GroupMe Blog

Spread the news far and wide: GroupMe is looking for a web designer!

If this sounds like you:

You love to make pretty things.  You love to whip up designs just because.  You think about the way people interact with websites and mobile applications, and obsess over buttons, shades, and outlines.  To you, a curve is not just a curve.  It’s a meticulously calculated and thought-over bend in the cosmos.  A color isn’t just ROYGBIV - it’s its own living, breathing entity.  Okay, that’s a bit far out, but you get the point.  You love GroupMe and want to help design the future of communication.

Then apply here right away. We can’t wait to talk to you.

Or, send it to a friend who you think would be a good match!

Oh, and by the way, we’re still actively looking for a lot of engineering jobs, so check out our current openings.

2010 was an amazing year for us.  It was just last May that Steve and I entered the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon and whipped up a little prototype called groop.ly on the fantastic Twilio platform.  We knew from the moment we started using it that we were onto something special.  After a week, the product had already changed the way we communicate with our friends, families, and co-workers.  

In July, Steve and I quit our jobs and started working on GroupMe full-time.  We brought on some amazingly talented people—Pat, Brandon, Cameron, and Steve—raised a round of financing, and launched our beta at the end of September at TechCrunch Disrupt.  We had a mission: we wanted to bring people closer together and make communication with friends as easy as possible.  

Fast forward to 2011.  Things have moved FAST.  We bulked up our team, and now people all across the country are using GroupMe to do extraordinary things.  The use cases are endless, and they’re beyond anything we ever envisioned.  What was initially intended to be a tool to help coordinate friends going out has turned into something that changes people’s lives on a daily basis.  The stories we hear are inspiring and keep us going.  We wake up in the morning eager to please our users, and we have no intention of stopping.

Of course, we still have a ton of work to do.  It was only several months ago when we showed GroupMe to the world, and we’ve only just started executing our initial roadmap. We’ve got some truly amazing product cooking.  

And with all the wonderful things that have happened on our journey so far, we’re thrilled to announce that we just closed a $10.6m Series B round of financing with Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, First Round Capital, and our Series A supporters SV Angel, Lerer Ventures, and betaworks.  We’re honored to have the continued support of our initial investors and the opportunity to bring on such a great new syndicate.

Joining Steve and myself on the GroupMe board will be David Weiden of Khosla Ventures and Ken Lerer of Lerer Ventures.  David has deep domain experience when it comes to mobile networks and communication with TellMe and AOL, and Ken has helped turn brands like The Huffington Post and MTV into household names.  It’s an absolute dream team for us.

With our fundraising complete we’ll be focusing on executing our product roadmap for the course of 2011.  We’re also continuing to build our strong engineering culture with an amazing team, and innovate in the telco space. Expect a lot from us in 2011—we’re changing the way the world comes together, one group at a time.  If you want to come join the best group in NYC, check out our jobs page.  And make sure to stay up to speed by following us on Twitter or Facebook!

It’s been a surreal ride so far, and we’re just getting started.  Thanks to everyone for all the support, and to our users who inspire us every minute of the day.  We’ve got GroupMe running through our veins, and we’re going to knock the walls down in 2011.

—Jared & Steve

We’re going big in 2011.  We’ve got some amazing things lined up, and we consider ourselves incredibly fortunate to be assembling such a talented team.  To kick off the new year, we’ve got some fantastic people joining GroupMe.  We’d love to take a minute and introduce them!

Jeremy Schoenherr starts today as our iOS man. We lucked out - he’s one of the most talented iPhone brains in the country.  Jeremy used to do iPhone development for Hot Potato and has spent the last months consulting in NYC and traveling around rural China. Before that, Jeremy led development on MLB.com At Bat and got to present it at the 2008 WWDC Keynote.  He’s an allstar and we’re honored to have him on board. Between Jeremy and Cameron, iOS will be in exquisite form.

Dave Yeu will be joining our team as a Lead Product Engineer.  He joins Pat and Brandon to help round out our development team.  Dave comes from Pivotal Labs where he worked hands on with some of the biggest consumer internet companies on the web.  He has worked hands-on with the entire development team at GroupMe for years.  Before Pivotal Labs, Dave was an engineer at Limewire.

Last but definitely not least, Steve Cheney has hopped on board as our first hire in Business Development.  Steve is a NYC rockstar.  He’s got years of BD experience with IDT, then received his MBA at Columbia Business School (who gets an MBA nowadays?!).  Steve has spent the last year advising various startups, mentoring at TechStars, writing for TechCrunch, and searching for the next big thing.  We think he found it.  He’s an amazing thought-leader and we’re honored to have him on board.

We’ve got a killer team here and we’re building some incredible things we’ll be launching in the coming months.  We’re also hiring!  If you’re an Android Developer, product person, designer, or just love GroupMe and want to help out, we’d love to hear from you.  Email jobs@groupme.com if you want to help change the way the world communicates in 2011.

Happy New Year!

Our co-founders Jared and Steve recently sat down with CNN’s Laurie Segall to talk about all things GroupMe. Check out the video below:

[Click through to view if you’re viewing this on the Tumblr Dashboard.]

Oh, and be sure to read and share the full CNN story here. Thanks!

Happy New Year, everyone! 2010 was really great to us, and we’re looking forward to bringing you even more awesome in 2011. Just wait until you see all the surprises in store for you all! #)

We’ll keep this one short and sweet: whatever you’re doing tonight, stay safe, have fun, and keep GroupMe in your pocket. Happy New Year! 

Whether you’re taking a trip, staying home, or taking a relaxing vacation, GroupMe would like to offer you a little help keeping everything together this holiday season.

If, like 43 percent of holiday travelers, you’re headed to visit friends or family, why not put everyone in a GroupMe? It’s a low-stress way to keep tabs on everyone in your holiday celebration. Share pictures of all the gifts you get with friends across the country. Chat about traffic, recipes, delays, whatever… and get your group together easily. 

If you’re going on vacation, first of all, we’re jealous. Second of all, might we recommend GroupMe as the best way to keep a very low-maintenance connection to the real world? Everyone knows checking your email is a sure-fire vacation ruiner. Text messaging is quick and accessible—and GroupMe just makes it that much more convenient. Check in with everyone back at home once or twice on your vacation, and spend the rest of your time relaxing, not searching for cheap wi-fi.

Happy holidays from all of us at GroupMe!

The holidays are coming, and the perfect way to keep your family together is GroupMe. You’ll always know who’s bringing what, and where everyone’s coming from.

Need proof? Check out this email we just got from one Mr. Mike Tamke: 

Ten years ago, a typical, Sunday dinner was simple enough; figure out what to make, pick a time to serve it and then basically ring the “vocal dinner-bell”.  “DINNER!” my mother would say.  My father, four brothers and I would come stampeding in.  Then, with a hurried “Rub-a-dub-dub thanks for the grub”, we’d dig in with the usual clanging of forks on plates, yelling about whose leg is too close to whose as my four siblings and I guarded our eating areas so that no child would steal our favorite part of the meal directly off our plate. Yes, we had to guard our plates!

Now, it is much different. First there are my two parents and the family dog.  Brian and I are professionals, living on our own, Matthew is a second year law student in NYC, David is a first year law student on LI and Stephen a junior in college.  On top of that, Brian, Matt, Stephen and I all have girlfriends and Brian and I each have a dog.  So, instead of five boys for dinner, sometimes it’s five boys plus four girlfriends, and our dogs.  Also from time to time.. Well, you get the idea!

Last Sunday, I helped my mother use GroupMe to create a group with the five brothers, my cousin Mary, and our friend Roger included.  By using GroupMe, we were able to facilitate the logistics of who was coming, what time to come, what to bring and even if people needed to be picked up.  

So, with the communication pipeline that GroupMe provided, everyone was on the same page and the list of what came for dinner was as follows: Five brothers, four girlfriends, three dogs, two parents, two cousins, one niece, one nephew, one good neighbor, one train-station pick up, one loaf of bread, one half-gallon of ice cream, one apple pie, two bottles of tonic, 4 limes, one bottle of club soda, two bottles of wine, six bottles of beer, one load of laundry, three arguments about music, two arguments about who’s driving who home and one great, on-time meal with all the fixings, a lot of laughs and a memorable evening.  

Happy Holidays!  GroupMe rocks!

Start a GroupMe for your family now right here.

Periodically, we share stories from users about how they use GroupMe in their everyday lives. If you have something to share, email us at stories@groupme.com. We’re really nice.

Photo from reneetb on Flickr.

We know what you’re thinking. Another amazing update to your app? How could it be? Well, that’s just how it is around here, people. We work hard.

Announcing GroupMe for iPhone: Version 1.3.

This one goes out to the people with older phones. Our app now works on all devices running iOS 3.1.2 or later. That means you, iPod touches! You still need a phone with text messaging to use GroupMe, but managing and creating your groups is much easier with the app. Take a look:

The main group view shows you all the groups you’re in and has an easy button in the corner to help you create a new one (like in the last version).

Within a group (even on an iPod, see?) you can see all the members, pick a photo to share, and send your group a text or start a conference call. Yes, even on an iPod touch. For now, you’ll still need a separate phone to see the replies, but you can send messages from your iPod.

If you tap “Conference” from an iPod touch, we call your phone first. After you pick up, we ring the rest of your group. It’s that easy!

Plus, contacts now load faster, you can mute your groups from the app, and we fixed a lot of bugs. It just keeps getting better!

Download GroupMe for iPhone 1.3 on the App Store now.

Hey everyone! This week, we’re honoring the dwindling days of football season by sharing this great letter we received from a youth football and cheer league in Northern California. Take a quick break from watching Friday Night Lights reruns and give it a look:

Hi,

I have been searching for a group texting program to quickly get information to the 11 members of the Board of Directors of our youth football and cheer league. Our directors are scattered all over Northern California.

I tried to get everyone on board with Twitter, but most had no desire to sign up.  However, everyone did have texting and a cell phone. Setting up GroupMe took just seconds, and before too long the members were having a blast using it. Sort of like a message board by cell phone.

I got so excited that I created another group for high school score updates.  I announce our local high school football games, and many of us, including our fans, like to know the scores from other teams in the North State.  So I made a group of friends from each of the area high schools who attend their local games.  

Before, I used to be the texting “hub”.  Scores would be sent to me from everyone, and then I would have to forward them by text to everyone.  I could never enjoy my game because I was busy forwarding and texting.   GroupMe was perfect for us!!!   All I have to do is text my update, and that’s it.  Your system takes care of the rest, and everyone in the group is getting consistent updates.

Thank you very much GroupMe!!!

Sean Moore

NorCalFed Youth Football and Cheer

Thank you, Sean. We love making people’s lives easier.

You can learn more about NorCalFed on their website.

Periodically, we share stories from users about how they use GroupMe in their everyday lives. If you have something to share, email us at stories@groupme.com. We’re really nice.

Photo via StuSeeger on Flickr.

Take a look at this great story we got from Fordham University student Ryan Byrne, who’s currently fundraising for an outreach trip to Belize City.

When I found out I would be leading a Global Outreach trip to Belize City over winter break, I had no idea how big the time commitment would be. Although I participated in the project last year, I didn’t realize how time consuming organizing meetings and fundraisers between 11 group members could be. 

After my entrepreneurship professor Charlie O’Donnell showed GroupMe to my class, I immediately went home and created a group for my team. At first, a text from a mysterious number which, when replied to, texted everyone on the team with their names attached, really confused some members. After this initial confusion subsided, everyone was in love with GroupMe.

GroupMe allowed everyone to communicate together as a team whenever needed, and has become an important aspect of our team-building efforts. Members have been using it to joke around and contact each other in a less formal matter when needed. When you’re first getting to know someone, it’s a lot less awkward to address that person in a GroupMe group (like a group setting) than it is to text them individually. 

Even though helping build community has been important, I think GroupMe has been more important to me in a different aspect—saving me time when organizing. As I mentioned earlier, leading has been a big time commitment, but this time commitment has been rapidly shrinking since GroupMe came into my life. I think this can be best illustrated with a recent example. 

One fundraiser we had, a simple 4-hour bake sale at night targeted at students “going out,” ended up taking me a ton of time to organize. I texted everyone on my team and asked them when they would like to work. Too many people texted back overlapping times, and certain time slots were not filled by members. I had to text everyone back and give them an OK, or text them back and ask them to change times. They then responded and said if they could or could not do a different time, and I would have to text other people and try to see if they could switch, etc. I had 11 conversations going on at the same time just to try and set up a simple bake sale, and not even the bake sale itself—just the time slots. 

Now, we recently held our first post-GroupMe fundraiser: a raffle for Broadway tickets. I literally sent one text that said “We need someone working at the table today and tomorrow from 1PM to 7PM. People texted the group back when they could work, and since they could see what slots were filled and what needed to be filled, there was no overlap. Plus, everyone knew who was coming to relieve him or her from his or her shift and didn’t need to contact me and ask what was going on. Everything worked so simply and efficiently and saved me enormous amounts of time and effort. 

I’m pretty sure I don’t want to go back to a time before GroupMe, and I think my group would agree. Just last week the Global Outreach team for India followed suit and began to use GroupMe as well, and I am sure they too will benefit from it just as much as we have. 

Find out more about Ryan by visiting his blog. 

Periodically, we share stories from users about how they use GroupMe in their everyday lives. If you have something to share, email us at stories@groupme.com. We’re really nice.

Photo via Rick Goldman on Flickr

We’re proud to announce that GroupMe is part of this year’s Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con, going down this weekend (Dec 4-5) at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.

With appearances by Vivica A. Fox, Henry Winkler, Adam West and Burt Ward, Pam Grier, and many more, this weekend promises to be an unforgettable experience for fans of all things pop culture. 

Of course, GroupMe will be there to make your weekend easier than ever. Here’s how it works: Create a group on our special Comic Con landing page here. Add all the friends you’re going with to that group. We give your group a free phone number; when you text it, everyone receives it, and when you call it, you’re connected on a conference call. How’s that for an easy way to plan your arrival and schedule?

The organizers have set up a few text reminders, insider promotions, and special announcements that’ll be sent to your group as well, so you don’t miss any of the best events and appearances that this Comic Con has to offer. 

Get to it! Find tickets for it here and then start your Comic Con GroupMe!

Here’s an idea for this weekend: Thanksgiving is the perfect time to get your family together in a GroupMe.

Try it out now—go to groupme.com and start a group with everyone who’s going to be at your Thanksgiving celebration. Your group can stay updated on everyone’s travel situation and who’s bringing what with just a few simple text messages. And if you’d prefer to keep the family time confined to this weekend, just set the group to expire automatically on our website, or by creating it in our iPhone app.

If this weekend is more about shopping for you and your friends, GroupMe’s a timesaver for you as well. Put everyone you’re shopping with in a GroupMe—make it from your phone if you’re on the go—and get ready for some Black Friday deals. When you’re all in the crowded mall, imagine the ease of having everyone else at your fingertips. You text “cheap shoes on the second floor,” and everyone comes running—no more missed opportunities.

Wherever you’re going this Thanksgiving, bring GroupMe with you and impress all your loved ones. They’ll thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Check out this awesome story we just got from Caren Kelleher:

Dear GroupMe,

When I first heard about you, I must admit that I was skeptical your service would be of use to me. Everyone I know — in both my personal and professional circles — has a smartphone with email capabilities and I assumed we would keep in touch using pre-existing technologies. 

I stand corrected. 

As the co-manager of the indie band The Lighthouse and the Whaler (http://listn.to/thelighthouseandthewhaler), I’ve found GroupMe to be the best artist services tool I’ve used yet.

Trying to keep up with four traveling musicians, a publicist and two managers (while also managing relationships with booking agents, promoters, talent scouts and brand partners) can be unnecessarily complicated, especially when all those parties are spread across the world: Atlanta, Cleveland, New York, London, San Francisco… Since the band plays ten to twenty shows a month while all of us also hold day jobs, GroupMe has given us a way to stay on the same page and never miss the opportunity to communicate the little things - and trust me, its the little things matter most.

If the band is having trouble getting a sound check or makes a great business connection at a show, I want to hear about it so I can help from afar. Since the guys are always on the road — often in remote areas — it’s easier for them to send a text through GroupMe than wait for an internet connection to load-up. I value that constant line of communication so I’m not waiting until the next day to hear how a show went or how many CDs were sold. 

But the best part is that GroupMe allows us to always feel personally, not just professionally, connected. We can share in jokes, send quick words of encouragement and exchange ideas in a snap.

Keep doing what you’re doing, GroupMe. You’ve got a spot on the guest list when The Lighthouse and the Whaler comes to your town.

Caren Kelleher

You can find Caren on Twitter here, and learn more about The Lighthouse and The Whaler here.

Periodically, we share stories from users about how they use GroupMe in their everyday lives. If you’ve got something to say, email us at stories@groupme.com. We’re really nice. 

Photo courtesy of Caren Kelleher

Check out this great story we just received:

“Is this a scam where you ask me to wire some money to an account in Nigeria?” This was the first text on our Stratton 2011 GroupMe. 

What exactly GroupMe is quickly became clear as the banter among our seven friends hit a fever pitch. Dougie is airing out his smoking jacket, Andy is saying hello as each new member arrives, Bryan is at The Rusty Knot, and James is now catching on.

We didn’t need GroupMe to heighten our anticipation for the upcoming ski season but this amazing SMS-based app will be critical as we caravan from NYC to Stratton, break for lunch on the slopes, plan dinners, and share ego-stroking tales of mogul jumps.

I’ve added Groups for family, college friends, nyc friends, hometown friends, and work friends. I’ll add a group for our party tonight and ditch it tomorrow. Every plancast, foursquare check-in, local tweet, facebook place, google place, and small business should have a GroupMe.

Who knows how we’ll be using GroupMe next.

Best,
@jaredzlotnick

You can find Jared on Twitter here.
 
You’ll be happy to know, Jared, that you no longer have to manually “ditch” a group that you create for a one-night party. With our new feature, short-term groups, you can set the group to automatically end after tonight. Pretty cool, right?

Periodically, we share stories from users about how they use GroupMe in their everyday lives. If you’ve got something to say, email us at stories@groupme.com. We’re really nice. 

Photo via lejoe on Flickr.

We’re proud to announce today the release of the newest version of our Android app, to top off today’s run of announcements.

GroupMe for Android 1.1 introduces a number of features requested by our users, a couple of bug fixes, and, of course, photo sharing. Here’s the new group view:

And here are the options you’re given when you tap “Share Photo”:

By popular demand, the app now informs you that group members will receive a text message when added to your group. It also now gives the option to sync your GroupMe numbers to your contacts, complete with a GroupMe logo contact icon.

As always, we’re really excited to push this out, and we think you’re going to love it. GroupMe for Android 1.1 is available now in the Android Market. Just search for “GroupMe” or scan the QR code below with your Android device.

Just over two weeks ago, we released version 1.1 of our iPhone app. Well, we’ve been working hard, and today we’re thrilled to give you another update: version 1.2.

It supports both of our brand-new features: photo messaging and short-term groups. Plus, there are tons of UI improvements and bug fixes that make this the best GroupMe experience yet. Let’s check out the screenshots.

Of course, we’ve added that exciting new “Share Photo” button, and a new tag telling you which group member created each group.

When you create a new group, there’s a nice new flow to guide you through creating it. Start with what (the group topic)…

then when (whether the group is ongoing or short-term)

then who (add members!)

We think you’ll love it. Let us know what you think by writing a review on the App Store! You can download and review the app here.

Short-term groups aren’t all we’re announcing today—we’re also launching our most-requested feature. Since we launched just a few short months ago, you guys have been clamoring for an easy way to share photos with your groups.

Well, you asked for it, and we built it. Starting today, you can share a photo with your group from the web interface or from one of our native apps. Here’s what it looks like:

And here’s how it all works. You hit “Share Photo”, choose one, and upload it. In the apps, you can even take a picture without leaving the app.

We send your group a text message with a link to your photo, like this:

Steve sent a picture to the group. View it here: http://p.groupme.com/bPruJP . You can share pictures by downloading our iPhone or Android apps!

It’s that simple.

So what are you waiting for? Start sharing photos!

One of the things we’ve realized while building and using GroupMe is that not all groups last forever. While most of the groups people create have long and fulfilling lives, there are definitely some times when you just don’t want to make that big of a commitment.

So today we’re releasing a new feature: short-term groups. When you start a group online or in our iPhone app, you now have the option to set your group to automatically end after a set period of time.

We’ve worked hard to make it simple and elegant, so when you create a short-term group, you have two options. You can end the group after tonight, or after this weekend. Easy as that.

Don’t worry, though; you’re not locked into it. We send a text to the group creator the next day, asking if they want to keep the group going. They can easily turn a short-term group into a normal group instantly.

Next time you’re going out for a crazy evening with a group of friends, create a group for tonight, and you can have a fun backchannel just for the night. Or if you’re going to a conference for the weekend with a few strangers, start a group so you can stay in touch over the weekend, but head right back to work on Monday with no new commitments.

Great, right? Let us know what you think on Twitter, or send us an email.