Your Neyabourhood Startup with Rob Chapman from Neya

To kick off season two of The ClusterCast podcast, I sit down with Rob from Neya, an AI-powered local neighbourhood app designed to help people connect with others nearby, discover local groups and events, get recommendations, share resources and generally feel a bit more connected to the place they actually live in. Which, in a world where most apps seem designed to trap you indoors doom-scrolling whilst slowly forgetting your neighbours exist, feels like quite a refreshing idea.We chatted about the story behind Neya supporting local communities, the challenges of building a genuinely useful platform, and the slightly rebellious idea that maybe technology should help drive people offline by connecting them online first. There was also a definite lack of branding on my tailoring during this episode. Usually I look like I’ve been sponsored by my own co-working space, but on this occasion I forgot entirely. I did briefly consider posting myself a Cluster hoodie midway through recording, but thought that might look a little strange. Although now I think about it… probably very on-brand. Robs branded swag was on point, note to self Kevin, do better!Rob was a brilliant guest, genuinely interesting to chat to and I suspect this may not be the last time he tries to convince me to get more involved with an unlikely Neya group, wild swimming and me I confess will never see eye to eye though, sorry Rob! So if you’d like to hear more about Neya, local communities, Oxfordshire life, AI, startups, neighbourhood connection, and two blokes chatting into microphones, then give this episode a watch / listen.Subscribe to @TheClusterOx on YouTube for more relaxed chats with brilliant Oxfordshire indie businesses. And if you’re feeling generous, a rating and review on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen) really helps other lovely humans find the show and perhaps even recommend it to somebody in your actual neighbourhood. Revolutionary stuff!This episode is brought to you by The Cluster, a co-working and event space in Oxford. Find out more at clusteroxford.co.uk.Recorded and produced by The Pod Collective, the team behind The PodBox OX podcast studio at The Cluster.This episode is brought to you by The Cluster Co-Working and Event Space in Oxford. Visit clusteroxford.co.uk to learn more. Subscribe on YouTube and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts to help others discover the podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.