From Scratch: 313rd.com

If you're staring down a weekend in Metro Detroit thinking there's nothing to do, you're not actually looking very hard. But winnowing the choices – and finding the hot party on any given weekend – is a bit more of a challenge.

That's where Raji Bedi can help. He launched entertainment website 313rd (pronounced three-one-third) three years ago after graduating from the University of Michigan, where he'd successfully promoted parties for four years at school. And he thinks facilitating social connections between 20- and 30-somethings might just help save Detroit.

Bedi grew up in Southfield and Farmington and moved back to the area after graduation. All of his friends migrated to cities with a better reputation, but he stayed behind, feeling that he could make a real contribution to Detroit. As he looked into the local social scene, he found that it was pretty difficult to uncover good, unbiased information about the restaurant and club scene. "It was hard to find basic information on what there is to do, so I decided to put it together myself," he says.

And 313rd was born.

The site provides everything from basic listings and maps to local hotspots to reviews, event ticketing and directions. There's a search function that allows users to enter cross streets or even to type in the name of a street and a nearby landmark so that you can find what you need. For example, let's say you're thinking of checking out a restaurant you once saw but can't remember its name. All you know is that it's near the Taco Bell on Woodward in Ferndale. 313rd.com allows you to type "Taco Bell", "Woodward" and "restaurant" and then generate a list of nearby eateries.

"The site is constantly evolving – it gets smarter as people use it," Bedi says. "We can tell if everyone is looking at specific nightclub and know that's the hot nightclub we should be promoting."

Revenue comes from club owners and promoters, who can log into their own portal on the site to plan events, create guest lists, book bands or DJs, and more. It is, essentially, a web-based calendar and contact management program for club owners, a need Bedi witnessed while he was promoting events.

"I've run into club owners who have said we don't book more than a month out because we can't remember who we've booked further than that," he says. 313rd allows them to update their bookings and guests lists from anywhere, at any time.

Tony Piraino, co-owner of Pulse nightclub on Monroe near Campus Martius, was one of the early converts to 313rd and says he was really impressed with the site and with Bedi. "He's a very intelligent guy – we saw the site and saw how it looked and functioned, and we knew it would be a good site and a pretty good bet he would do a good job at it."

Piraino has hosted a few 313rd.com events at the club and characterizes them as very successful.

There's lots of competition in the arena  – longtime giants like Citysearch and newer, hipper review sites like Yelp, to name a few, as well as iconic print products like the Metro Times. While reluctant to talk negatively about his competition – Bedi notes that anyone investing in Detroit is a good thing.

 "A lot of our competition is very corporate," Bedi explains. "It's the same page in every city. But 313rd is the website of Detroit and to that point it becomes and incredible resource."

Bedi doesn't come from a tech background – all the design and programming is done by an Ann Arbor firm. He's been working as a consultant to Fortune 500 companies since graduating from U-M three years ago, and says it's been a crash course in how to run a business and how to strategize for success.

His salary from his day job goes into funding the site, which he works on as he can. "I basically don't sleep," he says.

One of his goals with 313rd.com, Bedi says, is to help build the social infrastructure that will spur the next great era in Detroit. "We can't really wait for industries to build our city," he says. "Go-getter 20-30 year olds will be the ones coming up with the next big thing, and that's how a lot of ideas are coming up — they're coming up over drinks with friends."

As a first generation immigrant from India who proudly wears the turban and beard that mark his religion, he says he feels a commonality with Detroit.

"People are cautious about Detroit, they don't understand it. It's the same thing for me. I find Detroit really inspiring. There's a character there that other cities don't have."

And despite the terrifying maelstrom of bad news that's rocked the city this year, Bedi is enormously optimistic and wants to be part of the resurgence he's sure will happen.

"It can actually be possible right now to say ‘I was part of it.' Ten years from now when a million people are back living downtown, we'll be able to say ‘We're so proud of this city. We did it, we made it,'" he says.