Open For Conversation

Over het initiatief / About the initiative

In welke fase zit jouw initiatief? / In what stage is your initiative?

Uitgewerkt conceptfase

Heb je jouw initiatief al gevalideerd? / Did you validate your initiative?

Yes, we have had over 100 survey responses and 30 interviews, along with more informal validation. We also completed Novel-T's START program and reached the Grand Finale of the UT Challenge

Meer informatie over jouw initiatief / More info about your initiative

Open For Conversation (OFC) is a social impact startup with a mission to reshape how people form social connections in the digital age. We aim to help individuals (especially international students) overcome cultural and social barriers by enabling spontaneous, meaningful interactions in real life. Our platform offers a location-based, gamified mobile app that facilitates safe, genuine encounters between users, countering the isolating tendencies of modern digital life.

What makes OFC truly unique is the team behind it: a diverse group of students from Spain, Pakistan, Romania, and Italy, each with distinct academic backgrounds in IT, business, and international administration. Our multicultural perspective has been instrumental in identifying the very problem we now work to solve—having personally experienced the social fragmentation that inspired this project. At its core, OFC is built not only with technical innovation, but with empathy, ethics, and a strong belief in technology as a force for inclusive community-building.

Wat is er anders/nieuw aan jouw idee/oplossing t.o.v. bestaande oplossingen? / What is different/new about your idea/solution compared to existing solutions??

Our solution is unique due to its social innovation which allows it to stand out from other competitors due to its interest-based algorithms, multi-layer verification protocols, and gamification elements. The interest-based algorithms allow its users to search for people with similar interests, likes, and hobbies where new conversation topics can arise based on common ground. This way, they can browse through the ‘social CV’ of these people found within a specified range, to find people with whom they would feel comfortable starting a new conversation. 

Then, the safety of our users is one of our top priorities. This way, our platform offers a multi-layer verification protocol where users must verify themselves with a valid email address, a valid phone number, and a final community verification check. The latter allows the community to verify and discern real and fake profiles by randomly filling in short pop-ups based on their previous encounters, allowing them to flag fake users and further report them. This way, we ensure a robust safety mechanism to prevent undesired behavior in our platform, as we aim to foster meaningful and safe interactions among people.  

Furthermore, the gamification elements implemented in our platform are part of our inspiration gathered from industry leaders in the field of gaming and education such as Duolingo, Trivia, and Pokemon Go. This way, our platform begins offering streaks and leaderboards for our users to engage in friendly competitions with friends, trying to meet new strangers every week at new locations and places, while building relationships and expanding their social network. Moreover, challenges provide our users with active engagement and ice breakers such as a topic of the day to be discussed or Trivia-like questions to mitigate the social awkwardness that arises when starting a first conversation with a stranger. Furthermore, our interactive map allows users to browse through nearby people and activities. They can join in activities happening nearby (in the fields of sports, culture, etc.) and even propose their own where people can join and meet. This way, with all this social innovation, we believe our platform remains unique to accomplish its aim of creating meaningful connections and interactions among people, since at the end of the day, we are all social creatures.  

Wat zijn jouw volgende stappen om het verder te ontwikkelen? / What are your next steps to develop the initiative?

Our immediate focus is on finalizing the backend development of the Open For Conversation MVP to ensure a stable and scalable foundation. Once complete, we will conduct A/B testing with early users to gather insights and refine the user experience. In parallel, we aim to validate our revenue model from the company side, ensuring it aligns with our value proposition. Lastly, we plan to initiate conversations with potential B2B customers to explore partnership opportunities and gauge market interest.

Wat heb je nodig om (nog meer) impact te maken met dit initiatief? / What do you need to make (more) impact with this initiative?

To scale our impact, we need meaningful exposure, strategic partnerships, and feedback from forward-thinking communities, precisely what we believe DISN can offer. Events like these provide us not only with visibility, but also the opportunity to meet early adopters, investors, and B2B partners who resonate with our values of ethical tech, social wellbeing, and cultural inclusivity.

We’re ready to transition from a promising MVP to a real-world solution that brings people together. What we need now is a stage to showcase our vision, access to mentors who’ve scaled community-driven tech before, and funding or pilot opportunities with institutions and businesses aligned with student wellbeing and social cohesion. Every conversation we spark, on or off the app, brings us closer to our mission.