Sure the latest initiatives from the Teslas, Apples and Googles of the industry tend to dominate the tech news space — and with good reason. Still, the tech titans aren’t the only ones bringing innovation to the sector.
In an effort to highlight up-and-coming startups, Built In has launched The Future 5 across eight major U.S. tech hubs. Each quarter, we will feature five tech startups, nonprofits or entrepreneurs in each of these hubs who just might be working on the next big thing. You can check out last quarter’s Austin round-up here.
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As working professionals with busy schedules, Armando Vera Carvajal and Kate Grehl often struggle to find time to meet up with their friends. Everyone has different work hours, calendars and interests that make hanging out in person challenging, they said.
To overcome this hurdle, the two co-founded Hangtight. With their startup, they hope to make meeting with friends a lot easier.
“I have a lot of people and friends to hang out with but the challenge was always I never had enough time. And the tedious coordination was an endless back and forth and somethings nothing would materialize,” Vera Carvajal, CEO of Hangtight, told Built In.
Founded earlier this year, Hangtight is a social connection app that makes it easier to plan hangouts with friends. The app, which is expected to launch in early 2023, will offer recommendations for places to go or things to do based on everyone’s interests. It will also help users meet new people.
Unlike other social apps and platforms, Hangtight won’t match users with random people; instead, it will connect them with second and third-degree connections. According to Hangtight, having a mutual connection means both parties are more likely to enjoy each other’s company.
Our high-level vision is to make it so that if you don’t want to be alone, you don’t have to be. We don’t want anyone to sit alone on a Friday night because they don’t have anything to do.”
With the app, Hangtight also wants to help users experience less social isolation.
Social media has long been touted as a place to meet new people and friends. While it might be easy to add friends on Facebook or follow interesting people on Twitter, not much social connectivity takes place on those platforms outside of sending direct messages. In fact, a recent study found that people who use social media heavily are more likely to feel isolated. Heavy social media use has also been linked to developing negative body images.
“[People are] using social media not as a social connectivity app. It’s really social media in a news functionality, but they’re hoping to get connectivity out. So what we’re trying to do is use this digital pipeline to get people the physical connection that will allow them to create what is uniquely human, which is the fabric of being together in real life, face-to-face,” Grehl, Hangtight co-founder, told Built In.
Similar to dating apps, Hangtight pushes people to meet in person, but without the expectation of developing long-term romantic relationships.
“Our high-level vision is to make it so that if you don’t want to be alone, you don’t have to be. We don’t want anyone to sit alone on a Friday night because they don’t have anything to do,” Grehl said.
Although the app has not launched yet, interested users can sign up for its waitlist.
According to Vera Carvajal and Grehl, the initial rollout of the app will focus on attracting MBA students at universities. According to the co-founders, MBA students are extremely busy and already coordinate social gatherings or networking opportunities with classmates. This demographic also frequently uses tech and social media.
With the university rollout, Hangtight hopes students will convince other people in their network to signup for the app. The company plans to have a larger rollout in the future.
New features will also be added during the rollout. A metaverse iteration is also a potential addition depending on investors’ interest, Grehl said.
“We don’t just want to get 100,000 signups for the sake of it. We want 100,000 active users who are going to be promoters that get us to our first million users,” Vera Carvajal said.
Hangtight is also working on its first funding round and hopes to raise $500,000 in the near future.
