Onstage today at our TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin Hackathon I have seen the future of my liver… and it looks bleak.
The culprit behind my liver’s imminent demise? WannaDrink, a hack that somehow manages to combine the amazing mission of providing tech education for recent immigrants to Germany and the promotion of anonymous drinking with complete strangers. It’s Tinder for finding drinking buddies, or, as Max put it jokingly onstage, “it’s anonymous … for alcoholics.”
It’s the vision of Redi School teacher Manuel Laudam, student Maxim Matrenitski, a recent Russian emigré; and Ravi Anand Kumar, who moved to Berlin three months ago to work with an IoT startup. WannaDrink is also the app I’ve always/never wanted. (Redi School is a nonprofit digital school for tech-interested people who are applying for asylum in Germany.)
WannaDrink’s photo feature is ephemeral and only appears on the app for the duration of time that users want to be available to meet random strangers for drinks.
Emboldened by the enthusiasm of certain members of the TechCrunch team for the app (it me), the team intends to try and turn their 36-hour hack into a real business and are looking to launch in the next few weeks.
“We’re going to make a plan and meet next weekend,” said Anand Kumar.