Klash App is Truth or Dare Meets Foursquare

For every time your best friend has challenged you to offer free hugs to strangers, pretend to be a celebrity or just eat something gross, have you wished more was at stake than just your ego? Now, there’s an app for that.

Klash, a social-rewards network, is the digital intersection of truth or dare and Foursquare. Launched two weeks ago, Klash allows users to log in to the app via Facebook or Twitter, and begin challenging friends in their networks in exchange for user-set rewards. It’s available for iOS or the Web.

The idea behind Klash came about when three then-students at Spain’s ESADE Business School took a surfing trip in Barcelona, and challenged a friend who had never surfed to catch a wave. His reward? One cold beer. At the end of trip, the friends began brainstorming ways to share their actions on a larger scale, and decided to develop a mobile application.

There are now five members on the Klash team, which operates out of Berlin. Klash users can limit their dares to other friends within their networks, or make public challenges to other subscribers on the site.
“With Klash, we try to connect people through their competitive instinct,” co-Founder Alessandro Petrucciani says. “We have seen a lot of people engaging in various klashes with each other. It’s a platform that is not only used in your friend circle, but also helps connecting like-minded people with same interests.”
Petrucciani, who pitched Klash on “This Week in Startups” in a mankini, would not comment on how many users the app has attracted so far.

Users can view the public page and pledge support for specific klashes, or just send challenges to friends within their own networks, and share through social media. But Petrucciani says there is no way to guarantee a klash will result in a reward, much like in real life.

Many of the current challenges, such as “Do 30 pushups in the morning in exchange for compliment”, are harmless. Others, such as “Moonwalk through every crosswalk” could get interesting.
Eventually, Petrucciani envisions Klash as a platform that includes sponsored challenges with certain brands in exchange for perks.

“Thanks to mobile, it’s very easy to create content, and thanks to the social networks, it’s even easier to distribute it online,” he says. “Our vision is to bring the digital world closer to the real world. Soundcloud has music, Amen has opinions, Klash has actions.”

Check out the promo for Klash below.