Howbout

About Howbout

Howbout is a social calendar application designed to streamline the process of organizing plans among friends, targeting a core demographic of Gen Z and users under 25. The company was founded in London by university friends Neil Tanna (CEO), Jake Jenner (CFO), and Duncan Cowan (CTO). The founders drew from personal experience, creating the app after struggling to coordinate their schedules post-university due to their demanding careers as a corporate lawyer, investment banker, and software engineer, respectively. A significant life event, the passing of Tanna's mother in 2019, served as a catalyst for him to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions, leading to the company's incorporation in April 2019 and the app's launch in August 2020.

The business operates as a mobile-first platform, available on both iOS and Android, centered around a shared calendar functionality. Its primary purpose is to move social planning out of fragmented group chats and into a unified environment. Users can sync their existing calendars (Google, Apple, Outlook) to see when their friends are free, share their own availability, create polls to decide on times, and chat within the context of a specific event. This integration of scheduling, polling, and communication aims to reduce the friction of organizing get-togethers. The platform has seen considerable traction, reporting over 4 million monthly active users and the creation of over 50 million events. A key driver of this growth is the high adoption of calendar sharing among its young user base, with over 75% of users sharing their full calendar with at least one friend.

Howbout's growth strategy relies heavily on network effects, targeting the natural organizers within friend groups, dubbed “chief friend officers,” to drive adoption. The company has secured over $13 million in total funding, including a significant $8 million Series A round led by Goodwater Capital with participation from notable investors like FJ Labs, Sequel, and footballer Harry Maguire. This capital is being used for team expansion, product development, and to accelerate growth, particularly in the U.S. market. While the app is currently free, the company has explored monetization strategies, including subscriptions for premium features and branded event activations.