What if you could take someone's place at an event they can no longer attend?
Uncle Dave bails on the wedding.
His seat is paid for. His meal is ordered. His name is probably still on the seating chart.
So... what if someone else could take it?
Or someone pulls out of a 40th birthday boat party at the last minute. There's a spare spot, the champagne is already on ice, and instead of the place just sitting empty, someone else gets to jump in.
That's the idea behind OpenPlace.
It's not really a ticket marketplace. It's more like a marketplace for empty places at events.
A host can open up a spare spot. People can request it. The host decides who gets it. If there's a cost, they pay once they're approved.
And then something slightly ridiculous happens.
You turn up to a wedding where you know absolutely nobody.
Forty minutes later you're talking to someone's cousin.
Two hours later you're on the dance floor.
By dessert you're somehow in the group photo.
You weren't supposed to be there.
But now you are.
That's the bit I'm interested in.
I've been building OpenPlace for Australia and NZ and I'm trying to work out whether this is actually a thing people would use, or whether I've spent too much time thinking about Uncle Dave's empty chair.
Would love some feedback from other founders/builders here... particularly around the trust/safety side, the concept itself, and whether you'd actually use it.
OpenPlace: https://www.openplace.cc
Come take a place you were never meant to have.
Or open one and let someone else make your empty seat interesting.