Tech-heads have long been hell-bent on optimizing their entire existence — from professional productivity, to personal finances and health. But studies show that a big key to health and well-being is having friends.
Now, according to Axios, startups are taking a page out of the digital sales playbook to help create a new personal relationship management trend.
Why? Because, of course they are — and because friend-management has become one of the hottest app markets in Silicon Valley.
Replacing the ‘C’ in CRM
CRM (customer relationship management) software helps salespeople keep tabs on their targets. Now, recent Y Combinator graduates are applying that same practice to friendships.
Monaru’s services manage user relationships with loved ones (focusing on the user’s closest 10 to 15 relationships) by providing data-based suggestions for appropriate gifts and restaurants.
But the market isn’t only for nonworking hours: A company called Dex bills itself as a tool to turn work acquaintances into actual relationships through constant updates.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, buckos. This sounds like Facebook and LinkedIn territ-ry.
Do these companies have a death wish?
Facebook may have intended to help facilitate personal relationships…
But the loosely regulated social media giant and its competitors caused social issues that make it harder for some people to connect IRL — inspiring the founders of companies like Monaru and Dex to help users reclaim more meaningful personal relationships.
