Dany Hernandez With Sonaara

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by Kennesaw State University’s Executive MBA program, the accelerated degree program for working professionals looking to advance their career and enhance their leadership skills. And now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Atlanta Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, CSU’s executive MBA program. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Atlanta Business Radio, we have Danny Hernandez, who is the CEO and founder of Sonaara. Welcome.

Dany Hernandez: Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to be here. I really appreciate you having me on board to talk about, you know, my story in Sonora.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about Sonora. How you serving folks?

Dany Hernandez: Yeah, exactly. So, you know, sonaara is basically this app. It’s a social media app that we created, you know, a few months ago back in 2024. And basically the premise is that we’re facilitating spontaneous meetups at local venues, right? So let’s say it’s a Friday night, you know, and you’re looking for something to do or someone to hang out with. You can ping a local business, whether that be, let’s say, like Taco Tuesday to a local Mexican restaurant, or if there’s a bar that’s having, you know, like maybe 20% off cocktails, you can ping it to show people that you’re interested in going. And so people in a 15 to 20 mile radius from you see that notification. And if they’re also interested, then they match with you. And then you guys end up actually going and hanging out at that, uh, you know, restaurant or coffee shop or bar or whatever it be. So really, what we’re creating is a double sided marketplace for both users to create connection and for businesses to get new customers.

Lee Kantor: So what stops a business from just always paying themselves?

Dany Hernandez: Well, that’s exactly what we want them to do, right? So let’s say you’re, you know, a restaurant and they go on the app and you’re having some sort of special. Right. You might put up a ping saying, hey, you know, come here. So basically what you’re doing is you’re letting everyone know right through like a bullhorn, like, hey, come check me out. And so people that are around your restaurant, right, they can see that activity. And if they’re interested in it, they can, you know, facilitate that spontaneous meetups themselves by matching with others. Right. Because for businesses, a big problem is that, you know, especially for small business owners, doing social media advertising and other forms of marketing can be like very, very expensive. Not to mention that creating content that stands out in today’s oversaturated social media space, like, takes up a lot of time, right? So by basically just paying yourself and saying, hey, come here, it saves them a lot of time, and it really greatly increases their return on investment because they don’t do any of the work, right. The app and the users on the app do the work for them because they facilitate their own meetup.

Lee Kantor: So do they have to say like have a special of some kind or like it doesn’t have to necessarily be a discount. It could be like a unique beverage or a unique, you know, sandwich or something. It could be something unique that they’re sharing. Hey, this is happening right now.

Dany Hernandez: Exactly. So it’s not like you need to have some sort of special or discount to, you know, make a ping for yourself if you’re a business. It can literally be, let’s say, you know, you are Palo Santo, which is one of my favorite, you know, Mexican restaurant rooftop areas here in Atlanta. You can just make a ping for your for yourself, right. And so people can match at that location just, you know, maybe during your normal hours of operation or whatever it be.

Lee Kantor: Now what does a match mean.

Dany Hernandez: So match basically means that, you know, let’s say you’re looking at a ping right for, um, that same example, palo santo. You see a list of people that match your filters and your preferences. So let’s say I’m looking to meet, you know, male friends in Atlanta that are between the ages of 22 to 28, right. I’ll see a list of people that have paid that activity that matched my preferences. And if I look through them and I see someone that seems really cool, I can check out their profile, see that we’re interested in sort of some of the same hobbies or activities. I can let them know, hey, I’m down. We’d love to, you know, meet up and send them a message. And if they accept my response, then we exchange contact cards and make plans to meet up at the location.

Lee Kantor: So it’s not that they’re going to just you’re you’re not saying, hey, I’m going to be at this place at this time, and then you just hope other people show up. This is like you’re kind of making plans.

Dany Hernandez: Yeah, exactly. So you’re making more of a spontaneous plan, though. There could be a use case where, let’s say maybe you’re out at the Beltline or something, right? And you want to make a ping saying, hey, I’m at the Beltline, who wants to hang out then? That could also definitely be done as well. So it really depends on the on the user and what their preference are. You know, because you’re not going to go to a, you know, maybe like an Italian restaurant by yourself, ping it and hope someone responds, you know, so it really depends on if you want to create a plan for that same day, or you’re already somewhere and you want to let people know around you like, hey, he wants to meet up.

Lee Kantor: So what was the genesis of the idea? How did this get created in the first place?

Dany Hernandez: Yeah, so the genesis of the idea is that basically, you know, it was like a Friday night and I just wanted to do something, but all of my friends were busy and I really wanted to explore, you know, this new bar that opened up or this new club. And it was very difficult for me to try to find someone that was also down that same night to hang out through the existing apps, because the current solutions for people to meet others, they’re not really catered towards spontaneous, you know, sort of like in the moment hangouts. So I tried using them and I couldn’t find anyone to hang out with that same night. So I just thought to myself, like, what if there was a way for me to instantly connect with others who are nearby, free right now and ready to hang out? And so it’s sort of what really inspired me to start developing the app. And, you know, one of my one of my major passions in life is really just connection and community. So I think being able to bring people together in a way that also supports local businesses is something that I’m really proud to be working on.

Lee Kantor: So, um, when you had the idea, are you a coder? Like, did you are you a technologist? You were able to create this or you had to find other people that kind of buy into the vision?

Dany Hernandez: Yeah. So not at all. Which is honestly like crazy because I didn’t really have a coding background. Right. So I went to Emory University. I majored in marketing and entrepreneurship and organizational management. Right. So absolutely zero coding background, but I knew that I always wanted to be an entrepreneur and I wanted to make some sort of app. Right? So I tried to learn how to code myself. And, you know, the progress was very, very slow. But this was right around like, you know, 2021, 2022 when ChatGPT and I started coming out. And I’ve just been able to leverage artificial intelligence to really expedite coding processes. So, you know, the entire app has really been developed through the help of AI.

Lee Kantor: So it’s just been you and I.

Dany Hernandez: Yeah. And I did have some, you know, tech interns as well that have hired from other colleges throughout the country, as well as a partner. That did help me out for a little bit. But the majority of the work that has gone into the app, which was made using React Native and Firebase for the back end, has been with the help of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence, you know, tools like windsurf and cursor.

Lee Kantor: So, um, do you have any advice for other kind of aspiring entrepreneurs that aren’t kind of technologists but want to leverage AI? What are some of the things you learn? What are some do’s and don’ts when using AI to build an app?

Dany Hernandez: Yeah, I would say, you know, don’t. It’s so easy and literally anyone can do it. Like it’s so easy to. If you have a vision for an app or a software, you don’t need to try to find someone that has that experience or spend like, you know, months or years trying to code it yourself, right? Because also software development can be super, super expensive. I remember I was working on another app. Uh, that’s not sonar, but it was something previous to it. And I was getting quotes from people right from different companies. And I remember some charge from $30,000 all the way to over $100,000 for an app, right? So if you don’t have that capital yourself and you can’t bootstrap, um, you would have to go to like the VC route, you know, and get funding, but that, you know, could give up equity. Even then it’s not really guaranteed, right? Um, so if you have a vision for a software, just go for it. Like use AI, go to ChatGPT, say, hey, I’m trying to work on this type of app. Uh, you know, how do I set this up? And it’ll teach you how to make that coding environment. And then just little by little, feature by feature, you can go ahead and code it out, right? Because when you break it down in a step by step process, coding an entire app really becomes very doable. So definitely don’t feel like, you know, if there’s any constraints. We’re in a world right now where anyone can really create a startup. And I think that’s been done through the help and, you know, the advancements of AI.

Lee Kantor: So what are some of the basic prompts you use to get started on something that’s like at first it’s obviously starts broad, and then you have to slowly kind of hone it and narrow it down to the exact thing you want in your app.

Dany Hernandez: Exactly. Right. So, you know, when I first started working on the app, I still have an idea in my head of what I want it to look like, right? So for Sonora, I knew that I wanted a very simple, you know, easy, intuitive map interface because the way that sonar works is basically there’s a map, right? And in the map you see the pings around you. Right? So I knew that I wanted a map interface. So I would go to like touch and be like, hey, I’m working on this social app where people can, you know, meet others instantly. Um, create a map screen that shows, you know, like pings nearby. A ping is like a restaurant saying, hey, we’re having like, this deal, we’re having this activity. Um, and then it’ll give you, you know, a very basic response that sometimes it could be, you know, riddled with bugs, but over time, you just keep asking like, oh, I’m getting this bug, fix it, and it’ll fix it over time. Uh, and then from there you can really go, oh, now add this feature, or a user can create a ping and now add this feature where they can look at notifications. So it’s all about creating that foundation and then you build up on top of it.

Lee Kantor: So now in this app you need you said it was a double sided marketplace. So you need the restaurants and bars to ping. Right. And then you need the people to also react to that. Like which comes first.

Dany Hernandez: Yeah. So this is, you know, classic chicken and the egg issue of a double sided marketplace. What is the most important thing on top of anything is definitely the users right. Because for the businesses right. You us as like the sonar team can put these activities on the app ourself, right? Like, oh, come to this restaurant, come to this bar. But you can’t really fake users, you can’t create artificial demand. So the user is definitely the most important. So we’ve tried to do is develop, you know, marketing strategies that would really try to help us growth grow, including, you know, campus ambassador programs, psychologists like Georgia Tech and Emory, you know, trying to get that student population active on the app because that’s definitely more of our target market, you know, or maybe just like younger, more spontaneous, adventurous, you know, young adults aged, um, maybe like, you know, 20 to 30. So definitely getting users on the app is the most important thing because once you have those users, you can then go to the businesses and say, hey, look, we have a thousand people here in Atlanta that are ready to meet others that are looking for places to go, right. And the great thing about this app is that there’s already 75 million Americans that are using apps to connect online, right? But the problem with these other apps is that they’re leaving businesses out of the conversation. So Sonera is including them by enabling people to match around activities instead of just profiles.

Lee Kantor: So now how do you kind of deal with, um, safety and authenticity and, you know, make it, you know, kind of a safe environment where people feel comfortable saying, hey, I’m going to meet you somewhere.

Dany Hernandez: Yeah. So this is definitely a very valid concern. We’ve gotten a lot of a lot of, you know, questions and thoughts about that. Safety is definitely like a huge priority for us. We have some features that will make our users feel more safe. Uh, for example, we’re going to have verified profiles where if you interact with someone on Sonera, you know that they’re actually a real person and not a bot or a catfish. Additionally, when you’re making a ping, you actually take a picture of what you look like in the moment, which further, you know, um, protects against, like catfishing. And the user can set their own preference preferences and filters as well. Right. So their pings are only visible to the type of people that they set in their filters to. So all these features really help to, you know, um, make the user feel more protected and safe. And in addition, we also have reporting and blocking features. Uh, so if there’s ever, you know, like any bad actors, we can take care of them quickly.

Lee Kantor: So what have you learned about building community? Um, did you start with this kind of college ambassador plan, or was that something that was evolved over time?

Dany Hernandez: Yeah, well, I knew that I wanted a campus ambassador program because even when I was going to Emory, I would always see other companies, you know, do that. For example, like I remember Berea, which is also another very popular social app, would have booths at Emory and would get people to to download the app. So I know how important it is to build, sort of like, you know, demand through a college population, through ambassadors. Uh, so it’s definitely very important. And like, really what my goal is with Sonera is just to get people as connected as possible, because there was a lot of times, you know, when I was in Emory and I was just like in my dorm or in my apartment and like I wanted something to do, but, you know, like, I didn’t know what was happening, like, on campus or didn’t really have anybody to deal with because my friends were maybe like studying for exams or they were busy. Uh, so I want to create a solution where no matter what day it is or, you know, like how lonely you are, you go on the app and you find someone to hang out with on demand. So I hope that being by being able to provide this for, you know, students and just people in the Atlanta area, people can feel more connected. And we can we can really drive community forward.

Lee Kantor: So when you had the idea for the app and then you started building it, is it right now at a stage where it’s it’s live? It’s it’s out there.

Dany Hernandez: Yes. We recently probably within the last week just made it live in Atlanta. Uh, and our goal now is just growth. So we’re really trying to get as many users as possible. So, um, you know, going forward we’re going to do some outreach like on the Beltline, you know, just getting people to like download the app or maybe even like giving out free waters to people that are like walking, especially if it’s a hot day and you get a free water by downloading an app. Like, who wouldn’t take up that offer? You know what I mean? So trying different tactics and strategy just to just to build growth. Um, and then also, you know, we’re posting on our own social media, like our TikTok and Instagram to try to get more eyes on the app as well. Uh, but yeah, definitely just, you know, user growth is a top priority right now.

Lee Kantor: So have you gotten to a point or do you have kind of signals that, hey, this is going to work? Like, do you have things that you’ve experienced with people at least trying the app or playing around with it that you were like, okay, this is just a matter of I got to just get more eyes on this.

Dany Hernandez: Yeah, definitely. So there’s a few things. Number one, uh, before I even started really like developing the app, I did some customer discovery. So I interviewed some college students, you know, to discuss their current experience with, like, other apps and how they meet people. And through them, I really identified what was causing the issue with other apps, uh, leading to not really being able to connect in person. So, uh, just to preface what the current apps that exist out there. It’s like Bumble for friends, you know, or like, you know, Hange or any of those apps. Less than 2% of matches actually convert to an in-person hangout. And after, you know, interviewing college students like figuring out why. There are three main reasons. So the first reason is that schedules don’t align, right. So some people would be free like on this day, but this person will be for the other day. Another major reason would be that conversation would fizzle out. So, you know, they might talk for a little bit, uh, but eventually, like, it would really just go nowhere, right? And another major reason why people didn’t really connect is because there was a lack of genuine interest. So just because someone would, like, swipe on one person, it didn’t really necessarily mean that they were actually interested in hanging out in person, right? So what we created with sonar was just a way for people to actually show, hey, if I match with you, it’s because I genuinely want to hang out, like in person as fast as possible And just based on the, you know, discussions and conversations that I’ve had with students by showing them the app.

Dany Hernandez: Um, it does seem to have like a lot of interest. And even on the social posts we’ve made on our TikTok, all the comments are very positive. And, you know, I’ve heard things like, you know, I really love the idea. I can’t believe this hasn’t been done before. So I’ve gotten a lot of positive reception. Uh, and users have been joining the app. So I think right now we have about maybe 300 users that have, you know, signed on and created a profile, uh, and joined the waitlist that we just, you know, made it live the other week. So definitely just focus on growing the users. And I have seen some signs to show that people are actually interested in this. And they would use it.

Lee Kantor: And then, um, but are you organizing like, like you said, you’re going to show up with waters and stuff to get more users, but are you kind of being the instigator and saying, hey, everybody show up at, you know, Krog Street on the Beltline to hang out like we’re all, you know, going to get, You know, a meal there or something like are you as an organization, like trying to be the impetus to kind of attract a crowd so that they’re all going somewhere?

Dany Hernandez: Yeah. So I think at the very beginning, we definitely have to do that. Like, you know, some sonoro sponsor, like meetups where it’s like, hey, come here. We’re gonna, you know, like maybe pay for people’s drinks or stuff like that. Um, but like the hanging out in the beltline. Beltline stuff that’s just like, you know, marketing, like trying to talk to people as they’re walking by and be like, hey, check out the app. Like, maybe we’ll have a table up or something like that. But definitely, you know, at the very beginning stages of a startup, you got to be super scrappy and trying to find ways to get people interested in the app. So I’ve definitely explored things like, you know, having partnerships with organizers that host events and, you know, trying to, you know, help them get more attendees by having people match on Sonora for their events and stuff like that.

Lee Kantor: So so you’re looking for partners, you’re looking for, uh, restaurants and bars, and you need more users. That’s the kind of what you’re working on right now.

Dany Hernandez: Exactly. And on top of all that, I’m definitely trying to grow the team as well. Because right now we have a group of, you know, very talented people, but we maybe have, you know, 4 to 5 people on the team right now. Uh, so definitely try and grow it as fast as possible. And to grow quickly, you need a big, dedicated team. Uh, so trying to get more people on the team as well, to really push us forward is also a priority for me.

Lee Kantor: And the thing that makes Sonera unique and different is it’s about the the spontaneity of the moment, right? This isn’t like, let’s make plans for next week. It’s like, let’s do something now.

Dany Hernandez: Exactly. So it’s one of like the major things that really make us unique. And then the other thing that really just makes us stand out from the other apps is that we actually involve local businesses, right? So with Sonera, you don’t just match around profiles, you match around activities. Right? So by letting people sort of match on, hey, I want to go to this place. Who’s down? That’s also something unique that we offer that a lot of other apps don’t as well.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, um, play around with the app. What is the best way to learn more about it? Is there a website? Is there a way? Is it on Apple and Android and Google stores? Where is it at?

Dany Hernandez: Yeah. So right now it’s on the Apple Store. We’re still working on the Android version and that should be released in the coming months. And you could also check out sonar.com. S o a r a.com to just learn more about it. You know, see some press that we’re on and get any updates about the app there.

Lee Kantor: Good stuff. Well congratulations on all the momentum.

Dany Hernandez: Thank you so much I appreciate it. And thank you again so much for having me.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Atlanta Business Radio.