Outernet turns your saved posts into real-world adventures
Danielle Egan and Athena Leong know how to have fun. Between the two of them, theyâve organized a citywide scavenger hunt in San Francisco and
Danielle Egan and Athena Leong know how to have fun. Between the two of them, theyâve organized a citywide scavenger hunt in San Francisco and turned a viral prank into an exclusive NYC restaurant for a night. They even created an alternative to a running club for socializing, dubbed a âsit club,â where people just bring their chairs and relax. Now, with their new startup, Outernet, the co-founders want to help others add more fun to their lives, too. The appâs name is inspired by the concept of using the internet as a tool to get you to go outside, hence âouternet.â Itâs one of several apps that helps you save the things you see online â like local events, restaurants or bars to try, or other city landmarks â and turn them into a list of to-dos for exploring the world around you. Outernetâs pitch is that instead of simply liking a post about something youâd like to see or do on social media, you should share it to its app, where it will track the activity or place you want to visit for you in an organized interface. (Invite codes to try the app for yourself are at the bottom of this post). What makes Outernet different from others in the space, like Albo, Tabi, or Plotline, is whoâs behind it: founders who have devoted much of their time to playfulness and having fun offline. Now, they want to bring that same spirit into their app.
Image Credits:Outernet âIn my free time, Iâm very passionate about getting people to go outside and do things,â explains Egan, whose offline persona is quite different from her former day job working in product BizOps at LinkedIn. âI just love capturing attention in unexpected ways and delivering delightful things.â She says the thesis behind the app is becoming the âmotivation engine for IRLâ â something that removes the friction between wanting to do something and actually going out to do it. Outernet taps into an already common consumer behavior. As you scroll TikTok and Instagram, youâre often inspired by a creatorâs post, so youâll save it in the app as a reminder. But then you promptly forget about the idea as you continue to consume more content. Outernet solves this problem by keeping track of the things you want to do or places you want to visit, all in one place. Image Credits:Outernet To save a post to the app, youâll tap the share option from the source app, like TikTok or Instagram, then scroll through the list of places you can share to until you find Outernet. You can also paste in social media URLs or website links directly into the app, or upload a photo of something you see, like a flyer. To organize everything, Outernet leverages AI to pull relevant information, like the date, time, location, and details about the activity you want to try or the location of a place youâd like to visit.
