How does Howbout justify the need for a social calendar?

On Slide 10, Howbout argues that while workplace time is 'multiplayer' (allowing employees to see a boss's schedule), no equivalent exists for personal lives. They position the social calendar as a way to bridge the gap between craving connection and the logistical difficulty of coordinating with friends, which traditional social media feeds no longer solve.

What is the 'Chief Friendship Officer' mentioned in the deck?

According to Slide 7, the 'Chief Friendship Officer' (CFO) is the person in every social circle who rallies the group to make plans. Howbout focuses its product and marketing on reaching these individuals, knowing that if one 'CFO' adopts the app, they will bring their entire network (friends, book clubs, sports teams) with them.

What are the primary growth drivers for the app?

Growth is driven by two factors: viral referral loops and TikTok SEO. Slide 7 states that 90% of users come from word-of-mouth, while Slide 8 highlights that the company has gone viral on social media over 50 times, dominating TikTok search results for Gen Z users.

Is Howbout generating revenue according to the deck?

The deck does not include a slide dedicated to current revenue, business models, or specific monetization strategies. It focuses almost entirely on user growth, engagement metrics, and the efficiency of their organic acquisition funnel, which is typical for early-stage consumer social apps prioritizing scale.

Where is Howbout's largest user base located?

Slide 9 shows that the USA is the largest market, accounting for 41% of Monthly Active Users (MAUs). The UK follows at 18%, with the remaining 41% spread across Canada, Germany, Australia, and the 'Rest of World.' Notably, 82% of their users are outside their home market of the UK.

Howbout Pitch Deck: All 12 Slides + Teardown

See all 12 slides of the Howbout pitch deck — a 2023 Series A deck — with a slide-by-slide teardown of what the deck does well and where it falls short.

Howbout’s 12-slide deck is a masterclass in presenting a consumer social product through the lens of organic growth and network effects. By positioning the 'social calendar' as the next evolution of connection for Gen Z—a demographic reportedly moving away from traditional feeds—the company highlights a user base of over 4 million people (Slide 3). The deck leans heavily on the concept of the 'Chief Friendship Officer' to explain its viral loop, noting that 90% of new users join via referral links (Slide 7). With $0 spent on acquisition outside the UK and USA (Slide 9) and a top-10 ranking in…

Key takeaways

The company reports a user base of over 4 million people using the app as a social calendar (Slide 3).
90% of new users are acquired through referral links and word-of-mouth rather than paid advertising (Slide 7).
The deck identifies a specific user persona, the 'Chief Friendship Officer,' as the primary driver of group adoption (Slide 7).
International expansion is highly organic, with 82% of Monthly Active Users (MAUs) located outside the UK (Slide 9).
The company claims $0 in user acquisition spend for all regions outside the UK and USA (Slide 9).
Howbout positions itself against workplace tools, arguing that 'multiplayer' time management does not exist for social circles (Slide 10).
The app has achieved a top 10 social app ranking in over 30 countries with a 4.7-star rating (Slide 11).
The team is presented as a lean, 10-person high-performing unit (Slide 12).

The Narrative: From Utility to Social Network

Howbout’s pitch deck for their 2023 Series A round is a concise 12-slide presentation that focuses on a single, powerful narrative: the transition of social media from public feeds to private coordination. By framing a calendar not as a productivity tool, but as a 'social' platform, the company addresses a specific pain point for Gen Z—the difficulty of making plans in an era of digital fragmentation. The deck relies heavily on social proof and growth efficiency metrics to convince investors that they have captured lightning in a bottle with a lean team and zero-cost international expansion.

Slide 1: Title Slide

The deck opens with a minimalist title slide featuring the Howbout logo. There is no tagline or mission statement here, relying instead on the brand identity to set a modern, consumer-focused tone.

Slide 2: The Market Shift

Howbout sets the stage by diagnosing a problem with current social media. The slide claims Gen Z is 'over' fans, followers, and feeds, craving 'better connection' instead. It cites the rise of 'finstas' (fake Instagram accounts) and 'Close Friends' filters as evidence that users are retreating from public broadcasting toward private, intimate circles. This establishes the 'Why Now' for a social coordination tool.

Slide 3: The Value Proposition

This slide introduces the core concept: 'Sharing time is the next LEVEL of connection.' It bridges the gap between the desire for connection and the utility of a calendar. Crucially, it introduces a major traction milestone: 'Over 4 million people have Howbout as their social calendar.' This immediately validates the product-market fit before the deck even explains the features.

Slide 4 & 5: Product and Features

These slides detail the 'Social Calendar' functionality. Slide 4 emphasizes that social features 'underpin everything,' listing shared views, event chats, polls, and groups. It also mentions integration with third-party calendars, addressing a common friction point for utility apps. Slide 5 uses three mobile mockups to demonstrate the UI, highlighting three pillars: 'Easily plan anything,' 'Instantly find when everyone’s free,' and 'Keep on top of everything.' The visual design is clean and targets a younger demographic with vibrant colors and social-centric imagery.

Slide 6: Engagement

Slide 6 is a transition slide titled 'A HIGHLY ENGAGED USERBASE.' While the text provided is brief, it serves to pivot the deck from what the app does to how users are actually interacting with it.

Slide 7: The Viral Loop

This is arguably the most important slide for a consumer social investment. Titled 'Built on NETWORKS,' it claims that 90% of new users join via referral links and word-of-mouth. It introduces the 'Chief Friendship Officer' (CFO) concept—the idea that one person in a group coordinates the others. The slide illustrates a viral cycle where a user brings in a book club or tennis team, and members of those groups then become the 'CFO' of their own separate circles (family, running clubs), creating a self-sustaining growth engine.

Slide 8: Efficiency and Discovery

Slide 8 focuses on unit economics and discovery. It makes a bold claim that 'TikTok > Google' as a discovery tool for their target demographic. The company states they 'dominate TikTok SEO search results' and have gone viral over 50 times with 1M+ views. This reinforces the idea that their growth is organic and culturally relevant, rather than bought through expensive Facebook ads.

Slide 9: Geographic Distribution

The 'Global and expanding userbase' slide uses a donut chart to show MAUs by country. The USA is the largest segment at 41%, followed by the UK at 18%. The most striking metric here is the '£0 User acquisition spend outside UK & USA,' paired with the fact that 82% of MAUs are outside the UK. This demonstrates extreme capital efficiency in international scaling.

Slide 10: The Competitive Gap

Slide 10 addresses the 'Incumbent Players.' It contrasts the workplace, where 'seeing what your boss is up to is easy,' with the social sphere, where no multiplayer time-sharing tool exists. By framing Google Calendar or Outlook as 'workplace' tools, they position Howbout as the only player in the 'social' time management space.

Slide 11: App Store Performance

This slide provides further social proof, showing the Howbout icon alongside giants like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook. It claims a top 10 social app ranking in 30+ countries and an average rating of 4.7 stars from over 45,000 ratings. This is a high-authority slide intended to show that they are already competing for screen time with the world's largest apps.

Slide 12: The Team

The deck concludes with a team slide, describing a 'LEAN and high-performing team' of 10 people. This emphasizes the efficiency of the operation—supporting 4 million users with only 10 employees is a strong signal of operational excellence and a high-leverage business model.

What Howbout Does Well

The Howbout deck excels at defining a new category: the 'Social Calendar.' By distancing themselves from 'productivity' and leaning into 'connection,' they tap into the high valuations associated with social networks rather than the lower multiples of utility apps. The focus on the 'Chief Friendship Officer' is a brilliant way to explain their go-to-market strategy; it shows they understand the psychology of group dynamics. Furthermore, the data regarding their £0 acquisition spend in international markets is a powerful 'hook' for Series A investors who are looking for efficient engines to pour capital into.

What is Missing from the Deck

Despite the strong growth metrics, the deck is notably silent on two major fronts: monetization and the 'Ask.' There is no mention of how the company intends to generate revenue—whether through subscriptions, advertising, or transactional features (like booking events directly through the app). Additionally, the deck does not specify how much capital they are raising or how they intend to deploy it. While this information might be reserved for a follow-up data room or a verbal pitch, its absence in the primary deck leaves the 'business' side of the startup under-explained. There is also a lack of detailed cohort retention data, which is usually a prerequisite for a Series A social app teardown.

Founder Takeaways

Define a New Persona: Howbout’s 'Chief Friendship Officer' is a great example of how to name a specific user behavior that drives your growth. It makes the 'viral loop' slide much more memorable. · Leverage Modern SEO: Mentioning TikTok SEO instead of traditional Google SEO shows that the founders understand where their specific audience (Gen Z) actually lives. · Show, Don't Just Tell, Efficiency: The '£0 spend' metric on Slide 9 is the strongest evidence of product-market fit in the entire deck. If you have organic international growth, highlight it as a standalone competitive advantage. · Contrast with Work Tools: If your consumer product looks like a B2B tool (like a calendar), explicitly state why the B2B incumbents cannot win the consumer space. Howbout does this effectively on Slide 10 by highlighting the 'multiplayer' nature of social time.

Frequently asked questions

How does Howbout justify the need for a social calendar?: On Slide 10, Howbout argues that while workplace time is 'multiplayer' (allowing employees to see a boss's schedule), no equivalent exists for personal lives. They position the social calendar as a way to bridge the gap between craving connection and the logistical difficulty of coordinating with friends, which traditional social media feeds no longer solve.
What is the 'Chief Friendship Officer' mentioned in the deck?: According to Slide 7, the 'Chief Friendship Officer' (CFO) is the person in every social circle who rallies the group to make plans. Howbout focuses its product and marketing on reaching these individuals, knowing that if one 'CFO' adopts the app, they will bring their entire network (friends, book clubs, sports teams) with them.
What are the primary growth drivers for the app?: Growth is driven by two factors: viral referral loops and TikTok SEO. Slide 7 states that 90% of users come from word-of-mouth, while Slide 8 highlights that the company has gone viral on social media over 50 times, dominating TikTok search results for Gen Z users.
Is Howbout generating revenue according to the deck?: The deck does not include a slide dedicated to current revenue, business models, or specific monetization strategies. It focuses almost entirely on user growth, engagement metrics, and the efficiency of their organic acquisition funnel, which is typical for early-stage consumer social apps prioritizing scale.
Where is Howbout's largest user base located?: Slide 9 shows that the USA is the largest market, accounting for 41% of Monthly Active Users (MAUs). The UK follows at 18%, with the remaining 41% spread across Canada, Germany, Australia, and the 'Rest of World.' Notably, 82% of their users are outside their home market of the UK.

Cover slide of the Howbout pitch deck — Series A 2023 — Howbout pitch deck, slide 1 (2023)

Howbout pitch deck: the facts

Company: Howbout
Year: 2023
Stage: Series A
Slides: 12
Sector: Consumer app
Deck type: Full Pitch Deck
Outcome: $8M Raised
Headquarters: Europe (UK)

Howbout pitch deck PDF

The full Howbout deck is embedded on this page and can be read slide by slide in the browser — no download or account required. Each slide is covered in the breakdown above.

What the Howbout pitch deck was used for

This deck is a 12‑slide Series A pitch from UK‑based social calendar app Howbout, prepared around its $8M Series A round led by Goodwater Capital.[7][13][14] The company builds a shared calendar app that lets friend groups coordinate plans and events, targeting Gen Z users who want to feel more connected offline.[6][7][13][14] The funding was used to scale product, growth, and team after surpassing one million users and hundreds of thousands of plans created weekly.[6][8] Business Insider’s teardown focuses on how the deck highlights viral loops and organic growth to position Howbout against traditional social media incumbents.[13]

Business model: Consumer social-calendar app that helps friends sync schedules and organise plans, positioned as a social planning tool for Gen Z and young adults.[6][7][13][14]

Round: Series A[6][7][13][14]
Raising: Series A equity round[6][7][13][14]
Raised: $8M[6][7][13][14]
Lead investor: Goodwater Capital[6][7][13][14]
Investors: Goodwater Capital, FJ Labs, Sequel, Harry Maguire, Boost Capital Partners, Angel Invest, Supernode Global, ACF Investors
Founded: 2019[8][14][15]
Founders: Neil Tanna, Jake Jenner, Duncan Cowan[5][8][10][14][15]
Headquarters: London, United Kingdom[5][12][14]
Industry: Consumer social app / social planning and shared calendar[5][6][7][13][14]

Year: 2024[3][6][7][13][14]

Total funding: More than $13M in total funding as of the $8M Series A announcement in 2024.[6][7]

Use of funds as presented: Company communications around the Series A indicate the funding is to scale Howbout’s social calendar product, grow the team, and accelerate user growth after passing one million users and hundreds of thousands of weekly plans.[3][7][8][13]

What happened after the Howbout deck

Following earlier crowdfunding and VC rounds, Howbout used this Series A deck to secure an $8M investment led by Goodwater Capital in 2024; since then it has continued to grow its user base and engagement while gaining recognition as a leading Gen Z social calendar app.[4][5][6][7][8][13][14]

Closed an $8M Series A funding round in August 2024 led by Goodwater Capital, with participation from FJ Labs, Sequel, H
Surpassed one million users and over 300,000 plans created every week on the app by 2023.[8]
Recognised in the Startups 100 2025 list, highlighting its traction and positioning as a leading Gen Z social‑planning s

What the Howbout deck got right

Compelling organic traction and engagement metrics. The Series A deck is backed by strong traction figures, with Howbout reporting over one million users, thousands of 5‑star reviews, and more than 300,000 plans created weekly, which provides compelling evidence of product‑market fit for a social calendar.[8][13][14]
High‑quality investor syndicate and validation. The round was led by tier‑1 consumer investor Goodwater Capital and joined by FJ Labs, Sequel, Harry Maguire, and existing backers such as Boost Capital and Angel Invest, giving the deck strong external validation and signalling quality to other investors.[6][7][13][14]
Clear growth story centred on viral loops and organic use. The deck’s narrative, as described by Business Insider, focuses on viral loops and organic growth, framing Howbout as a challenger to traditional social media and highlighting how product design naturally drives user acquisition and engagement.[13]
Sharp positioning around Gen Z social planning behaviour. Positioning the app as a social calendar for Gen Z friend groups taps into a specific user persona—group ‘CFOs’ who organise plans—making the value proposition vivid and differentiated versus generic calendar or messaging tools.[6][7][13][14]
Credible, mission‑driven founding team with complementary skills. The founding story of three university friends leaving professional careers to solve their own coordination problem creates a relatable, mission‑driven backdrop that can strengthen investor confidence in the team’s commitment and resilience.[5][8][14][15]
Proven fundraising track record across several rounds. Multiple prior rounds, including crowdfunding and VC investments, demonstrate the team’s ability to raise capital from diverse sources and build momentum leading up to the Series A.[2][4][5][6][7][8][14]

What could have been stronger

Limited visibility on monetisation and revenue model in the deck. The Business Insider article notes viral loops and organic growth metrics but does not mention any explicit revenue figures, monetisation model, or path to unit economics in the deck, leaving investors to infer how and when the social calendar product will generate cash flows.[13]
Retention and cohort data not highlighted. Available coverage focuses on user growth, plans created and engagement, but there is no mention of retention curves, cohort performance, or churn metrics in the deck summary, making it harder to assess long‑term stickiness beyond headline usage stats.[8][13]
Competitive moats and defensibility under‑explained. The deck as described in Business Insider emphasises Gen Z friend‑group ‘CFOs’ and viral loops as the primary growth engine but provides little detail on how Howbout defends against large incumbent calendars and social platforms or leverages network effects to build lasting defensibility.[13]
Execution roadmap and use‑of‑funds detail appears high‑level. Press and blog materials surrounding the Series A celebrate the raise and high‑level metrics, but there is no clear outline of specific hiring plans, product roadmap milestones, or geographic expansion targets tied explicitly to the use of funds in the deck.[3][7][8][13]

How an investor would read this deck

What draws attention

Demonstrated ability to generate over one million users and 300k+ weekly plans with largely organic growth, validating strong product‑market fit for a social calendar among Gen Z.[8][13][14]
The $8M Series A led by Goodwater Capital, with participation from well‑known VCs and angels, signals strong external validation and positions Howbout within a network of tier‑1 consumer investors.[6][7][13][14]
The founding team combines domain experience from law, engineering, and finance and has a track record of building the first product version cheaply and scaling via multiple funding rounds and crowdfunding.[4][5][8][14][15]
The product occupies an emerging category between calendars and social networks, potentially opening a new consumer platform niche centered on planning and in‑person social experiences.[5][6][7][13][14]

Risks that stand out

Dependence on continued strong organic growth and virality may make scaling sensitive to changes in social behaviour or platform dynamics, especially as Howbout moves beyond its initial Gen Z core.[8][13][14]
Lack of publicly detailed monetisation and unit economics at the time of the Series A means there is execution risk in converting high engagement into sustainable revenue and margins.
Competitive pressure from large tech incumbents offering shared calendars, messaging, and events (e.g., existing calendar and social products) could compress differentiation if they copy key features.
The app’s focus on social planning and real‑world meetups implies trust, privacy, and safety obligations; missteps here could hurt brand perception and growth if not managed carefully.

Questions this deck invites

What is Howbout’s current and projected revenue, and which monetisation levers (premium features, B2B offerings, partnerships) drive the financial model underlying this Series A plan?
How do retention and cohort metrics look for key user segments (e.g., Gen Z friend groups vs. older users), and what are the long‑term engagement and churn trends beyond headline weekly plans?
How does Howbout protect and extend its position versus incumbent calendar apps and social networks, and what evidence exists of durable network effects and switching costs?
What is the specific use of the $8M Series A capital across product, engineering, marketing, and international expansion, and which KPIs define success for this round?
How robust are data privacy, security, and moderation practices for a social app centered on calendars and real‑world meetups, especially for younger users?

What founders can take from the Howbout deck

A focused narrative around a specific, underserved behaviour—in this case, making it easier for friend groups to organise plans—can differentiate a consumer app from generic social networks and resonate with investors.[5][6][7][13][14]
Demonstrating organic traction with concrete usage metrics like total users and weekly plans made can effectively substitute for early revenue when pitching a consumer product at Series A.[5][8][13][14]
Aligning a consumer app with a clear generational thesis (Gen Z wanting deeper connection and better coordination) helps investors see category‑defining potential rather than just another utility app.[6][7][13][14]
Stacking rounds from angels, crowdfunding, and multiple VCs over several years can progressively de‑risk the opportunity and culminate in a larger, institutionally‑led Series A such as the $8M Goodwater round.[2][4][5][6][7][8][14]
Strong storytelling around viral loops and product‑driven growth can position a social utility product as a challenger to entrenched social media incumbents, even without competing directly on content feeds.[13]
Maintaining a clear founding story—friends frustrated by organising plans who quit stable careers to build a solution—can humanise the deck and make the mission memorable to investors.[5][8][14][15]

Howbout pitch deck: common questions

What does Howbout do?

Howbout is a UK‑based social calendar and social planning app that helps friends sync schedules, share availability, and organise group plans in one shared calendar experience.[5][6][7][13][14] It targets Gen Z and young adults who want to feel more connected and make in‑person plans easier.[13][14]

How much did Howbout raise in its Series A and who led the round?

In August 2024, Howbout raised an $8M Series A round led by Goodwater Capital, with participation from FJ Labs, Sequel, Manchester United defender Harry Maguire, and existing investors including Boost Capital Partners, Angel Invest, Supernode Global, ACF Investors, and the Sidemen.[6][7][13][14] Business Insider reports this as an $8M Series A led by Goodwater Capital’s Chi‑Hua Chien.[13]

Who are Howbout’s main investors?

Howbout’s Series A investors include lead investor Goodwater Capital, along with FJ Labs, Sequel, Harry Maguire, and existing backers such as Boost Capital Partners, Angel Invest, Supernode Global, ACF Investors, and the Sidemen.[6][7] Earlier funding rounds involved ACF Investors, Supernode Global, Boost Capital, Claire Valoti, Desigan Chinniah, and several other VCs and angels.[4][5][8][10]

Who founded Howbout and when was it founded?

The app was founded in 2019 by three friends from university: CEO Neil Tanna, CTO Duncan Cowan, and COO/CFO Jake Jenner.[5][8][10][14][15] They left careers in law, spacecraft engineering, and investment banking respectively to build the first version of the product.[5][8][15]

What traction does Howbout have in terms of users and engagement?

At the time surrounding the Series A, Howbout reported over one million users, thousands of 5‑star reviews, and more than 300,000 plans made every week on the app.[8] The Business Insider deck feature highlights strong organic usage and viral loops as central to the company’s growth story.[13]