Neil from Howbout joins Saba to break down how a simple idea — a better way to share time with friends — turned into one of the most downloaded social apps in Europe.

With over 5 million users and 100 million+ events created, Howbout is quietly winning in a category most builders write off as dead. In this episode, Neil shares the scrappy tactics, surprising insights, and hard lessons behind their growth.

You’ll hear:

– How a meme account helped them get their first 1,000 users
– Why "Chief Friendship Officer" isn't just a cute title — it’s a core growth lever
– What happened when they tested invite walls in 2024 (hint: it still works)
– How TikTok carousels outperformed video for viral reach
– The small product detail that spiked retention (and almost didn’t ship)
– What investors actually asked for in their Series A
– How they handled the classic chicken-and-egg problem of social apps
– And why branding came after product-market fit, not before

Neil also opens up about building without a technical background, leading with intuition, and why most consumer founders are optimizing for the wrong things too early.

If you're working on a consumer product — especially something social, utility-driven, or event-based — this episode is a goldmine.

And yes, we get into the hard stuff too: churn, local network density, when to fake it, and what didn’t work at all.