Building Pulse: Using AI to Tackle the Loneliness Epidemic

stian hansen — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 23:49:11 +0000

We live in a paradox. Gen Z is the most “connected” generation in history, yet surveys show they’re also the loneliest. The U.S. Surgeon General even declared loneliness a public health epidemic, with risks equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

That’s the backdrop where we built Pulse
— a social app that matches like-minded people into small groups (“crews”), helps them break the ice with an AI guide called Pip, and gives them a simple 7-day mission: meet in real life.

Why Pulse?

Most social apps keep you behind a screen:

Social media = endless scrolling.

Dating apps = romantic focus.

Group chats = often fizzle.

We wanted a tool that flips the script: don’t just talk online — actually meet offline.

How It Works

Crew Matching → 8–10 people in your city, matched by vibe and interests.

AI Host (Pip 🐧) → keeps chat moving with games, prompts, and suggestions.

7-Day Mission → meet IRL within a week, or the mission ends.

Experiences Built-In → 550,000+ activities worldwide (board games, hikes, laser tag, cooking classes, you name it).

It’s tech designed to fix what tech broke.

Under the Hood (for the devs 👩‍💻👨‍💻)

Matching engine: built on a custom rules-based + ML hybrid system to balance vibe + diversity.

Pip: powered by GPT-based conversational models, fine-tuned to avoid awkward silences and guide group dynamics.

Experiences: integrated with global booking APIs to surface both free and paid activities.

Infra: Supabase backend, Next.js frontend, AI orchestration via OpenAI APIs.

Why AI?

Breaking the ice is the hardest part of meeting new people. By embedding an AI host into every group chat, we remove friction, spark conversations, and make it easy for strangers to actually feel like a crew.

What’s Next

We’re iterating fast — building better safety tools, smarter group recommendations, and localized experience curation for each city. Our mission: make friendship as intentional as dating, and as supported as work.

If you’re curious about how AI can be used for good, check us out.
👉 pulsenow.app

Buildink.io: Automate Product Discovery and PRDs for your projects

stian hansen — Fri, 16 Aug 2024 01:34:33 +0000

How much time do you spend on writing product requirement documentation? Or more interesting, how much time do you waste because of poor or lacking requirement documentation?

Buildink.io is an AI product manager that conducts product discovery and writes product requirement projects. Our goal is helping ideators and builders by taking vague ideas and refining and structuring them into actionable product requirement documentation. By this, we remove project ambiguity and make it easier for visionaries to communicate their idea in a way that makes sense for technical teams.

Did you know that 70% of non-technical founders don't feel confident in discussing their vision and idea with technical teams? At the same time, developers feel like they waste a lot of time on inefficient communication and poorly defined projects.

How important is requirement documentation for you when you start a new project? Does a clear and actionable PRD make you more efficient and does it positively impact the quality of the project delivery?

If you want to learn more about buildink, please visit our website and book a demo call with us to discuss how we can help set your projects up for success.

DEV Community: stian hansen

Building Pulse: Using AI to Tackle the Loneliness Epidemic

Buildink.io: Automate Product Discovery and PRDs for your projects