Bartop helps you expand your real life social network and allows you to meet with someone new over drinks.

Fancy meeting with someone cool over drinks? Derrick Ko recently launched Bartop.co where you get to do just that. The idea is a simple one. You browse for an event, buy a ticket at a set price, show up and grab a drink with awesome people. The only drawback is that you can only see who is going and who is at the same table as you when you buy a ticket.

The idea behind Bartop

Essentially, Bartop.co started as an avenue for people to meet new awesome people out f their own social circle. According to Derrick, he observed that there are a lot of people whose social network shrink, especially after university, when they enter the workforce and the corporate life. Life is mundane and one reports for work everyday. There is a lack of avenue for social networking, and hence, you have Bartop.co.

How the Bartop concept is faring in an Asian market

When we at e27 had a chat with Derrick Ko, the founder of Bartop.co, the biggest challenge so far is user acquisition. Of course, this is nothing new for all startups, but essentially for Bartop.co which tries to get people to break out of their conservative way of meeting new people, this could be a much more challenging problem. Bartop is actually fighting against a Singapore or Asian culture where the idea of meeting new people could still be intimidating for some. It is hard to change the mindset of people in their comfort zone. While this could prove to be frustrating, it actually make an interesting problem for Derrick to solve, and could pay off quite well.

Traction achieved by Bartop in its early months of product launch

Bartop was launched a few months ago and had its first event on November. We at e27 found out from Derrick that during the first month of launch there are already near to 150 sign ups. The team aims to have 10 events a week in the upcoming months, and is currently working very hard to achieve that goal.

Bartop draws its inspiration from Grubwithus

As mentioned on the “About” page of Bartop, the idea is inspired by Grubwithus, based in the States. Although both Bartop and Grubwithus are very similar right now, there are no tie up or affiliations between the two startups. Bartop.co is a localized version of Grubwithus, and is looking to moving towards experiences rather than meals in the long run, like getting people to enjoy certain experiences together instead of meals.

Photo: Bartop