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05/03/2023 08:20 AMGreat ideas are born from all manner of inspiration; necessity is an obvious one, crisis and just plain “A-ha” moments as well. However, Laura Wellington’s great idea blossomed in the wake of several personal losses that dramatically impacted her life.
Laura has a very interesting resume having developed several tech companies with her late husband, Dean. She is also a prolific writer of both fiction and nonfiction and has written for numerous media outlets, including USA Today and the Huffington Post. She has appeared on Fox News and CNN as a guest, but a recent “invention” is now her main focus.
That idea, an app that matches people interested in making new friends via walking, was inspired by Laura’s husband’s unexpected death and compounded by the impact of the pandemic. Some might have succumbed to the invasion of loneliness, fear, and overwhelming emotional weight that a global plague and the death of a loved one delivers, but Laura says she was able to create something positive out of her experiences.
Laura says the app development, called ZNEEX, was deeply personal to her. Her husband, Dean, passed away from a terminal diagnosis, and in the wake of his passing, she found herself isolated as longtime friends slowly began to drift away.
“It absolutely had an impact. I think that you take all of your experiences going forward. That difficulty and that painful awaking that occurred when he passed away was heavy. I found out that my whole life was going to change. I had to process that our mutual friends, who had been friends with us both, would eventually change because they just would no longer ‘fit.’ If you’re part of a couples group and you’re suddenly no longer a couple, that comfort levels change,” says Laura. “That made me feel very much alone, and at a very young age, I knew what loneliness was. And trying to navigate a new life within that new reality, I definitely think that impacted my decision to do this.”
Laura says she spent about a year with a company in India developing the app and refining the platform. Laura says her previous writing and tech experience were huge benefits when designing the application.
“My previous experience was incredibly helpful. I had some prior tech experience, albeit not in apps, but I knew how the process should go. Earlier in my career in tech, I understood that, and the process really doesn’t delineate from one tech to another. What was incredibly useful was all of the writing, going back to my experience with all of the books I have worked on, and I had also done a huge amount of editing as well. When you’re creating something like an app, you are looking for any little ‘tic’,” Laura says. “I am a notorious tester because I was looking for anything that might hinder the app, anything that might be off. I really wanted it to work, obviously, but I really wanted it to be simple and easy to use. It’s like a book in many ways. It’s your vision; you have to explain that vision…and sometimes, that process can be difficult. You need to bring your vision to the developers and making sure that was coming across.”
Laura says her journey in developing the app started, like many recent projects, during the pandemic. Laura had a good friend who, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertainly made a decision to limit her contact and interactions with others, even outdoors. Though Laura says she missed her friendship and walks with her friend, she wanted to find others in the area who might be willing to simply walk and talk.
“What ended up happening was that she became frightened of going outdoors and of going out, and that sadly put a stop to our walks. I completely respected her decision, but I still needed interactions. I began by reaching out to a community-wide website called Nextdoor to see if there was anybody else who wanted to walk,” says Laura. “I ended up getting so many responses that the administrator said, ‘You have to create your own group.’ And that obviously indicated to me that people were looking for and also that if this was happening here in Madison, then it was happening all over the United States. People were looking for people and were having a hard time finding others and meeting new friends.”
Laura says the app is simply a way for anyone seeking friendship in their area to have a platform to easily and safely find someone to chat or take a walk with. According to Laura, the pandemic compounded what she sees as a national trend of loneliness.
“A lot of people had moved from the cities, a lot of people were working out of their homes and really had a need to find new friends, and they just didn’t have the vehicle,” says Laura. “There is also a national loneliness epidemic that we are coping with here in the United States, so what I wanted to do was help provide a solution for those looking for new friends to walk with, obviously leading to larger friendships as well, that would go beyond walking.”
A questionnaire that Laura had developed via the interactions on the Nextdoor site helped reveal what people were actually looking for and, importantly, what they needed.
“I took all of that information I had received from the people who had responded to me through Nextdoor, from my own walking request, and I took all of that information and I consolidated into that questionnaire. Ultimately, I ended up having a focus group unintentionally. What people wanted and what they were looking for really allowed me to hone in on what people were looking for,” Laura says.
The basic app is free and allows users to locate potential friends within a five-mile radius of their homes. There is a paywall section of the app that allows for enhanced features and also has a dating platform.
However, Laura says the program’s main focus is not as a dating site or for monetization but for matching folks who want to make friends or find an interesting walking partner.
“The primary focus is free and for friendship. However, if you do want to go beyond our five-mile range, you can sign up for the premium package, but again we tried to make the app simple and for friendship,” says Laura. ZNEEX connects users who believe that the old-fashioned, healthy stroll is the best way to begin new friendships.”
The ZNEEX app is currently available for Android users. Laura says that the iPhone version should be available within a month. You can find out more or download the app and sign up for the Apple waiting list at www.zneexfriendship.com.