Causr Wants to Connect Professionals on the Go

We have recently teamed up with Causr – a new platform connecting professionals with each based on location.

Founded by the co-creator of studentbeans.com and co-founder of The Beans Group, James Eder, Causr aims to help professionals cut down on missed opportunities that result from not talking to the people around them.

James dates the idea for Causr from 2 experiences of meeting strangers. He reminisces about a time he saw a stranger on the tube with a CV in his hand. A natural ‘people’s person’, James turned to the man and asked if he was looking for a job. After a bit of back and forth, James said he’d take the CV and give the man a call if there was an opportunity at The Beans Group. “So he gives me his CV and it’s like one of the best CV’s I’ve seen” says James, who ended up hiring the man who went on to contribute massively to The Beans Group.

The second A-Ha moment came when James was thinking about creating Student Beans ‘activity days’ and mentioned to a colleague that he’d love to get in touch with Virgin Activity Days to talk about it. Mere minutes later, James found himself standing on a platform waiting for a train when a voice comes over the tannoy. Not sure what the message was, James turned to the person next to him and asked what had been said. Noticing that the man was dressed up, James decided to ask the man what he did. You guessed it. Within 10 minutes of having the idea, James found himself chatting to someone behind the company who ran Virgin Activity Days.

James has met hundreds of interesting people this way, but he knows we’re not all so willing to start talking to the stranger next to us. James believes there are two core pillars preventing most people from striking up these conversations – permission and confidence.

“If you go to an event, or you’re part of a group, in theory, you have got the permission to talk to everyone there…but a lot of people still won’t speak or say something because they don’t have the confidence to do it.”

It was this realisation that inspired Causr… if James could create a platform to give people the permission and the confidence to go out and speak to each other, then people would miss out on far fewer opportunities.

Simpleweb will be working with Causr to create the next version of the app that will allow people to see who’s nearby and any shared interests, request to connect, and message to organise a meeting.