Ribl is the neighborhood posting-board that is falling into disuse, but is now available in your pocket. The app, which will launch Friday on Android, allows users to post text, links, images and videos on a location-based feed.
Ribl screenshot. (Courtesy of Ribl)
Cofounder Mike Chan, who also organizes Startup Weekend DC, explained in an email: “The best analogy is that Ribl is more like Reddit and the Facebook News Feed, where users are being connected asynchronously over posts and content.” Think lost-and-found, chatter on deals or events, or even crime reporting. (Or Yik Yak but not anonymous and thus less unruly.)
That’s how the idea first dawned on Chan, who was driving out with his wife one day to find four youths being arrested outside of his apartment building. According to a press release:
Mike and his wife checked Twitter, Facebook, and local news sites over the next couple of day but never found out what occurred right in front of them.
But he’d seen a woman take pictures of the scene and talk to the police officers. A woman who might have shared what she knew with her neighbors, had there been a convenient app to post it on.
Ribl, which is based in D.C. and Maryland, is currently bootstrapped but is planning to seek VC funding later this year, Chan said: “We will focus on growing a user base first and then we plan to monetize via in-app purchases first then advertising eventually.”
Guess what time it is? It's T-shirt tiiiiiime! pic.twitter.com/xEn7gEtrJx
— ribl (@riblapp) February 24, 2015
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