Andy Dunn’s Pie Expands From Events App Into Social Community Network

Pie, the social app founded by Bonobos co-founder Andy Dunn, is expanding beyond its original events-focused model with a new communities feature designed to help people build lasting connections.

The startup launched Community Homes, a feature that gives social groups a permanent space inside the app rather than relying on individual events as the primary way for people to connect.

Originally launched as an events app in Chicago, Pie has grown to around 300,000 users and is backed by investors including Forerunner, Lightspeed, Accel, and several angel investors. Dunn’s goal with the company has been to help people build stronger real-world relationships after experiencing challenges in building communities when moving between cities. Dunn’s work on Pie has centred around addressing social isolation through technology designed for offline connections.

Pie shifts focus from events to communities

With Community Homes, users can create dedicated spaces for groups where members can continue conversations and organise activities beyond a single gathering.

Each community home includes a group feed, administrative controls, membership management tools, a shareable homepage, and event planning features. Members can also share events within a group feed, allowing participation beyond just administrators.

Pie said it plans to add additional features, including group chats and tools that allow users to make casual connection requests, such as finding people interested in shared activities without organising a formal event.

New features aim to strengthen offline relationships

The update follows other changes aimed at making Pie more focused on people and communities rather than only event discovery.

Last December, the company changed its activity feed to highlight which users were attending events, rather than only displaying event announcements. Pie said the update increased average time spent in the app from two minutes to 10 minutes.

The startup also introduced a favourites feature that lets users add interests to their public profiles, helping others learn more about their personalities.

Pie targets growing interest in real-world social groups

Dunn said his interest in building Pie came after he moved from New York to Chicago and struggled to find new friendships and communities. He said the rise of social clubs and offline gatherings among younger users showed an opportunity for technology that helps people meet in person.

The company has added Nadya Okamoto, founder of New York run club Zoomies, as co-founder and chief marketing officer. Okamoto said Pie is focused on building community infrastructure, where events result from strong groups rather than being the main product.

Pie is available broadly but currently has stronger adoption in cities including Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles.