Throughout his life, Weider says, he's moved to different countries, states and cities; as he's gotten older, he's noticed it's been harder to make friends. "As I've traveled and moved, it takes about one year, two years, three years to find a good friend group," he says. "But then every time I move to a new city, I have to go start my friend group up all over again."
So last year, he started Project Man Cave with a small team of developers. The goal was to create an app that would help males living in the same city to get together in groups of four to six, hang out and develop real, lasting friendships. He's now testing Man Cave in Denver and hopes to launch the app nationwide to tackle male loneliness — a problem that affects more than modern nomads.
"Loneliness has been a big thing in academia and on TV ever since COVID. We're trying to help solve that issue," Weider says. "It's crazy there's not a better way, because technology does not address friendship."
The Man Cave app launched on April 1. It targets men 25 to 40 years old who are in relationships, new to town or looking for closer friends; about 500 have signed up for the free app so far.
"We're really trying to help men who are married, with kids, in a serious relationship, and it's hard to make a new friend," Weider says. "Allowing these guys to actually have a way to have guys' night and a way to meet other friends."
Weider, who has family in Denver, recently settled here, but that's not the only reason he chose to test Man Cave here over San Francisco, Seattle, Austin and Charlotte — all other cities with a lot of "digital transplants," people who moved there for tech jobs.
According to Weider, Colorado also tends to rank as one of the loneliest states in America.
He was also looking for a medium-sized city, because people in big cities are too spread out when the number of app users is still small, and smaller cities make it harder to find users to join the app. "We're Denver-only right now, hoping to build up the community here, get funding and then hopefully expand," he says.
The app has a retro video game and caveman vibe. Users, who are called "cavemen," select 8-bit characters for their profile avatar and customize their "man cave." In the game, they interact with other users around a bonfire; every day, the app recommends other users for them to meet.
But Man Cave moves away from swiping profile photos to find matches and arranging one-on-one meetups, which are classic features of dating apps. Instead, users have been organizing events with other users, like hiking meetups and movie nights. Weider says 90 percent of the planned meetups on the app have been reported as successful.
"We think it's much more natural to hang out in small groups," Weider says. "That's how we can actually get to know each other, make a friend and have a deep conversation."
Weider, who has family in Denver, recently settled here, but that's not the only reason he chose to test Man Cave here over San Francisco, Seattle, Austin and Charlotte — all other cities with a lot of "digital transplants," people who moved there for tech jobs.
According to Weider, Colorado also tends to rank as one of the loneliest states in America.
He was also looking for a medium-sized city, because people in big cities are too spread out when the number of app users is still small, and smaller cities make it harder to find users to join the app. "We're Denver-only right now, hoping to build up the community here, get funding and then hopefully expand," he says.
The app has a retro video game and caveman vibe. Users, who are called "cavemen," select 8-bit characters for their profile avatar and customize their "man cave." In the game, they interact with other users around a bonfire; every day, the app recommends other users for them to meet.
But Man Cave moves away from swiping profile photos to find matches and arranging one-on-one meetups, which are classic features of dating apps. Instead, users have been organizing events with other users, like hiking meetups and movie nights. Weider says 90 percent of the planned meetups on the app have been reported as successful.
"We think it's much more natural to hang out in small groups," Weider says. "That's how we can actually get to know each other, make a friend and have a deep conversation."
Weider points to national data from the Survey Center on American Life indicating that one in five men report having no close friends.
"What we're trying to do is combat loneliness through friendship," Weider says. "We focus on in-real-life friendship, not digital."
While other apps have similar concepts — like Facebook meetups, Bumble For Friends (BFF) and Hey! VINA — Man Cave is only for guys, which Weider claims makes it the first of its kind. While Facebook meetups tend to attract larger groups, Man Cave is designed for smaller groups, which is meant to help "the socially awkward person," Weider says. BFF tends to only match people one on one, and Hey! VINA is a women-only app.
For women who want a female-only app like Man Cave, "I would love to get there someday," Weider says.
"We want to make sure we have our formula down for men, and we'd like to release a women-only version, but step by step," he adds. "It's just such a common, fundamental need for all humans to have food, clothing, shelter and friends for happiness."
