It all started with a portmanteau. A group of Harvard Business School classmates were at a table at the Harvard Square pub Shay’s in March, talking about how to get more social time together before their impending graduation. One of them suggested they call April “Shaypril” and come to the bar as much as possible during what would be their last month of classes.
“It started as kind of a joke,” said Nate Alvarez, one of the friends at the table. But then it became a challenge, to see who could make it to Shay’s every weekday. To keep them accountable, Alvarez decided to create a website to register people and track their participation.
Just one problem for Alvarez: “I did not have any software experience.” Then he thought of AI and vibe coding, where a user creates an app or website by simply describing to an AI agent the features, they want it to have.
Using Claude, Alvarez needed just a few rounds of tweaks to create a working version of what became the official Shayprils website, with a check-in function that required users to take a selfie at the bar, a leaderboard and even a notification system that pinged registrants with pre-set messages like “Who wants to go to Shays?” and “I’m heading to Shays now!” in order to rally more people to come.
With that, the challenge was on. “It just kind of took off like wildfire,” Alvarez said. News of the challenge and corresponding leaderboard spread via word of mouth, mostly among fellow HBS students. By the end of the month, over 100 people had used the Shayprils app to log nearly 500 check-ins.
Staff at Shay’s were bemused that the group of grad students suddenly showing up every day had gone to such lengths to incentivize something as simple as grabbing a beer.
“It’s a very silly thing taken very seriously,” said Alex Kovacs, a bartender at Shay’s and the son of one of the owners. “You don’t really need an app to go to a bar.”
But Will Hennessy, who was at the table with Alvarez when the idea of Shayprils first emerged, said the app made hanging out at a bar feel “exciting and novel.” Elements like the leader board, he said, helped busy students by making relaxation feel productive.
“I think that there is an optimistic lens in that some of these tools and technology can help people connect. What we really want is to sit around and chat with our friends,” Hennessy said.
ShAyI?
Shay’s might seem an ironic place to apply AI. The cozy, British-style pub only stopped hand-writing checks in 2022. But then, while talking with Cambridge Day, co-owner Rosaline Kovacs pulled up an app, checked Shay’s monthly sales, and found a seven percent increase in revenue compared to last April. This was despite the repaving of JFK street, which prevented the pub from setting up curbside tables it normally has out April 1.
She was, however, skeptical of whether the bump could be attributed to Shayprils instead of new menu items.
But her son, Alex said having the large group of people regularly out on the small front patio was good for “curb appeal.” One of the servers at Shay’s, Sean Mathews, said “there’s definitely been an uptick in early business,” which he attributed to Shayprils. Shay’s opens at 4 p.m., coinciding with the time when many business school classes end.
Lessons learned
On the last day of the challenge, more than 60 Shaypril-ers gathered at the pub starting at about 8:00 p.m. A “Shayprils” banner hung at the front of the bar, a Chat-GPT dupe of the sign outside, complete with its looping script and cartoon wine bottle.
Some of the revelers shared stories of taking first dates and visiting family members to the bar to maintain their streaks. One brought her grandmother, and had her log a check-in, selfie and all.
People traded official Shayprils swag, including tee shirts, stickers that said “I Shaysed Today!” and even coasters with a cartoon of Alvarez on them. Awards were handed out, including “Best Server” which went to Mathews. (“Only because we see him the most,” Alvarez later clarified. “We love them all!”). For his part, Mathews said he had enjoyed getting to know the Shayprils crowd. “It’s a cool thing they’re doing,” he said. “I couldn’t believe how serious they were taking it with all their stats.”
The Shayprils branding has helped bring in some new clientele, like second year HBS student Vale Vinas. “My first time at Shay’s was because of Shayprils,” she said, noting that it was also her first dive bar experience. Vinas went to Shay’s 11 times in April, placing her 13 th overall, and said “I am growing a new appreciation for dive bars overall.” Compared to clubs in her native Miami, she called Shay’s a “community-oriented place, [where] we’re going to just drink and talk.”
Alvarez and three others sat atop the leaderboard. They patronized the bar all 22 weekdays of April – a perfect month.
At a time when technology like social media is seen as isolating people, especially Millennials and Gen Zers, AI had created a different effect. It also turned a bit of business school on its head, according to Greg Pera, a Shaypril-er who made it into the top ten. Much of the business school method has students giving opinions “about what a business should do from a very privileged scene of, like, no experience,” Pera said. “This is kind of the opposite… What if you just showed up, and engaged in a place in a real way?”
A stronger
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