# Founders bet big on offline connection

> Successful entrepreneurs are launching new ventures designed to bring people together in person, betting that loneliness is a solvable market.
- Title: Founders bet big on offline connection · TechCrunch | Shortify
- Summary: Successful entrepreneurs are launching new ventures designed to bring people together in person, betting that loneliness is a solvable market. A small group…
- Keywords: brynn putnam, tristan walker, board game table, heirloom craft, offline connection, loneliness crisis, andy dunn, pie app, audrey gelman, six bells countryside inn, adam neumann, flow residential
- Source: TechCrunch — https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/20/a-small-but-growing-number-of-founders-are-betting-that-bringing-people-together-is-its-own-industry
- Author: Connie Loizos
- Published: 2026-09-20T15:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 3 min
- Topics: brynn putnam, tristan walker, board game table, heirloom craft, offline connection, loneliness crisis, andy dunn, pie app, audrey gelman, six bells countryside inn, adam neumann, flow residential
## Proven founders pivot to connection
Brynn Putnam sold Mirror to Lululemon for $500 million. Tristan Walker sold his grooming brand to Procter & Gamble. Now both are building companies with the same goal: bringing people together offline.
## Board brings families together
Putnam's new company Board makes a 24-inch touchscreen table that recognizes physical game pieces and gestures, designed for groups playing together rather than individuals alone with screens.
## Walker builds craft trade schools
Tristan Walker's Heirloom Craft is buying and scaling fine-craft trade schools, starting with a leatherworking school in San Francisco founded by Hermès' first American artisan-ambassador.
## WHO flags loneliness crisis
In June 2025, the World Health Organization classified loneliness as a defining global health challenge, affecting one in six people worldwide and linked to roughly 870,000 deaths annually.
## Americans crave experiences over stuff
A Harris Poll sponsored by Marriott Bonvoy found two-thirds of Americans prioritize experiences like travel over material purchases, and say retail shopping feels too generic.
## Dunn's Pie becomes social OS
Andy Dunn's Pie evolved from a friend-matching app to an event-discovery tool to a social operating system anchored by Community Homes, permanent digital hubs for recurring social groups like run clubs.
## Gelman's inn hosts mystery dinners
Audrey Gelman's Six Bells Countryside Inn, an 11-room guesthouse in the Hudson Valley, hosts monthly murder-mystery dinners where actors seed the crowd. Guests reportedly linger past midnight trading numbers with strangers.
## Putnam's pivot from solo to group
Putnam built Mirror for herself as a pregnant mother trying to bring fitness home. Board was built with the opposite instinct: now a mother of five, she wanted tech that lets people of different ages play together.

> How can we use tech to create a shared experience?
## Walker worries AI erodes community
Walker started Heirloom because he feared AI would steal knowledge work and pull people apart. He believes America broke the master-to-apprentice chain 50 years ago by offshoring production and stripping prestige from manual skill.
## Gen Z rejects four-year degrees
Walker says roughly half of Gen Z and Gen Alpha don't want a four-year degree. At Heirloom's San Francisco location, more than half the capacity is filled by young tech workers seeking a phones-down creative outlet.
## Funding remains modest so far
Board has raised $35 million over three years. Pie raised $24 million. Six Bells raised $3.8 million. Heirloom, founded 11 months ago, hasn't disclosed funding. Adam Neumann's Flow has raised over $450 million.
## Scalability question remains open
It's unclear whether togetherness becomes its own investment category. Getting strangers to show up for each other is good for society but not nearly as scalable as shipping software.
## Proven track records matter most
Putnam, Walker, Dunn, Gelman, and Neumann have all built real brands before. That makes it easier to raise capital and gives investors confidence these founders know how to build something people buy.
## Key takeaway

A small group of proven founders are building businesses around in-person connection, from game tables to craft schools, betting that technology should unite rather than isolate.