--- title: "advising after5" url: "https://merterbil.com/startups/after5/" author: "Mert Erbil" type: "advising" date: "2025-05-01" place: "After5" --- # advising after5 Advising the cofounders of After5, an IRL friendship platform for ambitious women, on product strategy, UX direction and the way they build. - the announcement on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7347972719893737472/ - interview on the after5 blog: https://after-5.co/blogs/news/mert-erbil-joins-after5-as-product-advisor Since May 2025 I've been supporting After5 as a product advisor. After5 is an IRL friendship platform for ambitious women, and its mission is to connect them so they can have more friendship, more opportunity and more growth in their lives. It's a well-executed idea with a genuine mission, and it's led by two fantastic cofounders, Sila and Nina. I still have my day job, so this is the weekend part of "weekday product person, weekend startup advisor". I work with the cofounders on product strategy, UX direction and tech management. The biggest piece so far was a full redesign of the app, where we refreshed all the flows, the services behind them and the whole interaction model. Then there's the less visible part. We built the product management foundations together, and a way of working that is driven by data and AI. When After5 announced it in July 2025, we also did a short interview on their blog. I talked about why connection matters more than ever in a fast and noisy world, and why After5 isn't just another social app but curated, real-life experiences built on trust. We also talked about what years of B2C work taught me, which is that the most powerful products are always the ones that truly respect their users. Later that year I joined Sila and Nina to tell the After5 story to students at IE Business School (that one has its own page under talks). To be honest, the reason I said yes is simple. After5 is the kind of project that makes you want to be a part of it, because it's thoughtful and people-first. So I'm just happy to help great people build something meaningful whenever I can.