Media entertainment

Pools (fka Withfriends)

Website
Founded 2017Origin source ↗Checked 2026-09-15

Overview

Pools makes it easy for art, music, and other cultural communities to build memberships around their events. Inspired by the same methodology that museums have used to grow support, the platform leverages the checkout of tickets sales to upsell attendees into a membership with automated discounts, advance access, or members-only benefits.

Company description As recorded 2026-11-08

Founders & team

Previously Withfriends

Company history As recorded 2026-11-08

Joe Ahearn

Founder

Dedicated to building creative, diverse, and sustainable communities. Started off organizing underground music spaces in New York, rose in the international arts community. Watched a lot of inspiring and historic projects and small businesses close in NY despite having record community support. Founded Withfriends to try and solve the obstacles behind running the independent art, music, and activist spaces that make cities special.

Founder profile As recorded 2026-09-15
2team members reported
Source-reported As recorded 2026-09-15

Founded 2017 · Source

News & product activity

Sources & observations

Y Combinator

Profile depthverified profile
Website observationwebsite reachable
Last website check2026-11-11
Location · source statedNew York City, NY, USA
Pricing evidenceNo pricing page confirmed
Maturity: Not assessed · 3 of 6 areas documented

Source-based assessment · automated evidence rules

The captured homepage does not clearly identify the listed business.

Maturity is an evidence-based assessment, not a success rating. It may understate the current stage where evidence is limited. Coverage records documented areas, not a complete or independently audited company history.

Stage definitions
independent websitesource corroborationreachable websitedescriptive evidenceclassified market and modelsourced peoplesourced founding year