After hitting the ground running with our recent Series A funding, we wanted to get the rundown on all things Howbout from one of the people who knows it best - our Co-Founder and CEO, Neil Tanna!

Take us alllll the way to the beginning, why did you decide to leave your job as a corporate lawyer and start an app to help people share time together?

As a student, time wasn't something I had to worry about: at school, it was managed for me by my parents or by the school, and then at university the magic came from being able to wake up and think 'What should I do today?' knowing all my friends live nearby. Contrast that to life as an adult - time was suddenly something I had to manage and juggle, balancing working, commuting, hobbies, fitness, socialising and this new phenomenon you realise you need as an adult: 'down time'. I saw a gap for a tool to find time when friends were free, but I didn't act on it until 2018.

That year, my mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and the conversations and lessons over the next 10 months on what strength and failure meant changed my mindset entirely - they inspired me to chase after my idea. I’d experienced pretty tough failure a few years prior and was being held back by fear of experiencing it again (especially as it would involve pivoting away from the career I had established as a corporate lawyer), but I promised my mum that when we met again I’d have stories to tell about how I challenged my fear. A month after she passed away in March 2019, the company was incorporated.

With my two best friends, Jake and Duncan, we left our jobs (Jake an investment banker, Duncan a spacecraft engineer, and myself a corporate lawyer) and worked out of Duncan's living room, with Jake and me sleeping on his floor, to build the first version of Howbout - and now we’re here! With a strong team of 13 building the social calendar platform for friends to share time and stay connected, and almost 5 million downloads in over 150 countries.

What’s the core problem Howbout solves, and have you seen this change since you, Jake and Duncan started working on the app back in 2019?

When we first started Howbout, the goal was to build a social planning app - a way to find time to meet up with your friends. But after getting into exactly what our users loved about the app, we realised there was more magic in the sharing of time, rather than just planning. Being able to ‘stalk’ your friends’ calendars in a similar way to Find My Friends or Instagram was a part of the app that kept users coming back even more.

Howbout shows your friends the most authentic version of yourself, how you spend your time and who you’re sharing it with. On Howbout, your time is the 'content.' This authenticity-by-design allows Howbout to foster the connection and self-expression we know people crave, while still protecting against fears of showing off or trying too hard. Whether it’s spending the weekend out-out or in bed-rotting on the sofa, our users love that their closest friends can see it all, versus the curated version of themselves they show on their other social apps.

So, what can we expect to see in the future of Howbout?

Our vision is for Howbout to be the realest way for young adults to stay connected. We want it to be the most powerful social network in the world, where time is the next front of social. We want to serve an entire generation that is craving more authentic ways to connect, especially as other social platforms continue to move towards entertainment and content and away from authentic connection. We want Howbout to be a household name, where you go to deeply connect with your closest friends through sharing time.

We see people sharing their time with friends as frequently and as seamlessly as they share to their Instagram stories, whether it be adding to their own schedule for their friends to see, or keeping in the loop on what everyone is doing this weekend. We’re one of the classic apps in the daily rotation of user’s ‘what are my friends doing’ routine: Instagram, TikTok, Life360, Howbout, repeat.

What's a recent achievement you're really proud of?

In August 2024, we closed a $8M Series A investment led by Goodwater Capital, a Tier-1 Silicon-Valley based VC fund - one of the best consumer VCs in the world. Without a doubt, this is our proudest achievement over the past year as it puts Howbout on the main stage - showcasing the incredible work we've done as a team inspiring one of the world's best investors to join our journey.

As CEO, what is something that you’ve implemented into the company that you’re proud of?

Even as a young startup, we’ve taken our culture seriously from day one and it’s something I’m really proud to have led on. Our culture framework is built around our values: HHHHOT. Heart, Hustle, Hardwork, Humility and Ownership Thinking. Having unique values that the entire team is working towards is a framework I’m super proud of and have loved to see it grow and develop over my time as CEO too.

When we’re looking for new people to join our journey, this is what we look for. We don’t care if you’ve got a specific degree or not, what school you went to or what your GCSE results were. We look for grit over grades. People who thrive in a fast paced environment, enjoy constantly being challenged and are motivated by the belief that 1% improvement can be achieved everyday.

Ok, now for fun questions. What’s the funniest thing you’ve seen on a friend’s Howbout calendar?

I’ve definitely seen some stuff on my friends’ calendars that have made me laugh, like dates with their exes or big nights out the day before “breakfast with Nan” (that I know they’re definitely struggling through). One of my friends has “💦🍊🐿️” as an event that I’m still too scared to ask about.

Apart from Howbout obviously, what’s your favourite app right now?

100% Notion. It feels like I'm running my whole life on there right now (work, wedding planning etc!) and I'm not sure where I'd be without it... Outside of that, definitely TikTok (I honestly think it knows me better than I know me) or Candy Crush.

What event do you have on your calendar that you’re most looking forward to this year?

My wedding is coming up, and that’s definitely my most anticipated event of the year, and maybe my entire life. Other than that, it’s likely the Howbout Christmas party (which Emma’s had planned for two months already...).

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Want to work at Howbout? Does joining at “One of the Best Companies to Work For, 2024” (as awarded by Culture100 🏆) sound up your street? Shoot us an email at contact@howbout.app!