A couple friends and I are building something similar. The idea is great but more importantly is how you will bring this to mass market. If you had this idea before send me an email, we are looking for a fourth set of hands or just some insight.
Yes grubwithus is doing something similar, nobody really owns this space yet though. I would reconsider the name, the word "strangers" doesn't help with people's anxiety towards meeting new people or hosting dinners. One thing is for sure, most people like to eat and most people like good company, good stuff.
I though this was a great movie as well and quickly picked up all the lessons in it for startups. I even recommended it to my co-founder to go and watch it.
One lesson I learned was that we have to have blind faith in our startup. I am pretty young so I don't get much objection to doing a startup, but I can see how this can be a problem to someone who has more responsibilities like a family, or puts higher education in jeopardy. Billy Beane himself lost his chance at higher education to go after his dream. The other point of objection is the startup itself, people might not see the potential in the startup like you do. Some people just won't get it, they won't think it will work, even after you explained the ultimate vision. Billy got shit from everyone, the scouts, the coach, and the sports commentators, who are almost equivalent to trolls. To these people you just can't explain how you eat what you kill, it's a concept they will never try and simply won't understand the fulfillment of the hunt.
My other favorite takeaway was in the beginning of the movie when Billy put a scout on the spot and repetitively asked him "what's the problem", referring to the teams main challenge. The scout saw the problem the way they always see the problem, the wrong way. Billy new that if they went about the season looking at the problem the same way they did the previous year when they lost, then they would naturally lose again. For alcoholics recognizing you have a problem is the first step. Startups know we have a problem, in fact startups wouldn't exist if there weren't any problems to solve. Picking the right problem to solve is key, as long as solving all the little problems that go with running a startup. A co-founder might recognize that they are not seeing the mythical hockey stick on their charts. Some might suggest that it is because the landing page design sucks, while the real reason is that the startup doesn't explain clearly how it can benefit their users. Being able to recognize the right problem is key in our success, we should make sure to look at it from all angles so as to not overlook it. Sometimes it is having the right tools in place, however, most of the times it's making sure you are listening to your users/customers.