Bay Area Tech Set Uses Social Media Apps To Crowdfund Dream Parties

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- In an entrepreneur's loft, a group of the Bay Area's young, tech set are honoring one of the world's oldest holidays by breaking traditions.

"We had friends who were renting out bars for 6 thousand a night, and that wasn't necessary for us, that's not what we wanted," David Litwak, of Mozio.com told us.

So, to get what they wanted, they went online -- to AirBnB and found a sweet, South of Market loft. Then they set up a Facebook event page and invited their closest friends.

Then, to pay for all of this, they used apps like PayPal and VenMo so they could collect all the money without having to awkwardly pass around a hat.

"I feel like this is standard ... payments are really simple," said Xander Oltmann of BandOfMany.com.

They aren't alone. More 15,000 people in the Bay Area used CrowdTilt for New Year's Eve. Crowdtilt is one of several San Francisco-based crowdsourcing companies that are making it even easier to host your party.

You click on the app, create an event and people can pitch in, even if they're not attending. Say you're throwing a party for 80 people. Selling tickets can seem a little weird.

"But when you're pooling money with 80 friends, when you're actually asking your friends to pitch in 50 bucks each to make something really cool happen, then the psychology is a little bit different," explained CrowdTilt's James Beshara

"It's [like] 'hey, let's make this happen together,'" he said.

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