Danielle Egan and Athena Leong know how to have fun. Between the two of them, they\u2019ve organized a citywide scavenger hunt in San Francisco<\/a> and turned a viral prank into an exclusive NYC restaurant<\/a> for a night. They even created an alternative to a running club for socializing, dubbed a \u201csit club<\/a>,\u201d where people just bring their chairs and relax. Now, with their new startup, Outernet<\/a>, the co-founders want to help others add more fun to their lives, too.<\/p>\n The app\u2019s name is inspired by the concept of using the internet as a tool to get you to go outside, hence \u201couternet.\u201d It\u2019s one of several apps that helps you save the things you see online \u2014 like local events, restaurants or bars to try, or other city landmarks \u2014 and turn them into a list of to-dos for exploring the world around you.<\/p>\n Outernet\u2019s pitch is that instead of simply liking a post about something you\u2019d 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). <\/em><\/p>\n What makes Outernet<\/a> different from others in the space, like Albo, Tabi, or Plotline, is who\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n \u201cIn my free time, I\u2019m very passionate about getting people to go outside and do things,\u201d explains Egan<\/a>, whose offline persona is quite different from her former day job working in product BizOps at LinkedIn. \u201cI just love capturing attention in unexpected ways and delivering delightful things.\u201d She says the thesis behind the app is becoming the \u201cmotivation engine for IRL\u201d \u2014 something that removes the friction between wanting to do something and actually going out to do it.<\/p>\n Outernet taps into an already common consumer behavior. As you scroll TikTok and Instagram, you\u2019re often inspired by a creator\u2019s post, so you\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n To save a post to the app, you\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n 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 you\u2019d like to visit. Events are saved to a chronological feed, which you can revisit whenever you\u2019re looking for something to do. Other activities without a date, as well as places you\u2019d like to visit, are organized into separate tabs within the app. You can also save events to your Apple or Google Calendar or view them in Outernet\u2019s map.<\/p>\n The app can also send proactive reminders and nudges that encourage you to go do the things you\u2019ve saved.<\/p>\n Then, as you explore places in the real world, you can \u201cstamp\u201d them as such, building what will eventually become a passport documenting your activities.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re thinking of different ways of creating maybe some sort of like passport book where you can look at all the things [you\u2019ve done] and maybe share that with friends and get some sort of sense of pride of that,\u201d Egan says of future product plans. They\u2019re also thinking of using traditional gamification techniques to encourage activity, like giving out stamps when you reach different milestones. <\/p>\n The idea for Outernet came out of the co-founders\u2019 experience designing a citywide scavenger hunt in San Francisco, called \u201cPursuit,\u201d which began three years ago and is now held annually. The monthlong game drew participation from about 1.5% of San Francisco\u2019s population during its most recent run.<\/p>\n As the founders chatted with participants, they found that people didn\u2019t get involved because they loved scavenger hunts or adventure games; they just wanted an excuse to go outside. This sparked an idea.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just realized that people really have an appetite for doing things, like going on adventures. This is the new trend,\u201d notes Leong<\/a>, whose background is in computer science and child development, before she landed a job in adventure game design.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many incredible community events, and being community organizers ourselves, we\u2019re very plugged into that scene,\u201d Egan adds. \u201cWhat\u2019s so hard is there are these boots on the ground \u2014 incredible community organizers who are hosting these amazing events, and they just don\u2019t know how to reach people because marketing and grabbing people\u2019s attention is such a different skill set. And that\u2019s something that we are exceptional in. So we see ourselves as the conduit,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n Outernet\u2019s app has been on the market for roughly two months and is already profitable from its premium subscription ($6.99\/mo or $39.99\/year), which lets you save more items per day. It has around 18,000 users in total, and the team is experimenting rapidly with new ideas.<\/p>\n The founders are now having casual conversations with investors about their next steps, but finding the right fit is key.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to bring on investors \u2014 if we do \u2014 [who are] people who are really aligned with us,\u201d says Leong. \u201cWe\u2019re whimsical, and we have to find investors that match.\u201d<\/p>\n Outernet is invite-only and available on iOS<\/a>, with an Android waitlist<\/a>. TechCrunch readers can use the invite code \u201ccoffeewalk\u201d to skip the waitlist.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/outernet1.jpg?w=544\")
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