag to figure out if they are who you're looking for. If they're not, which is more likely, then you can either smile embarrassingly and move away, or you engage in a conversation you're not much interested in, just to be polite.
So, we decided to build Nowy Connect, to solve this problem.
Nowy Connect is about nearby people, people who are in the same room with you.
Nowy Connect automatically creates a digital name tag for you based on your LinkedIn profile, shares it with nearby people, and shows you their name tags and the profiles of the companies they are part of.
It's perfect for networking events, conferences, or seminars, where you use Nowy Connect to forge new professional relations.
Nowy Connect does not track your GPS coordinates to figure out who is nearby, nor do you need to check in to any place to see who's there. Instead, it uses Bluetooth Low Energy to figure what other phones are within a radius of up to 30-50 meters.
Currently, Nowy Connect is available only for iPhone and iPod touch. If you have an Android phone and are interested in Nowy Connect, subscribe here.
Let people know you are around and ready to establish new contacts. Nowy Connect lets you sign in with LinkedIn. Then, it creates a nametag for you and a profile for your company. Finally, Nowy Connect automatically shares them with anyone you meet who also uses the app.
Find an interesting person to talk to. In person. Nowy Connect shows you the LinkedIn profiles of people within a 30 meter radius. You see their name, photo, position, and the company they work for.
Who would you like to meet? You can tell Nowy Connect who you'd like to meet (for example, "I'd like to meet mobile application developers"), and it will notify you when someone nearby matches your description. Check out the video!
Find a representative of a company you're interested in collaborating with. Nowy Connect shows you an organization's LinkedIn profile: what they do, in which industry sector they are, how big is the organization, their website, and who their representatives are.
Schedule a meeting with a person you're interested in. Nowy Connect makes it straighforward: you just have to specify who you'd like to meet and why. They'll reply with the when and where.
Remember what you talked about. Nowy Connect enables you to add notes to any nametags. And, when you next meet that person, Nowy Connect will automatically pop up the note, making it easy for you to remember what you talked about.
Event information. When you're at an event, Nowy Connect shows you information about it, for example, its schedule or the list of speakers.
Nowy Connect does not track your GPS coordinates. This improves your privacy and reduces battery consumption.
And you don't need to check in to any place to see who is nearby.
If you're an event organizer, we can help you make your event more social, with no setup!
While there already exist apps focused on events, here are just 3 ways in which Nowy Connect is different.
The smartphone has become an impediment to physical human interaction. While coming and going to and from school or work, while taking a walk, we bury our face in our smartphones, e.g., we text or browse Facebook. We ignore the people around us. We think it doesn't have to be this way.
At Nowy, we're fascinated by the nearby, by the people and appliances in our immediate proximity, in the same room with us. We want people and devices to know who we are, what our preferences are, and we want them to react, to adapt to us.
We want to help you see who you're missing. We use your smartphone to show you who is right where you are, right then. We use your smartphone to get you away from your smartphone.