The ‘Heaps’ app makes it easy to gather your friends for a party. The technology was developed by a first-year DTU student.
It was actually the view of a great party on the other side of the street that led five friends and fellow students from Copenhagen Business School and the University of Copenhagen to raise the idea of combining the two parties.
Instead of starting to knock on doors on the other side of the street, however, they began talking about developing an app designed to gather friends together for a private party.They drew their inspiration from the Danish radio station P3’s new year’s show that attempted to match up people who were looking either for a party to go to, or for guests to come to their own party.
It was about then that the friends realized they needed an engineer, and contacted their mate Kim Hemsø Rasmussen, who is in his first year of studying software at DTU. He has since been elevated to the position of ‘technology genius’, with responsibility for all the server work.
Not really a party animal
“I’m not a real party animal, but it sounded like an interesting idea and it was very different from what I usually do,” explains Kim Hemsø Rasmussen.
It took about six months to develop the Heaps app, which was launched at the end of August 2014. The number of users peaked at around 10,000 on New Year’s Eve, and the figure is currently stable at approx. 30,000. The next step is to launch the concept in Los Angeles.
How to find the party
The friends say that the app is popular because it makes it easier to get in touch with people holding private parties; it’s cheaper to go to a party than to go bar-hopping in town—and you never know quite where you want to go.
What to do
Download Heaps from the AppStore, and log in via Facebook. You can then invite some friends who want to hit the town or have a party. If the dates match, Heaps opens a chat channel where you can get in touch with each other and agree on a date and time.
Article in DTUavisen no. 2, February 2015.