 ThinkTechAway, civil engagement lives here. Comfort Zone on ThinkTech on Spectromosy 16. I'm your host, Arby Kelly, and today I'm excited to share something with you that has been created by Leiland Papaya. Is that how you say your name? Yes. Leiland Papaya. Leiland Papaya. All right. That happened on air. Oh well. Gonna keep moving. Leiland Papaya. So Leiland, can you tell me a little bit more about what you've created and what you're trying to advocate for? Yes. So I'm following a dream that I've had for the last couple years to start a mobile app where people will be able to have dinner parties at their house and charge people to attend. So what brought this into creation? Well with the popularity of other share economy businesses like Airbnb and Lyft and Turro, I just felt like it was the next great thing to come and like I said I had this idea a couple years ago and was like waiting and waiting and waiting for someone else to make it happen because I feel like I get ideas all the time and I just don't follow through on them. And two years later there was still nothing available so I was like I'm gonna take a risk and I'm gonna do it and I'm gonna launch it in Hawaii and it's gonna be great and everyone's gonna love it. So is this something you've been doing on your own or do you have a team to try and help you? Well I've been doing it on my own but I do have a developer that's creating the app for me. I don't know how to do code so. Gotcha. So can you tell me a little bit more about what the experience will be like when the app is done? How it will work? Yeah. So you will create a meal for you and your family if you like and then let's say it's your auntie's famous lasagna and you decide how much you want to charge for people to attend. Let's say you have two extra seats at your dinner table and you charge $15 for each of those seats. You throw it up on the app and people will be able to request to come to your party and you either approve them or not. Hopefully you'll just approve people because they want to come to your house and eat dinner with you and then yeah they'll knock on your door, they'll show up and you'll get to make new friends and share your love of food and not have to fit the bill and the expenses for feeding people which is what I tend to do and I feel like a lot of people do a lot of potlucks at their house because they can't afford to feed everyone and I think with this app it gives you an opportunity to be totally in charge of what the dinner is going to be at your house but having a little financial support from your guests. I can see how some people, enterprising people, would even turn this into a thriving business. I know. This is what they do. Yeah, so if you're a personal chef or even if you have a restaurant but you just kind of want to create a specialized menu at your house because you have a beautiful house on the beach, yeah it's an opportunity to get really creative in what you do at your dinner table and make some extra cash. I can even see, I've been watching Hawaii 5.0 recently and Danny and Steve they want to open a restaurant and they haven't opened it yet and I could even see for them this app would be something where they could have it at their house and they could test recipes on people and get feedback before they actually went into business. There's so many different things you can do. If you're a student, culinary school, you can practice, yeah getting ready to open a restaurant or if you just don't even want to deal with the restaurant because of like the rent you'll have to pay and your employees and everything it's just a great way to share your love of food, yeah have a little mini restaurant in your house without all the crazy overhead. And one thing we really haven't touched on yet but I think is really important is the social aspect because it's so easy to get like locked in our own little lives where we don't talk to anyone new, we don't reach out to anyone new. So I can see how this app would be a really good way for even an empty nesters who their kids have moved away but she still loves to cook but now they're lonely at home they can invite people over, they can build their network. Yes I actually have one woman in Waikiki that is so stoked about this app she has an awesome Instagram account she posts pictures of these beautiful dishes that she makes it looks like art her food it's incredible and I reached out to her and she was exactly that empty nester she was like I am eating this food by myself it's such a shame no one even gets to eat it so she's alone and really excited to invite people into her house to feed them, yeah. So tell me about the the journey this app has taken you said it started out as an idea two years past no one else had created it so you then started to take action can you tell us a little bit about that journey? Yeah I just you know wasn't gonna let this other this this idea of many just kind of like fall into someone else's hands especially when I just wanted it to be done so that I could use it because I love you know I would love to go to a stranger's house and have a meal with them so I posted on Facebook does anyone know how you like get a what you know get a business going like this several people tagged this one woman who used to live here and so I reached out to her and she works for a company in New York for this guy and it turns out this developer had actually used an app like mine in France it's called Feastly and so just the fact that he was the type of person that would be in France and want to use that type of concept I was sold so yeah I've been working with him since August and getting it going and getting a logo and getting a video and a website and everything and it's taking a lot longer than I would like but we're making sure that we're doing it right and launching at the right time so the app is like no bugs and ready to go and that is a challenge it seems like everything in business takes longer yeah some more yeah I think it yeah yeah so do you do at this point have an estimate of when it will be out or is it still still in testing so right now we're sending people to our website to register you input your email and we'll send you the app when it's ready it's like almost ready there's just a few bugs but yeah I would say June would be a good estimate which is next month that is next month and it's also my birthday June babies June 24th June 10th all right so can you tell me you said before that this is an idea you'd had several ideas before but you've never acted on them so it made it really different this time that this is the one you you wanted to create just tired of working in 9 to 5 and I feel like this will be really successful to be honest I think you know this could be as big as Airbnb and Lyft and I would love to travel the world and promote dinner because we're launching in Hawaii I know a lot of people in Hawaii I know I can have a successful launch here but if it goes crazy in Hawaii I would love to travel the world and promote it in other areas and make this my life life's mission I've practiced this concept a couple times in my home just promoting on Facebook and I actually had strangers come to my house like people in my neighborhood that were like I would love to have you know dinner with my neighbor and pay $20 sign me up so the idea that several people across the world will be having that same experience in their home because of me I just got me more excited than anything else that I could think of so even as you talk about it going across the world I even had the thought of I have a friend who travels a lot and has business events wherever she goes and they're always looking for restaurants and cool places to eat and I just had the thought well if you're someone with a beautiful home or you're a man you've got a really cool neighbor in your house sitting like hopefully it's all legal there but there are so many different opportunities for you to just connect with people and when you when you look at the the political divisions in our world the religious divisions in our world there are so many so many ways that we divide ourselves from each other it sounds like your app is one of the things that's that's trying to help bring people back together yeah yeah yeah studies show over and over again that safer neighborhoods are ones where the neighbors know each other and they look out for each other and so getting people you know growing up we had dinner at our neighbors all the time we were friends with them but you know just like this day and age we just don't do that and I think Hawaii is a very tight-knit kind of community but it's also very transient so like I've moved a lot it doesn't give me an opportunity to really meet my neighbors but you know if they were on this app I would probably be friends with all of them and they'd be friends with me yeah yeah I'm curious about some of the other ideas you've had before you acted on this one what other ideas that you kind of have I don't know I can't think of one off the top of my head but I know I remember my dad and he was talking with my brothers we lived in like really small town St. George Utah and he was like oh my gosh it would be such a smart idea we were to create a rival ambulance company because there was only one ambulance company and apparently at the time they kind of sucked at their job and he just had the brilliant idea to start an ambulance company but we just talked about it and thought about it and talked about it but we never actually took action yeah what was what was the thing that turned this from an idea to I'm actually gonna make this happen well to be honest I sold a house in Colorado I didn't make very much money I made it just enough money that I could probably blow it in one year in Hawaii going on a couple trips maybe not working as much and I've actually done that before and I just felt like I want to invest this into my future and something that's gonna make myself and a lot of people really happy and I just told myself you know I could lose it all but it's just money and I'm really trying to make decisions based on love and not fear yeah even if this thing only like works a little bit you know like only a few people use it it'll still be fun for me and yeah it's just money I love that it's just money it's so it it's not like you're you're thinking I need this to work or you've put all your eggs in this basket for you this is this is an idea something you think would help the world something you're trying to put out there into the world but you have other options and and if this doesn't work out you're gonna try something else yeah and if I was to not do this and wake up one day and someone else did it I would be so mad you know and I'd have to die knowing that I didn't do that thing because I was afraid and you know there are some fears not just about the money but that you know there'll be some backlash because oh now we're selling food in our homes like don't you need to have a commercial kitchen for that or like what if someone gets you know hurt or whatever but I think that these are all things that are already being worked through with Airbnb I think when Airbnb first came out people were probably like no that's crazy you can't have a stranger sleep in your house that's so dangerous yeah they could rob you but no that's not happening people are learning that your neighbors are safer than you thought and like it's okay to invite someone into your house a stranger into your house they're probably really nice you know just like you so yeah there's certainly plenty of things that could go wrong with this and several other any kind of idea you have when you're taking a risk as an entrepreneur but it's super cool to be the first one to do it because you were the one that took the risk and if you succeed it's just that much more sweet that really is so inspiring but I am wondering what advice you would give to our viewers because I know our viewers I'm sure you've had ideas about something you want to build or something you want to offer the world but you haven't acted on it so so Leland what advice would you give them to just start moving in the right direction you just got to start taking steps so I was really surprised when I posted on Facebook you know like who who can help me with this so many people were excited to help me so many people knew the right person knew the direction to go and then I took the next step by just calling the guy you know and actually his first step for me was to listen to a bunch of podcasts about about startups so I did that you know there were several steps I needed to do before I actually spent the money and I think we get stuck on like oh it's gonna cost a lot or it's gonna be dangerous or risky you can still take steps and if those steps start to build momentum and start making you feel good and excited then you know you're going in the right direction also like you just have to trust like things kind of always work out like if you lose all your money you'll be fine it's not I think that our brains are trained to help us avoid pain and so we get these really good ideas and it feels really good and then the second thought is oh but you could get hurt because we really our bodies are intended to help us avoid pain and suffering so you kind of got to go with the first thought which was the one that made you feel really good and if you're not happy with your current job or your current situation and you're thinking about that every day and it's making you sad you need to go in the direction of the thing that makes you feel good and try to ignore that little fear response that's trying to protect you from hurt because the hurt usually isn't even that bad like if I this money that I made off of selling my house in Colorado I've never actually even seen it like I made the money and then I just I paid it for the app right so it doesn't affect my life in any kind of negative way if I lose the money that is interesting and I know so many of so many times we see this big goal we really want to build and we see like all the way in the distance it's so far it's going to take so much sweat and blood and effort to get there that we've just think you know I'm just going to save the trip instead of focusing on you know the million of tiny steps that it will take to get there when the only step you need to worry about is the very next one yeah and then the next one alright viewers we are going to be right back after a short break and when we come back you'll be surprised at what we're talking about see you in a minute. I'm Andrea Gabriele I'm the host for young talents making way here on Think Tech Hawaii we talk every Tuesday at 11 a.m. about things that matters to tack matter to science to the people of Hawaii with some extraordinary guests the students of our schools who are participating in science fair so young talents making way every Tuesday at 11 a.m. only on Think Tech Hawaii mahalo Comfort Zone on Think Tech on Spectrum OC 16 I'm your host Arby Kelly and I'm here with Leland Papaya the creator of an app that is coming soon to you now now Leland over the break I was thinking that it's it's so interesting how we've been conditioned to be afraid of strangers like like you said when Airbnb first came out it was it was a big scary idea that you'd let strangers stay in your home and that was one of the things you mentioned being of that people would have to get over when they tried to use your app yeah so what do you think that is I don't think we're actually as scared of our neighbor as we think everybody is I think we live in a day and age where we're more disconnected than ever and people are really craving connections it's very rare that I tell anyone about this idea where they say oh my god I could never do that it happens every once in a while but mostly people are like how do I sign up I can't wait to do it you know most of us live on streets where we're passing by our neighbor and just like waving hello and we're like this is so awkward we live right next to each other and all we do is wave especially in Hawaii I know that we're not immune to crime but it's a really safe place to live and so I don't think we're I don't think there's not very many people that would be too scared to use this app and it's not like staying the night I mean if you show up for someone's dinner party and they're a little weird you're there for an hour and then you have a story to tell yeah I don't I don't think that danger is the first thing that comes to mind with this one I feel like it's more just awkwardness maybe we don't have the same political views or maybe yeah we don't have anything to talk about but I really feel it like with this one that's the worst case scenario that's gonna happen is there gonna be a way for people to to kind of rate the interaction like oh it's a horrible cook or oh it sends like super serial killer vibes is there a way for people to kind of like rate other users I'm really glad you asked me that because I put a lot of thought into that and the answer is no I don't want people to go to a dinner party and feel like they're being rated and reviewed because cultures are different especially in Hawaii and maybe you think I'm rude because I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of dinner or I was talking with my food in my mouth or whatever like that or I put my elbows on the table certainly people can make a lot of mistakes during dinner and I just don't think it's fair to feel like you're being reviewed same with the host if you know a little lady on the street is trying to cook you heard her famous chicken lemon chicken and rice and she like overcooked the chicken you know and like didn't really do that good of a job I feel like her heart is in the good in the right place and I just think it would be crushing for her to get a one-star because of that now certainly if someone is consistently providing a bad experience our email is available and I definitely want to hear about those and I will personally call them go to their house and coach them on what is going wrong and if someone needs to be taken off the app I will for sure but I just don't think in this type of community building relationship building app that I really want human beings to be reviewed when they're just trying to share a meal with someone I think I can see where you're coming from but they're also charging people for that meal which means if someone advertises that they've got like a super super fancy meal and you show up and it's not what was advertised then then what is the situation there yeah that's a good question I still want to stick to I want to hear from people and especially in the initial stages I'm going to be reaching out to guests afterwards and asking them how things are going or how things went and I want to have a personal relationship with hosts and you know contact them about this complaint and it better not happen again and if it does then you're going to be taken off the app I don't think anyone is going to use this to take advantage of people I think there's going to be some hiccups and mistakes made as they're figuring things out but you know I'm open to first suggestions if that's not working we can add the reviews later on but for right now I feel like for example with Airbnb you're rating the house and the room more than the love and energy that someone puts into a meal and like that you know rating them on their personality or their their culture that can get a little sticky I think I can see that I can see that something you'll have to you'll have to test and tweet as it because I can see how the the personal level of feedback is going to be working when it's here in Hawaii but if it if it blows up is incredibly successful you're gonna you're gonna have to either bring on a team to do that you're gonna have that's something that's a bridge you'll cross yeah yeah yeah my developer keeps telling me like whenever I anticipate problems he was like by that time you'll be making so much money you'll be able to afford you know lawyers and a team and you know all of that stuff so that's a good perspective yeah I did I didn't get a question in my ear from from the team back there wondering if you'll be able to like verify users like Lyft or Uber do again when we're when we're really popular and we're making a lot of money then yes we'll be able to do that do that but for right now it's just gonna be a small community of hosts and guests where we're just gonna have to trust each other and yeah I would love to add that later on for sure all right so it sounds like if anyone you're not anticipating problems with the app you're not anticipating problems in the community but if there are you are gonna make the decision at that time as to how how to deal with it then yeah I want to have a real close like I said a real close relationship with the hosts and the guests reach out to them after parties ask them how it went and call them on the phone if I need to show up if I need to go to their dinner parties I am so excited about that I mean once we launch I'm gonna go to a dinner party every single night I can't wait I want them to know that I'm a person I'm here this is my little app you know we're not a huge company and let's all guard it and keep it safe and secure as a community rather than feeling like it's this big company that will just turn you off if you make a mistake you want that very personal feel yeah so if there are if there are viewers who are interested in investing or maybe beta testing or anything else how should they get in contact with you is that something you're even looking for well we've been doing yeah beta testing yes so we're doing alpha testing right now and we're almost done with that beta testing will be in June I've got about 70 emails of people that are ready to go whether as a host or a guest but we would still love to have more people that can be patient and understanding and help us figure this out as a community for sure and you would do that by going to our website and registering all right all right let's see what about what about food preferences like someone being vegan or vegetarian or like purely carnivore how do people navigate that yeah so I encourage people when they name their meal to you know if it's vegan call it vegan pizza party or whatnot you know if you have a really sensitive food allergy maybe this app isn't for you you know because I know that I had a vegan dinner party once where I accidentally put a salad dressing on the table that had a little bit of dairy in it and you know I'm a human we make mistakes we're not restaurants we're just people kind of throwing parties so you got to go into those with caution but yeah I would love to later on have search functions on the app or you can search for a vegan party or a gluten-free party and I think people that are really into cooking those specialty foods are really going to get a kick out of using the app to spread their love of gluten-free cooking or a vegan cooking awesome yeah so where can people go to get on your waiting list yeah so on our website www.dinnerparty.io yes yeah pretty much the only thing that's there right now is a short explainer video and a place to put your email and as soon as the app is ready and it's free by the way of course of course we'll email it to everyone that way wait I just had a question you said the app is free but you also said it can make you lots of money how does that work oh yeah so just like Airbnb dinner party will collect a small 10% commission off of every seat sold so you don't have to charge users but you just you just get a tiny fraction of the seats sold yes and I'm sorry correction we charge 13% because our the payment processing company takes 3% that makes sense so 10% just to keep it rolling keep it going website advertising the app which is way more expensive than I thought it was going to be yeah marketing is not fun but where do you where do you see this app going in the in the next five years where do you want it to be well I just would love for it to be a household name like Airbnb I'm really excited about the people I think there's a lot of people that need this app one would be people who are alone and are eating alone and actually I was living in Kailua for a while and I always saw this one woman out to eat at restaurants with her dog and I just couldn't wait for the app to be ready so that I could give her a card because you know you go out to eat at a restaurant to be around people but do you really connect no you're surrounded by a sea of people but you're there by yourself and the waitress will come up and ask you what you'd like to order but there's no connection yeah so people that are alone I want them to I want this to be popular enough that they're hearing about it and they're hearing that it's going well and that it's safe you know so they feel like they can use it and then I also want it to be popular enough that tourists hear about it because you know when people come to visit Hawaii they're eating all of their meals mostly at restaurants which is great we have a lot of great restaurants yeah but who are they hearing about all the cool things that we have here they're hearing about it from the hotel they're hanging about for the restaurant and they're just hearing about all the tourist traps basically are they really hearing about the cool like the beach cleanups that are going on or the fundraisers or the just the events that you only know about if you live here so yeah and then the other thing is like experiencing Hawaiian culture I would love for a few Hawaiian families to use this app saying why Manila or why and I to where a tourist can actually see like how Hawaiians do it you know like a backyard barbecue eat Hawaiian food I mean that is really hard to come by I mean the Polish the Polynesian Cultural Center I feel like is the go-to for the tourists to like learn about Hawaii but how about like with a real family so it sounds like this is not only something that's going to bring neighbors together but something that could also give give tourists a glimpse of real Hawaii and something that could give locals tourist money in their pocket yes because right now a tourist money is only going to the big dogs yeah so you know similar to Airbnb I know that Airbnb has a little bit of a like negative thing going on right now I'm not sure I really try to stay out of that but Airbnb gives people an opportunity to make a little money on tourism you know for the extra bedroom that they have and same-same so yeah you can make a little side hustle having tourists over for your auntie's lasagna all right that is so powerful and I am so excited for when you finally bring the app out to to us so we can practice it and use it and get to know our neighbors yeah so are you gonna host yeah I'll do both it'll be fun yeah you're welcome yeah our pleasure and viewers this is something that is gonna make a difference in Hawaii and it was done by someone here who just wanted to make a difference had dozens of ideas but finally took action so you can make a difference but you can only make a difference if you start taking action so take action and change the world I'll see you next week bye