GoWith Places went live to partners this week. We are writing this before any of the first meets have happened, and we know we should. If we wait until we have a case study to publish, the honesty of the first three months is gone.
The starting cohort
We're onboarding cafes in three neighbourhoods — Bandra West in Mumbai, Koramangala in Bengaluru, and a small first cluster in Ghod Dod Road in Surat. All three are places our first bookers are already meeting. The goal is not to expand — the goal is to concentrate enough meets in one neighbourhood that the second cafe on the same street asks to join without a pitch.
What we're watching
Redemption rate. Of meets that happen at a partner venue, how many actually redeem. A rate below 40% means the meet screen is broken — either the QR isn't opening, or check-in is unreliable, or the counter flow is too slow.
Honour rate. Of redemptions, how many bookers confirm the discount was applied. A rate below 90% means we're pushing meets at venues that don't respect the programme, and we'd rather delist those venues than keep the count up.
Venue attach rate. Of all bookings, how many chose a partner venue at booking time. A rate below 15% means the venue picker is buried, or the offers aren't compelling enough to make picking one worth the extra tap.
What we expect to break
The rotating-QR loop on Safari iOS is the most likely first bug — full-screen the QR sheet, brightness up, refresh every fifty seconds, iOS decides to throttle the token endpoint for battery. Second most likely: staff typing the six-character code with the letter O instead of the digit 0. Third: bookers picking a venue in the flow but forgetting they picked it by the time they arrive.
“A partner who gets '3 meets this week' and believes it will still be there in six months. A partner who gets an inflated number will not.”
When we'll publish numbers
First real report at the end of month one — venues joined, meets sent, redemption rate, honour rate, and every number that surprised us. Not before. Anything sooner would be a lie by omission.