Founders Day Feature: City Riders

Thomas McElroy heeds the call of the open road.

The motorcycle enthusiast loves long rambling rides down winding rural roadways. But most of McElroy’s riding companions prefer to stick close to home.

The desire to ride with like-minded cyclists spurred McElroy’s creativity. He turned to technology to find riding companions.

As a result, the Milwaukee native founded City Riders, an app that connects motorcyclists, bicyclists and auto-enthusiasts looking for riding companions. The free app contains an interactive map that allows City Rider users to easily locate each other. Those who pay for the additional monthly messaging service are able to send in-app messages to fellow users to coordinate meet-ups and other ride related communications.

Launched in 2022, the bootstrapped company used outsourced technologists to create both the Apple and Android versions of the app. City Riders currently has more than three thousand downloads, and those numbers grow daily.

McElroy has international aspirations for his company, and City Riders is helping the founder realize them.  Currently, the app is being used across the globe, with downloads coming from such far-flung countries as Ghana and Slovakia. But, most of the users are located in the continental United States, which is where McElroy is focusing his marketing efforts. McElroy has paired his word-of-mouth marketing strategy with social media content but is currently looking at hiring a marketing strategist to reach a broader audience.