Chelsea Handler's new app will get you out of bad dates and awkward meetings
In an episode of her new Netflix documentary series, "Chelsea Does," comedian Chelsea Handler works through her frustrations around technology. She even helped create her own app, called Gotta Go.
Designed in partnership with app developer Yeti, Gotta Go has one simple function: to get you out of unwanted situations.
All you have to do is create an excuse (i.e. aliens are abducting me, my house was just burglarized), assign it to a phone contact who will be the one to fake-text or call you, attach an emoji so you can remember it later on, and set an alarm when you want the excuse to pop up.
When you're in that boring dinner later in the evening, you'll get the text you created earlier, or if you so choose, a phone call with a pre-recorded message from Handler.
Handler's initial conversations with Yeti began nearly a year ago. While Yeti did much of the app design, she arrived with ideas about what the app should look like. Originally, she wanted to make an app to get people out of bad dates. The concept soon evolved, according to Yeti president Tony Scherba.
"We wanted to pick a problem that she could really relate to, like getting out of sticky situations," he tells Tech Insider. "Getting out of awkward and bad dates was something Chelsea brought up, and we started thinking of other situations where people would want an eject button."
The app itself is uncluttered and easy to use. It has one function and does it well. I could imagine using it once in awhile, though probably not on an everyday basis.
Later in the documentary episode, Handler pitches the app to VCs at Foundation Capital, a respected venture capital firm in the Bay Area.
"Chelsea's pitch was as entertaining and unique as you could imagine. It's not everyday that we get a Hollywood A-lister pitching an app to us," Paul Holland, a general partner at Foundation Capital, tells Tech Insider.
He had concerns about the "stickiness" of the app (that is, whether people would keep using it over time), but noted that the dating app space is a large and profitable one. Want to know whether Foundation Capital invested? You'll have to watch.
Regardless, if there's enough interest, Yeti plans to keep the app updated. "If people like it, we'll try to keep it going as long as possible," says Scherba.