What Are You Doing Tonight? A Gay Friendly App Will Tell You
THE IDEA OF FOUR STARTUPPERS DEDICATED TO MILAN'S LGBT COMMUNITY ALLOWS USERS TO MORE EASILY FIND THE GROWING NUMBER OF BUSINESSES AND NIGHT SPOTS THAT CATER TO THEMMilan is becoming increasingly populated with gay friendly venues and nightclubs, and now the people who are interested in getting to know them have got a new guide. It’s called Milano Gay Life and it is an app created by four young startuppers with the aim of supporting Milan’s LGBT organizations and providing an orientation tool within the wide cultural offer that the city provides.
The offer, of course, adapts to a steadily growing demand: Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender people represent a lively and expanding community even in our Milan which has always been a bit closed and rigid. “Compared to other European cities”, Milano Gay Life’s founders say, “Milan suffers from the fact of being in a country that is among the few left in Europe which still haven’t introduced legislation for same-sex unions and where, in general, the atmosphere tends to be homophobic. Nevertheless, from the LGBT associations’ point of view, Milan has always been culturally very active and it is undeniable that it has become a point of reference for both the local and the national LGBT community”, the team says.
The app originates from an idea of Gabriele Pravettoni Farinelli, who graduated in Law from Bocconi University (Clg) and now works for a boutique law firm in Milan and Nicolas Nemni, “a creative and geek young startupper”, also graduated from Bocconi but in Economy and finance (Clefin). Diletta Andreozzi, Milano Gay Life’s PR with a degree in Economy and management (Cleam) and Filippo Hasbani, who studied Communication at IULM University, complete the team.
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For the launch of the app, developed by Yolo Apps, they have relied on three main communication strategies: word of mouth, the web pr with the identification of the niche influencers who had the task to test and review the app and, finally, the constant monitoring of their users’ feedbacks. “We are still in the bootstrapping phase”, Diletta explains, specifying that in the startuppers’ jargon it means that by now they have used just their own capitals and that in the future they will consider the opportunity to ask for external funding.
Today with Milano Gay Life the user can refer to the complete list of all the gay and gay friendly venues in town and book his/her place for the upcoming events, getting a discount on the partner events. The team’s short-term projects include the widening of the app’s features and market with new partnerships in other Italian and foreign cities.
by Laura Fumagalli
