Squad

Squad, operating under squadapp.io, was a social platform focused on creating shared digital experiences through co-watching and screen sharing. The company was founded in 2016 by CEO Esther Crawford and CTO Ethan Sutin, originally under the names Olabot and Molly, before launching as Squad in 2019. The firm's mission was to reduce loneliness and enhance human connection by allowing users to interact with various applications and content together in a meaningful way.

The core service was an application and desktop platform that enabled users to share their screens while on a video or voice chat with friends. This functionality allowed for collective activities such as watching movies and TV shows from streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, browsing TikTok and YouTube, or even collaborating on tasks like shopping or homework. The platform supported up to eight friends in a virtual room, aiming to replicate the experience of being physically together. Squad operated on a B2C model, providing its application for free on iOS, Android, and as a desktop platform on Google Chrome.

The company was a participant in the Winter 2018 batch of the Y Combinator accelerator program. It successfully raised approximately $5 million in funding to support its growth. In a significant milestone, Twitter acquired Squad in December 2020. Following the acquisition, the Squad application was shut down as the team was integrated into Twitter.

Keywords: co-watching, screen sharing, video chat, social platform, Y Combinator, Esther Crawford, digital experiences, shared content, streaming services, mobile application, virtual hangout, social networking, Twitter acquisition, Gen Z app, online interaction