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Tech Topics In This Article: EventTech, app startups, Charlotte entrepreneurs
Think about the last time you walked into a networking event or an industry-focused happy hour. You know there are people you want to meet in the room. But the question is…how do you get the conversation going?
There is an inherent awkwardness in the traditional networking format. You have to make the decision on which conversations to join in on, which people you want to spend more time talking with, and figure out how exactly to keep those connections going long after you exchange business cards or LinkedIn profiles.
Charlotte-based entrepreneur Joel Puthoff wants to evolve how we all network. He’s the founder and CEO behind Linxy, an app designed to help you cut through the initial awkwardness of small talk and move straight into genuine conversations.
Inside The Linxy App
Unlike a lot of app-based platforms, Linxy is designed to get you out of the digital world and focused on building real-world connections. The location-based social connection and experience app lets users share information on a dashboard that makes it easier for people at the same event to connect. Linxy has invented its own social connection system called the Social Linx. This feature allows users to design the interests, passions, hot topics, and professionals they’d like to connect with precision, with fellow event attendees.
This allows event attendees to skip the awkward small talk and connect right off the bat around common interests, passions, professional alignment, and ideal collaborations.
At its core, Linxy is about facilitating real-time connections through “micro experiences.” The goal is to help give people more situational awareness around nearby event attendees. The startup’s target audiences are event hosts, community leaders, and business owners who want to help people coming to their location connect better in real time. This helps businesses turn their locations into “interaction and connection community hubs,” Puthoff added.
Puthoff and his team put Linxy’s prototype out in 2022 and officially launched in March of this year. Since then, Linxy has hosted over 50 events, ranging from music festivals to tech networking events to tailgates. Right now, Linxy is available in Charlotte, Nashville, Cincinnati, and Miami with an aggressive city growth strategy set for 2025.
Meet The Linxy Founder
Joel Puthoff, who grew up in Ohio and started his professional life in North Carolina with Young Entrepreneurs Across America, an organization that helps college students develop their entrepreneurial muscles. Along the way, Puthoff flexed his own entrepreneurial muscles, building a consulting business, launching a construction company, and even writing a book on human performance.
Like most entrepreneurs and team leaders, Puthoff found himself going to lots of different conferences and events. And one common theme came up: Nobody likes the event software programs out there.
“What people want the most is [to make] connections while they’re at these events,” Puthoff told Hypepotamus. “But people really struggle to break the ice and understand the right questions to ask.”
Linxy currently has 20 employees, half of whom are in Charlotte. The others are spread out across Atlanta, Miami, Cincinnati, Nashville, and across the Middle East and South Asia.
“Our team is our number one asset. We are a powerful vibration together, working cohesively together to disrupt this market opportunity,” Puthoff told Hypepotamus. “Our culture is electric and fuels the team’s motivation.. strategically aligned and motivated to revolutionize how people connect and experience public spaces and events. We believe in uniting the people! We’re way more alike than unlike, but the world is good at dividing us based on our differences.”
A Look At 2025
Linxy has also brought on over 40 crowdfunding investors through its Wefunder campaign. And right now, Linxy is looking for more investors to help fuel its growth.
Puthoff said the team is focused on finding “aligned investors” to finish raising its $750,000 SAFE Note. The team has been able to secure $150,000 of that over the last two months.
Looking into 2025, Puthoff told Hypepotamus that the team has ambitious growth plans. He and the team are working on bringing in 250,000 new users and $1,000,000 in revenue next year.
Another big goal for the year? Bringing Linxy’s product to more business owners, event hosts, and community leaders to showcase how the platform can “drive increased sales, experiences for their customers/attendees, and help them connect deeper with their customers.”
