If you like your invite apps dead-simple, check out Mobaganda. You don’t even have to log in. Just click on start, add the name, date & time, and location, and create an event. The site, which is built on the Google App Engine, generates a Webpage that you can e-mail out to all of your friends.
Once the recipients go to the URL they can RSVP, and you can keep track via RSS or by checking back at the unique URL, which lasts for 30 days. (One downside is that no two events can share the same name during that time period).
Here’s an invite page I made in about a minute for a fake TechCrunch party:
The site generates an e-mail address that can be used to contact everyone on the RSVP list. You can also keep track of the RSVPs through Google Reader:
Or as a widget on iGoogle:
Not that we need more ways to invite friends to parties (see Pingg, Socializr, MyPunchbowl, etc.). But Mobaganda does reduce the process to its bare essentials. (The UI sensibility reminds me of Presdo). It got started as a conversation between Web developer Jason Stirman and Twitter founder Evan Williams. the question they were pondering: Would it be possible to create a better Evite, without even requiring a signup or login?”
Stirman is the creator of OhDon’tForget, a Ruby-on-Rails app that lets you send yourself pre-set reminders via text message (Time picked it as one of its 50 Best Websites last year). Stirman plans on adding text reminders to Mogabanda using OhDon’tForget (when you RSVP, you will be able to add a cell number to get a reminder the day before the event). he is also thinking of ways to add notes, maps, and other features. But he wants to keep it as simple as possible. After all, it is supposed to be the anti-Evite.
http://crush3r.com/
Sounds great. Apps that accomplish one thing that you only need a few times a year cant be simple enough.
Who cares? Crush3r does this just as simply, and does it infinitely better. People who care about reporting and large-scale sending will use Spongecell or Mad Mimi, people who just care about one-off events will use Crush3r or Evite.
Party at Grammercy Tavern? Fake or not, I want in.
@3 I think this speaks volumes about Goggle App Engine. That is much more interesting than some random evite clone. Hyper vertical micro apps like these are exactly the kinds of apps best suited for the cloud (GAE or EC2). An itch was scratched…probably built the entire thing in a weekend, and deployed on super scalable architecture with little to no IT investment.
This sounds a lot like http://www.doodle.ch
Not sure which one came out first.
Actually never mind … just checked out the site and doodle is more for coordinating an event, but the concept is the same.
Hmmmm…how do they accomplish the mailing list functionality in App Engine as App Engine can only send emails, not process them. Is this app just *mostly* App Engine?
Looks good, but I like Presdo better.
who cares… facebook event is taking over all of these…in face I haven’t used evite in months because of facebook event.
Great use of being an early adopter of google appengine to get buzz about something that only takes about a day to build. Smart move, guys.
Nice to see people raising the awareness about alternatives to Evite.
Welcome to the party Mobaganda!
http://www.evitealternatives.com
Brilliant, simply brilliant!
I don’t like Google APP
So, is it just my imagination, or could I send an email to everyone on that list by using techcrunchparty@mobaganda.com.
And is it just my imagination again, or could any script kiddy worth their salt write a simple script to constantly check for common event names, then use that email address to spam the participants?
If you’re interested in an invitation site that’s super easy to use, is at least as attractive, doesn’t require registration and lets users manage their own contact options (email and SMS now, IM, twitter, etc. soon). Check out gatherra.com
We’re not hosted on Google Apps, so we’re not cool, but try to look past that.
Dale Cook
gatherra.com
You can’t create an event with the same name as another event created by someone else. That strikes me as a bit on the fragile-and-not-too-scalable side if/when the site gets popular.
@15: That was the weakest and most lame comment hijacking ever. Also, the name Gatherra is terrible.
Why would anyone even enter this market? It’s incredibly low-margin, even sites that have been around for awhile get almost no traction (look at Compete stats for, say, crush3r) and a bunch of people pile into it because any jerkoff can use Google Apps and pound out an app for it in a few hours.
@17: Food retail is low-margin, but there are a lot of players in that sector. I’m being facetious, I know, but the recent advancements in the efficiency of developing and deploying Web applications means that low-margin games now become viable to play. If you can develop an app so quickly that you can attempt to enter lots of different markets in a minimal way in a short period of time, it makes sense to do so and see which stick. You then develop those that stick further.
If Mobaganda fails to stick, that’s fine, it only took them a miniscule amount of time to try it. If it works, however, they’ll look pretty clever. Do this a hundred times over, you’ll probably end up with a hit. It’s a (and only “a”) new way to do business that can work rather well if you’re agile enough for it.
@17 Yeah, gatherra wasn’t our first choice either, but try and find a domain name that isn’t just a random set of letters, isn’t completely confusing, or isn’t 16 letters long. However, it has grown on us.
I’m not sure if I agree on the margin argument though. Margins may be slim , but as @18 points out, no slimmer than a lot of other businesses and certainly no slimmer than a lot of other internet based businesses.
And as for competitors, the fact that there are over a dozen direct competitors in this space at the moment isn’t the scary thing, it’s that it’s so broken that there are over a dozen players who think they can have a go at it.
Finally, just for the record, it may be easy to knock out a simple app in a day or so, but it’s a hell of a lot harder to actually build a business that can attract a target audience, services their wants and needs and continue to grow and scale, all while trying to do it with almost no resources (we’re self funded and believe a lot of the competition is too).
Software is easy, it’s everything else that’s hard.
Facebook wins because it already has my friends on it. No need to copy and paste 50 email addresses.
Now if this thing used Facebook Connect…
readbag.com - A dead-simple temp. bookmarking solution built on google’s app engine.
Nice!
Love simple apps.
The real problem with this one is that you can sing up unlimited fakes without the system even realize.
I love taht its simple.
But ad list one confirmation mail is in order.
actually, bare essentials would be:
1) i’m already logged in using a major platform login / open id
2) rsvp yes/no button
(point is that simple = login not required, assuming you have a valid user account at one of the major vendor platforms…)
Shame about the terrible time,is this a school project ?
ok so used it to send a simple one person test to my wife. i now have over 200 emails from mobaganda in my gmail account. and they keep coming!
@25 - There was a bug in the mail dispatcher, it has been fixed. Very sorry for all the e-mail, it was stuck re-sending your email.
Everyone else, thanks for the kind words, and for the criticism… it’s all helpful.
Brings back memories from the 24 hour-hackday india marathon, where i made a rsvp/rating/ranking app called favrROOTS . its over at http://bhaskervk.com/libraries/hackdayindia/
Keep Clicking,
~B
Mobaganda looks slick but it DOES NOT WORK. The mailing list email address does not work: emails do not get delivered.