Limit is a social media app for people between the ages of 18 and 25. You start the app at the age of 26. (Limit App Images)
Scott Avy is not an ageist. He’s just trying to limit the age range for people who can use his new social media product, which is aptly called the Limit App.
The Limit app is aimed at people between the ages of 18 and 25 who want to share photos or videos without the control of people who happen to be outside this audience. Instead of having a secret Instagram account to keep mom from peeping into your social life, Limit locks mom out.
“The purpose is not to discriminate against anyone, but to create a space where as a young adult you have the opportunity to make mistakes and fall without hearing, ‘You are a stupid millennial’ or whatever it is . Said Avy. “And you can actually grow with your tribe at this stage.”
Limit App founder Scott Avy. (Courtesy photo by Scott Avy)
Tech and Apps Background: Avy, who grew up in Olympia, Washington, has always been passionate about technology and startups. He is the founder of a number of different ventures and spent time at Expedia and then Nike, where he worked on the sneaker giant’s app. He is currently Senior Product Manager at Indeed, the job posting website, and moved from Austin to Seattle to work remotely during the Austin pandemic. In collaboration with two developer friends, Avy is funding the Limit app itself and was launched last month on iOS and Android.
New approach to social: Avy has been on Instagram and Facebook and has various dating apps, but he saw an opportunity to do it differently socially. When Facebook launched it was only available on college campus and access was limited to those attending a specific college. In his view, Facebook got too big and ultimately a subpar experience for trying to serve everyone.
How it works: The Limit app guarantees no fake accounts so the old don’t mix with the young. It uses a secure ID and age verification process. When a user turns 26, that will be the end of the app. This user has 30 days to download content worth saving before losing access to Limit. The app is free with no fees or advertising.
Beyond the age of 25: Avy isn’t too out of shape when it comes to attracting users, locking them to his product, and then ditching them. He firmly believes that Limit will never expand the 18-25 range for this particular product. He says there are many other platforms that users can move into the next stage of life on. And Avy admits that Limit is already thinking about future products – like Limit 26-35 etc, to address the changing interests of changing demos.
Aged from its own product: “It’s a fun question I get – ‘You can’t even use your app?'” Avy said. “I’m 29. So it’s not built for me. But you can always build things for other people, right? “
Connected: The father-daughter team is launching Opportunities to win Gen Z for a new kind of “app for social relationships”.