Who was stuck
A university student who goes to class, goes home, and doesn't really know anyone. Clubs and events exist, but it's hard to tell which people you'd actually get along with, and walking up to strangers is a lot to ask.
Why it happens
Most campus tools sort people by what they study or which club they joined. Friendships tend to come from smaller things: being on campus the same days, wanting a gym buddy or a study partner, liking the same kind of night out.
What we built
I co-founded Sprout in March 2025. It's an app that matches students on shared goals, interests and classes, then encourages them to actually meet up in person: each pair shares a friendship sprout that grows every time they hang out.
- Research first: 250+ student surveys and 40 interviews, a poster and outreach campaign, then wireframes and prototype testing.
- A matching algorithm for our Match & Paint event that pairs people on personality and lifestyle ratings, the days they're on campus, the kind of friend they want, societies, languages, faculty and year.
- It deliberately mixes introverts and extroverts, rules out awkward pairings, and only matches people who'd each pick the other.
Try the Match & Paint demo, the matching survey we built for the event, to see who you'd be paired with. It's a demo, not the full app.
The call we made
We matched introverts with extroverts on purpose. Pairing people who are exactly alike sounds nice, but two quiet people often just sit there, and two loud people talk over each other. We also only matched people who would each have picked the other, so nobody turned up feeling like the backup choice.
Did it work
- We ran a Match & Paint event with Moana Society for over 30 students.
- Sprout was a finalist for the USYD Future Ready Best Early Stage Startup Award in 2025.
- We were selected for the INCUBATE Pre-Accelerator, one of the top 10 out of 40+ applicants.