Like all good things, Rivet has finally come to an end. We spawned the initial idea in October 2014: Connect nearby people, using one-on-one conversations. Although it was simple in concept, we quickly found that developing it was difficult. On an individual and team level, we put our full effort into the product. We read what seemed like endless articles and StackOverflow pages to learn the necessary skills. We worked long (and late) hours to design mockups, code, write blog posts, and raise money. We planned through the logisitical challenges of marketing on campuses and at events. Finally, in August 2015, Rivet, LLC launched an Android and iOS app. After launch, we continued giving 110% to moderate content, seek feedback, iterate on the design, fix bugs, and even pivot our focus slightly. Overall, we reached 4,800 users and started 5,000 conversations. Users sent 80,000 messages and we regularly saw conversations that lasted more than half an hour. Despite all this, we were never really able to find our place on our users’ home screens. Even after pivoting and changing our approach, we weren’t able to engage or provide more value to users. Because of this, we’ve decided that it’s time to move on.
If you’re interested, you can check out more of Rivet’s history, see our code, or read Kevin’s closing blog post.
The whole team is extremely grateful to those who gave us advice, tested various versions, marketed with us, and helped in countless other ways. We’re also thankful to everyone who took the time to check us out and give us a download. There are thousands of apps competing for your time, and we deeply appreciate you giving us a chance.
Sincerely,
Kyle, Kevin, Connor, Matt, and Mitch