Getting You Buzzd: He's Helping You Discover The Nightlife Around You

Getting You Buzzd: He’s Helping You Discover The Nightlife Around You

What do you think a guy who DJed in his senior year (under the name Metafizik) and hosted weekly parties at 4010 Spruce (a house known as “Browntown”) went on to do?

While he’s not a DJ anymore, Nihal Mehta (C’99, Pi Lam fraternity, see picture to left) is still tapped into everything “nightlife” and is sharing it you with his web based and mobile free service called buzzd.

buzzd is the premier location-sensitive city guide and social network for your mobile phone. buzzd answers “what’s going on around me right now?™” by delivering up-to-the-minute info on bars, restaurants, concerts and events in a specific set location. buzzd features listings from Flavorpill, Time Out, Citysearch, ZAGAT, Upcoming as well as real-time posts (“buzzes”) from members of the buzzd community. Create a profile, add/invite friends and – if you post a “buzz” – it is sent as a text-message to your nearby friends in the network.

Recently, Nihal released a new BlackBerry application in that has been among the most downloaded apps since its release, and was covered in such outlets like the New York Times. (Mehta received funding from Blackberry Partners Fund, who are interested in funding entertainment ventures that are on the mobile phone. )

On a related note, Nihal had another “nightlife” company before buzzd. In 1999, Nihal started his entrepreneurial career by co-founding (and later selling) Philly2nite an online nightlife and entertainment portal with fellow Penn alum Vijay Chattha (C’00, see picture to right) while they both lived on the bottom floor of 4010 Spruce (side note: I actually lived exactly there my senior year too!). Browntown, as the house was known was famous for its many evening gatherings featuring open mic sessions with many future media alums like John Stephens, now John Legend (C’99), Aaron Jones (W’99) of Hip-Hop Act Dujeous, Ted Chung (W’99), who is running Snoop’s Label, DJ Bunnylove, Paras Shah (C’99), Nimo Patel (W’01) and Swapnil Shah (C’99) of Rap Group Karmacy, Sumit Bothra (W’99), now President of Embargo Management and Max Blumenthal (C’99), MC and current writer for TheDailyBeast and Huffington Post.

Years later Nihal started the first mobile marketing firm which was bought by Omnicom Group in 2005. From there, Nihal got the idea for buzzd, which he founded in 2006 which was essentially his first idea: Philly2nite on a phone.

Nihal is yet another example of Penn friends working together as he continues to work with Vijay who is an investor and advisor in the company.