I checked into the Venture Cafe tonight at the Danforth Plant Science Center to hear some people pitch projects that they were working on. The one that stood out to me was this app: TableTalk.

The basic idea seemed to be this: make it easy to set up a table anywhere (via API connections to Yelp, Eventbrite, Meetup) and meet with people. Even if they're people you don't know, you could organize around an idea or topic.

I have a Meetup account, but I never use it. I'm a member ("member") of a number of local groups, and I get the weekly updates, but I never use it. The regular schedule of the meetups make them seem like pseudo-organizations, and I'm not interested in that. And the feeling I get from the meeting announcements is that they're aiming for big crowds, but there only seem to be a few people actually signed up. It all seems a little off for me, so I never use it.

TableTalk sounded nice to me because it seems to be aimed at a smaller audience per meeting—the size of a table, obviously. And it feels like a one-time thing for each event without any unnecessary obligation, even if you do repeat the events. The demo app worked quickly as well.

It's planned for launch in a few weeks. I hope it goes well. I think it could go far.