Many friend groups have one friend who keeps the group chat alive and makes plans to get everyone together.
Howbout, a new social-calendar app, has a name for those friends: Chief Friendship Officers.
“That person — and it’s usually she — is so powerful in her friendship group,” Howbout CEO Neil Tanna told Business Insider. “She’s the micro influencer, she’s the one who’s sending all these messages on group chats trying to get everyone to hang out, and she’s taken for granted. Without her, that friendship group would fizzle out because they just wouldn’t meet.”
These friend group CFOs are the target early adopters of Howbout, which announced last month that it raised an $8 million Series A round led by Goodwater Capital’s Chi-Hua Chien.
The UK-based startup, founded in 2020, lets users sync their calendars (like Apple or Google) to the app, and then share their schedules and make plans with friends. Users can see when their friends are available and within the app, vote on plans, chat, schedule future events, and also share photos and videos from hangouts.
Users can toggle how much they want to share with peers on the app. Tanna noted that Gen-Z users are more likely to lay it all out there and share their entire calendars.
“Socializing how we spend our time is the best way to actively and passively stay connected with those closest to us,” Tanna said, adding that the company is not trying to pitch itself as a better calendar alternative to the time management apps already out there.
Howbout is approaching 5 million users, Tanna said, and is currently ranked No. 15 on Apple’s App Store “Social Networking” ranking, as of October 10.
As it grows, it’s focused on retention and reaching the right demo, Tanna said. Howbout is targeting young adults instead of teens or college students.
“We found out really quickly our product is not for students,” Tanna said. “Time isn’t really a commodity or a luxury that you need to trade like it is when you are an adult.”
Pie, another IRL social app that recently raised a Series A, is also targeting young adults as its demo — specifically 22 to 34.
Howbout is pre-revenue, but experimenting with potential revenue streams like subscriptions or a freemium model, moving some features behind a paywall, and also strategically inking partnerships. Tanna said the startup has already partnered with Tinder and Sony Music.
Tanna recognizes the difficulties of building and growing a consumer social app right now, too.
“It’s all about retentive features,” Tanna said. “It has to scratch an itch, it has to solve a problem.”
Read the 12-page pitch deck that Howbout used to raise its $8 million Series A:
Note: Some slides have been edited and details have been redacted to share the document publicly.
Howbout is a social calendar app.Howbout lays out a problem: social media isn’t social anymore.Then it outlines how it helps by “sharing time” and how Gen Z likes to share their full calendars.Howbout outlines several product features.Users can make plans directly in the app.It breaks down its app growth, too.Howbout is “built on networks” that already exist, like friend groups or clubs.
“90% of new users join via referral links and word-of-mouth, and our inherent network effects keep them coming back,” the page reads.
Howbout is using social media platforms like TikTok to grow.Users in the US make up 41% of monthly active users, Howbout says in its deck.Howbout lays out incumbent calendar and time management apps.Howbout highlights its ranking on app stores.Howbout has a small team and at the time of raising its Series A, had only 10 staffers.
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