Retro

Young people look up places,

by vibes and feelings rather than ratings.

Corner builds the first algorithm for Vibes.

Young people look up places,

by vibes and feelings rather
than ratings.

Corner builds the first
algorithm for Vibes.

Hi Eliza, nice to meet you. You are the Founder of Corner, please introduce yourself.

The Founder

Hi my Name is

Hans Mueller

Im currently live in

My Cat's are my Zen Masters at Home

Follow me for Fashion Tiktok

👗

👡

Hi my Name is

Hans Mueller

Im currently live in

My Cat's are my Zen Masters at Home

Follow me for Fashion Tiktok

👗

👡

Having GPT at Hand was a gamechanger for me. Replaced Google since then

Still sad about loosing Zenly. Tried to rebuild with "find my though".

My Phone

Having GPT at Hand was a gamechanger for me. Replaced Google since then

Still sad about loosing Zenly. Tried to rebuild with "find my though".

My Phone

7 am

Wake Up

7:30 am

Gym

8:30 am

Checking Mails

9:00 am

Going to the Office

1:00 pm

Lunch

2:00 pm

Back to work

7:00 pm

Dinner with my GF

8:00 pm

Meeting Friends

10:00 pm

Night Session + Next Day prep

00:00 pm

Sleep

My usual Day

My Friends think Im a Robot. Not sure if they wrong. You'rs looks the same right?

7 am

Wake Up

7:30 am

Gym

8:30 am

Checking Mails

9:00 am

Going to the Office

1:00 pm

Lunch

2:00 pm

Back to work

7:00 pm

Dinner with my GF

8:00 pm

Meeting Friends

10:00 pm

Night Session + Next Day prep

00:00 pm

Sleep

My usual Day

My Friends think Im a Robot. Not sure if they wrong. You'rs looks the same right?

My Neigbourhood

You're the founder of one of the hottest consumer apps out there. What is your life like outside of Corner?

My time is mostly divided between three main things. First, I have two cats that are incredibly cute—here's a picture.

They help keep me grounded and sane, especially given that consumer tech is extremely stressful.

I also enjoy spending time with my friends. We have a rotating dinner party tradition where someone makes a surprise reservation at a nice restaurant, and we all get dressed up to hang out and catch up.

They're all in tech too, also founders, so it's great to be with your own kind of people.

Lastly, I have a passion for fashion. I spend a good amount of time scrolling through TikTok to keep up with the latest trends.

Even though San Francisco's climate doesn't allow for all styles, I still like to stay updated.

That's a fun account I can reccommend

My time is mostly divided between three main things. First, I have two cats that are incredibly cute—here's a picture.

They help keep me grounded and sane, especially given that consumer tech is extremely stressful.

They're all in tech too, also founders, so it's great to be with your own kind of people.

Lastly, I have a passion for fashion. I spend a good amount of time scrolling through TikTok to keep up with the latest trends.

Even though San Francisco's climate doesn't allow for all styles, I still like to stay updated.

That's a fun account I can reccommend

What did you do before starting Corner?

I was in finance, initially in the private wealth division of JP Morgan, managing assets for celebrities and billionaires. I had to be in the office by 6 a.m. to trade options. It was incredibly stressful; I think I was crying about once a week.

My last role was more on the private equity side, which brought me to San Francisco.

The Corner Story

Can you tell us about the inception of Corner?

The first day of Corner was about two years ago when I met my co-founder.

We knew we wanted to build something in this space but weren't sure what it would look like.

We spent a lot of time bootstrapping and trying out different things. This current version of Corner started about a year ago.

The first day of Corner was about two years ago when I met my co-founder.

We knew we wanted to build something in this space but weren't sure what it would look like.

We spent a lot of time bootstrapping and trying out different things. This current version of Corner started about a year ago.

What did the early versions of Corner look like? Can you walk us through its evolution?

We operated in the same realm, but early versions had different product wedges, designs, and features. Over time, we kept simplifying and getting to the core of what Corner is today.

Figma of early product

We operated in the same realm, but early versions had different product wedges, designs, and features. Over time, we kept simplifying and getting to the core of what Corner is today.

Figma of early product

The Corner Experience

For those new to it, what exactly is Corner?

Basically we want to help people navigate the world. And right now that's very much like a map interface.

Because there are just so many options of where to go, where to eat, where to travel, and there are just too many tools today. I think it's really overwhelming and hard for people to find places they truly love and resonate with. I think it's hard in your own city and it's much harder when you're travelling.

The point of Corner is that we want to learn your taste over time and you should be able to search anything in the world wherever you are and just open corner and find something that you would love.

Because today I think people just get very stressed and frozen when they're out and about and it feels like a more stressful research process. Then it feels like ‘Okay, this is gonna be something really fun’. I'm gonna go hang out with my friends.

Just making life more fun and less about reviews and ratings and aesthetics. More just like authentically enjoying the experience of it all.

Basically we want to help people navigate the world. And right now that's very much like a map interface.

The point of Corner is that we want to learn your taste over time and you should be able to search anything in the world wherever you are and just open corner and find something that you would love.

Just making life more fun and less about reviews and ratings and aesthetics. More just like authentically enjoying the experience of it all.

I look back and I am sad that I don't remember all of the places that I used to spend time in that like formed my childhood or my teenage years.

What made you build Corner?

I've lived in like seven cities growing up, not for any glamorous reasons just for life.

And every time I moved to a city, and especially now that I'm older, I look back and I am sad that I don't remember all of the places that I used to spend time in that like formed my childhood or my teenage years.

I think that would have been really cool to have a little record of all the places that I love.

My parents were also small business owners. So my first job was at my mom's restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, packing takeout orders. My next job was at my dad's little acupuncture clinic,scheduling appointments for people.

Small businesses and experiences have always been, who I am.

I've lived in like seven cities growing up, not for any glamorous reasons just for life.

I think that would have been really cool to have a little record of all the places that I love.

Small businesses and experiences have always been, who I am.

I think the reason why people love Corner is that it is just a place for everything in their lives, not just the highlights

How does Corner differentiate itself from existing solutions like Google Maps and Zenly?

Eliza: So I didn't use Zenly, so I can only speak to it from a user's perspective. But for corner, it's all about just sharing your authentic self and your life story.

Corner is about the Cafe’s you go to on the weekend, the corner stores that sell fruits and vegetables. For example, I have my corner store that sells my favorite strawberries. And I think the reason why people love Corner is that it is just a place for everything in their lives, not just the highlights.

I guess the difference between Corner and Google Maps is that Google Maps is all about the businesses. The profiles, the people are very much secondary.

On Corner, like you can see it's all about the User and their profile and their taste. It’s just a more personal social experience.

Eliza: So I didn't use Zenly, so I can only speak to it from a user's perspective. But for corner, it's all about just sharing your authentic self and your life story.

I guess the difference between Corner and Google Maps is that Google Maps is all about the businesses. The profiles, the people are very much secondary.

On Corner, like you can see it's all about the User and their profile and their taste. It’s just a more personal social experience.

We have so many algorithms for digital entertainment, like Spotify and Netflix and Instagram and Tiktok.

I guess we're trying to build the first algorithm for the physical world.

We have so many algorithms for digital entertainment, like Spotify and Netflix and Instagram and Tiktok.

I guess we're trying to build the first algorithm for the physical world.

If you think about the big picture where to you see corner going in the future?

Fundamentally what we're what we believe and what we want corner to do is to build like this personalized curation machine for every single person.

Because today, aside from Instagram, and Tiktok, that have personal algorithms,, every time we search something on Google Maps, we see the same things..

But we don't have any tools that fundamentally know our tastes and what we like. We have so many algorithms for digital entertainment, like Spotify and Netflix and Instagram and Tiktok.

I guess we're trying to build the first algorithm for the physical world. And I don't know how that will play out. But that's the goal right now.

And I think if we can figure it out to fit the physical world then we can extrapolate that same taste graph to other things.

Fundamentally what we're what we believe and what we want corner to do is to build like this personalized curation machine for every single person.

Because today, aside from Instagram, and Tiktok, that have personal algorithms,, every time we search something on Google Maps, we see the same things..

But we don't have any tools that fundamentally know our tastes and what we like. We have so many algorithms for digital entertainment, like Spotify and Netflix and Instagram and Tiktok.

I guess we're trying to build the first algorithm for the physical world. And I don't know how that will play out. But that's the goal right now.

And I think if we can figure it out to fit the physical world then we can extrapolate that same taste graph to other things.

Any challenges you foresee for Corner?

Two big things are on my mind.

One is the complexity of the product; we've been building features like crazy and are overdue for simplification.

The second is the importance of staying honest and running towards our failures, experimenting, and creating new UI experiences.

Two big things are on my mind.

One is the complexity of the product; we've been building features like crazy and are overdue for simplification.

The second is the importance of staying honest and running towards our failures, experimenting, and creating new UI experiences.

When I see your users interacting with the Corner team on social media, it's impressive. What's the secret?

The main interaction we have there is saying basically, thank you for sharing corner.

And that's just our secret. It's just like, amplifying our existing users who put a lot of time and effort into their corner.

The main interaction we have there is saying basically, thank you for sharing corner.

And that's just our secret. It's just like, amplifying our existing users who put a lot of time and effort into their corner.

Thank you so much, Eliza. Was a pleasure.
I can only recommend Corner. I love using it.
Download Corner, follow Eliza and me and many others, and build your own Corner.

Download Corner in the App Store

Hi, my name is David.

I've been building consumer Software for almost a decade now.

I love well-executed, handcrafted Apps.

With TestFlight Stories I'm sharing personal stories behind

the hottest Apps and the people building them.

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