Outernet turns your saved posts into real-world adventures

Danielle Egan and Athena Leong cognize however to person fun. Between the 2 of them, they’ve organized a citywide scavenger hunt successful San Francisco and turned a viral prank into an exclusive NYC restaurant for a night. They adjacent created an alternate to a moving nine for socializing, dubbed a “sit club,” wherever radical conscionable bring their chairs and relax. Now, with their caller startup, Outernet, the co-founders privation to assistance others adhd much amusive to their lives, too.

The app’s sanction is inspired by the conception of utilizing the net arsenic a instrumentality to get you to spell outside, hence “outernet.” It’s 1 of respective apps that helps you prevention the things you spot online — similar section events, restaurants oregon bars to try, oregon different metropolis landmarks — and crook them into a database of to-dos for exploring the satellite astir you.

Outernet’s transportation is that alternatively of simply liking a station astir thing you’d similar to spot oregon bash connected societal media, you should stock it to its app, wherever it volition way the enactment oregon spot you privation to sojourn for you successful an organized interface. (Invite codes to effort the app for yourself are astatine the bottommost of this post).

What makes Outernet antithetic from others successful the space, similar Albo, Tabi, oregon Plotline, is who’s down it: founders who person devoted overmuch of their clip to playfulness and having amusive offline. Now, they privation to bring that aforesaid tone into their app.

Image Credits:Outernet

“In my escaped time, I’m precise passionate astir getting radical to spell extracurricular and bash things,” explains Egan, whose offline persona is rather antithetic from her erstwhile time occupation moving successful merchandise BizOps astatine LinkedIn. “I conscionable emotion capturing attraction successful unexpected ways and delivering delightful things.” She says the thesis down the app is becoming the “motivation motor for IRL” — thing that removes the friction betwixt wanting to bash thing and really going retired to bash it.

Outernet taps into an already communal user behavior. As you scroll TikTok and Instagram, you’re often inspired by a creator’s post, truthful you’ll prevention it successful the app arsenic a reminder. But past you promptly hide astir the thought arsenic you proceed to devour much content. Outernet solves this occupation by keeping way of the things you privation to bash oregon places you privation to visit, each successful 1 place.

Image Credits:Outernet

To prevention a station to the app, you’ll pat the stock enactment from the root app, similar TikTok oregon Instagram, past scroll done the database of places you tin stock to until you find Outernet. You tin besides paste successful societal media URLs oregon website links straight into the app, oregon upload a photograph of thing you see, similar a flyer.

To signifier everything, Outernet leverages AI to propulsion applicable information, similar the date, time, location, and details astir the enactment you privation to effort oregon the determination of a spot you’d similar to visit. Events are saved to a chronological feed, which you tin revisit whenever you’re looking for thing to do. Other activities without a date, arsenic good arsenic places you’d similar to visit, are organized into abstracted tabs wrong the app. You tin besides prevention events to your Apple oregon Google Calendar.

Image Credits:Outernet

The app tin besides nonstop proactive reminders and nudges that promote you to spell bash the things you’ve saved.

Then, arsenic you research places successful the existent world, you tin “stamp” them arsenic such, gathering what volition yet go a passport documenting your activities.

Image Credits:Outernet

“We’re reasoning of antithetic ways of creating possibly immoderate benignant of similar passport publication wherever you tin look astatine each the things [you’ve done] and possibly stock that with friends and get immoderate benignant of consciousness of pridefulness of that,” Egan says of aboriginal merchandise plans. They’re besides reasoning of utilizing accepted gamification techniques to promote activity, similar giving retired stamps erstwhile you scope antithetic milestones.

The thought for Outernet came retired of the co-founders’ acquisition designing a citywide scavenger hunt successful San Francisco, called “Pursuit,” which began 3 years agone and is present held annually. The monthlong crippled drew information from astir 1.5% of San Francisco’s colonisation during its astir caller run.

As the founders chatted with participants, they recovered that radical didn’t get progressive due to the fact that they loved scavenger hunts oregon escapade games; they conscionable wanted an excuse to spell outside. This sparked an idea.

“We conscionable realized that radical truly person an appetite for doing things, similar going connected adventures. This is the caller trend,” notes Leong, whose inheritance is successful machine subject and kid development, earlier she landed a occupation successful escapade crippled design.

“There are truthful galore unthinkable assemblage events, and being assemblage organizers ourselves, we’re precise plugged into that scene,” Egan adds. “What’s truthful hard is determination are these boots connected the crushed — unthinkable assemblage organizers who are hosting these astonishing events, and they conscionable don’t cognize however to scope radical due to the fact that selling and grabbing people’s attraction is specified a antithetic accomplishment set. And that’s thing that we are exceptional in. So we spot ourselves arsenic the conduit,” she says.

Outernet’s app has been connected the marketplace for astir 2 months and is already profitable from its premium subscription ($6.99/mo oregon $39.99/year), which lets you prevention much items per day. It has astir 18,000 users successful total, and the squad is experimenting rapidly with caller ideas.

The founders are present having casual conversations with investors astir their adjacent steps, but uncovering the close acceptable is key.

“We privation to bring connected investors — if we bash — [who are] radical who are truly aligned with us,” says Leong. “We’re whimsical, and we person to find investors that match.”

Outernet is invite-only and disposable connected iOS, with an Android waitlist. TechCrunch readers tin usage the invitation codification “coffeewalk” to skip the waitlist.