This team at the TechCrunch Disrupt SF Hackathon found a great idea to keep them motivated through the development. When you are visiting a city, Local Drunk connects you to a local who knows good places to get your drink on.
It was not their first idea, they originally planned a last-minute vacation service, but eventually settled with an idea revolving around alcohol. We can’t blame them for that.
Here’s how the app works. First you sign in with Facebook and state if you are visiting the city or if you are a Local Drunk. As a guest, you pay for the drinks and the local shows you the places to go. On your profile, aside from the traditional profile pic, name and age information, the app invites you to input your drink of choice and budget.
Then, it’s all about the evening. A chat is initiated and you can share your location and pictures of the night. The next morning, you get a notification to rate each other — let’s hope the hangover is not too bad. It is built for multiple people but the current version showcased the one-on-one experience.
“There is not a lot of work left, so I will definitely submit it to the App Store,” said Ulf Schwekendiek, a member of the team. Apparently, it was surprisingly fast thanks to the designer of the team, Ian Silber.
According to Schwekendiek, “sitting together and seeing the app coming together in the last two hours was the best part — it was magical.” The app was built by Ulf Schwekendiek, Scott Tran, Eric Allen, Audrey Fischer, Tuomas Artman and Ian Silber. Part of the team works at Groupon. “It’s very rewarding to present the app on stage,” said Fischer, right after the presentation. Of course, they celebrated by drinking a beer backstage.
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Romain Dillet was a Senior Reporter at TechCrunch until April 2025. He has written over 3,500 articles on technology and tech startups and has established himself as an influential voice on the European tech scene. He has a deep background in startups, AI, fintech, privacy, security, blockchain, mobile, social and media. With thirteen years of experience at TechCrunch, he’s one of the familiar faces of the tech publication that obsessively covers Silicon Valley and the tech industry — his career started at TechCrunch when he was 21. Based in Paris, many people in the tech ecosystem consider him as the most knowledgeable tech journalist in town. Romain likes to spot important startups before anyone else. He was the first person to cover Revolut, Alan and N26. He has written scoops on large acquisitions from Apple, Microsoft and Snap. When he’s not writing, Romain is also a developer — he understands how the tech behind the tech works. He also has a deep historical knowledge of the computer industry for the past 50 years. He knows how to connect the dots between innovations and the effect on the fabric of our society. Romain graduated from Emlyon Business School, a leading French business school specialized in entrepreneurship. He has helped several non-profit organizations, such as StartHer, an organization that promotes education and empowerment of women in technology, and Techfugees, an organization that empowers displaced people with technology.