I think a lot of people in the tech community would be open to a few 1:1 conversations with people out of their normal network now and then. This approach chimes with how (I think) community can be sustainably built and expanded in tech, both parties benefiting from possible out-of-band experiences. There’s no guarantee of that, of course, but that’s a risk people can assess when spending their time. People love talking about what they do, both for personal brand and personal enjoyment (Meet-ups and less corporate conferences are clear examples of this).

Wish the expectations of these conversations were more outlined, though. “Get on the waitlist” is a bit of a black box.

Also, maybe this is personal bias, but allowing for non-Twitter handles (I think my HN handle better resonates with my technical leanings than my Twitter, which is mostly just me posting more or less random thoughts). Looks like they’re using Twitter authentication, though, as well the “We met up” tweets have some virality, so I understand that design choice at the current moment.

After seeing a former teacher of mine ask about people who’d be willing to talk with his high school students, I think there’s also an extension of this platform to help match speakers with educators trying to help students understand what it means to work in technology (Or other fields). When I was an undergraduate we’d run part of a summer program teaching high school students how to differentiate stem cells into beating heart cells, hard to say that example wouldn’t be formative for students trying to figure out what to pursue in the future.