I built a trust layer for meeting strangers from the internet — Test it!
Just added to IndieApp Circles!
I've spent the last few months building something called NoStrangers.
The problem I'm trying to solve is pretty simple:
We verify almost everything online- payments, accounts, drivers, sellers. But when an online interaction turns into actually meeting another human being, we largely go back to trusting a profile.
Dating apps are the obvious example.
You can meet someone on Grindr/Tinder, exchange a few photos and an hour later be walking into their house with very little certainty that the person behind the profile is actually the person you're about to meet.
Marketplace, Craigslist and social media have versions of the same problem.
So I built NoStrangers as a layer that sits between the platform where two people meet online and the point where they meet offline.
One person sends a Trust Request.
Both people can verify themselves and then choose exactly what they're comfortable sharing with the other person.
The privacy architecture was particularly important. I didn't want to solve the trust problem by creating yet another database full of people's government IDs and sensitive identity information.
So the heavy verification work is handled by third-party infrastructure, including AWS and Veriff. NoStrangers doesn't see or store sensitive info and the system is designed around retaining as little sensitive information as possible.
There's no app download and the process is designed to take roughly 90 seconds.
The product now works end-to-end, but I'm much more interested at this stage in finding the weaknesses than being told it's a great idea.
love feedback on:
• Does the concept make sense within 30 seconds of landing on the site?
• Would you actually send someone a Trust Request before meeting them?
• Where does the process create too much friction?
• Does the privacy model make you more comfortable using it?
• What would stop this achieving network effects?
• And most importantly- what am I missing?
I'm the founder, so obvious bias disclosure there.
If anyone feels like putting it through its paces:
Send me brutal feedback redditors