I’m Hanna, the founder of Friendchise. I’m a world traveler at heart, happiest when I’m on the move. I was born in a freezing piece of land up North, also known as Finland.
My professional journey began with a Bachelor’s degree in Tourism Management. I completed all my internships in Thailand, working with a diving company and a 5-star boutique resort. After graduating, I spent several years working in the tourism sector in Finland, and used every vacation and long weekend to travel somewhere new.
When COVID-19 hit, I decided it was time for a new direction. I enrolled in the European Master in Business Studies program, a 2-year joint degree across four different universities. After earning four Master diplomas, I landed a marketing job in Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands of Spain. That’s where my digital nomad lifestyle truly began.
Facing the challenge of finding friends in new locations
Living in Gran Canaria, I’ve met hundreds of digital nomads who face the same challenge: finding new like-minded people. At meetups, you often meet a bunch of random people, which is great, but it takes a bit of luck to find the ones you really click with.
Already in my studies I struggled with finding people to meet in new locations. I moved to a new country every half a year and even though I had my classmates with me, I would have liked an easy way to meet more people.
I’m part of a lot of Facebook groups that are about finding travel buddies, location pages for meetups and solo travel groups. One thing that really jumps out is that people don’t want to eat alone. It’s awkward to reserve a table for one, and I do agree with that.
Digital nomading in Southeast Asia and changing locations every two weeks taught me how tiring it can be trying to find people to hang out with. It really takes time and effort if you want to meet others. Coworking spaces are a nice way to connect, but otherwise, I found myself relying heavily on Facebook groups. Some apps don’t even work in smaller islands and towns, so you’re often pretty much on your own when it comes to meeting people.
In spring 2025, it struck me that I wanted to create Friendchise to make meeting new people easier. I was working remotely in Northern Spain, and I spent a lot of time alone. Most of the friendship and networking apps didn’t offer regular meetups in that area, and the local Facebook groups weren’t very active. I would have loved to go out for lunch with someone new, grab a coffee, or even have dinner. That was the moment when I decided it was time to turn Friendchise into reality.
The problems of the current apps
I noticed that most applications don’t offer the flexibility to choose when you want to meet people. There are apps for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Then there are meetup apps and digital friend-finder platforms. But none of them really make it possible to meet in smaller groups in real life and decide when and where to meet.
I found that most of the applications don’t work for me because they are not flexible enough. For me I would love to meet new people for coffee or drinks, but there is no application for that. Usually, if you try to ask if anyone would like to meet you in Slack groups or Facebook groups, you don’t receive an answer. I wanted to create a simple application that would be about meeting in real life, and also allow the choice for the user to decide where to meet.
Friendchise, the easiest way to meet new people
I wanted to create a platform that would be an easy way to meet like-minded people for meals, drinks, or coffee. My main idea is that it should be up to you to choose who you want to meet, where, and when. It also should be flexible about location so that you can use it anywhere you go. In addition, many of us would like to meet like-minded people, which is why on Friendchise you can filter the meetups based on shared interests.
With Friendchise, I wanted to make it easy to meet new people in restaurants, cafes, and bars, turning shared moments into meaningful connections. My goal is to re-establish the value of physical connections in an online society by bringing people together over food or drinks.
My dream is to develop Friendchise together with its users to create the best friend finder app. I want people to make meaningful connections easier than ever. In life, networking is everything, and you never know, the next stranger you meet might become your best friend.
