There are plenty of dating apps out there and apps that turn your chaos of work obligations into easily actionable lists. There is also a growing number of apps that help you make new friends. The pitch for Rodeo is a bit different in that it uses AI to help you schedule activities with your existing friends.
The company was started by a pair of former Hinge execs who felt it was more difficult than it should be to make plans with friends. Parenting, work, 37 different group chats — all of this can lead to things like maintaining your relationships falling by the wayside.
Rodeo can take social media posts for events or restaurants, or even just screenshots of group chats, and streamline the act of turning them into actual plans with friends. For instance, if you upload a screenshot of an Instagram ad for a movie, it will pull in theaters where it’s playing and showtimes and let you buy tickets. There is also a shortcut to send an invite to a friend you want to “wrangle” into your plans.
Activities can also be sorted into lists for things you might want to save for later, like good date night restaurants, or things to do with your old college buddies, like a local paintball spot. Those lists can be collaborative too, so you can invite all your former frat bros to a specific list to make suggestions.
Somewhat surprisingly, the founders Sam Levy and Tim MacGougan aren’t loudly advertising the AI component of their app. While LLMs and other AI-adjacent tech are all the rage in Silicon Valley, it seems these two got the memo that Americans want AI to stay out of their personal lives. However, it is the AI element that sets Rodeo apart. Sharing collaborative lists, bookmarking restaurants to go to, and sending calendar invites for events to friends is something anyone can do with just a Gmail account. Rodeo is saving you the hassle of manually pulling in all the details for events or venues and turning them into invites and actions.
The company isn’t completely avoiding buzzwords. According to Business Insider, Levy describes the app as “a ‘second brain’ for planning activities with friends and family.” So Rodeo is clearly hoping that the obsession with organization that has driven the success of tools like Notion, Obsidian, and My Mind will work for its fledgling social app.
Rodeo is available as an invite-only beta right now, but you can download the iOS app to get on the waiting list.