About the Project
USE CODE: HELLO1000 Around was created to make real world connection easier while traveling.
The idea began after watching Quin Gable’s brief about spontaneous meetups on the road. The concept was simple but powerful: travelers constantly cross paths, yet rarely have a tool designed purely to help them connect in the moment.
Van lifers and full time travelers often build their lives around shared passions. Hiking at sunrise. Surfing new coastlines. Climbing, bouldering, mountaineering, paragliding, photography, remote work sessions in nature. These hobbies are social by nature, yet finding the right people at the right time is mostly accidental. Around is designed to make those intersections intentional.
Core Focus
Around is built around intentional, real life interaction:
- Travel Plans allow users to share where they are heading and discover overlapping routes.
- Spots let travelers pin meaningful locations to a shared map, creating a community driven layer of recommendations.
- Hangout Requests offer a low pressure way to reach out to nearby travelers who are open to meeting.
Every feature supports one core purpose: helping people connect offline. Instead of building another content feed, Around centers on proximity, shared plans, activities, and mutual interest.
Business Model
The app follows a freemium model with a generous free tier. Core discovery, profiles, spots, and messaging remain accessible to everyone, while Premium unlocks expanded outreach and global exploration.
Founder
Around was built by Bahadır Aksoy, a solo founder from Ankara, Turkey with over 10 years of mobile experience. As an active traveler who built and lived in my own campervan and practices sports like paragliding, mountaineering, climbing, and bouldering while on the road, I understand the culture and rhythms of this community firsthand.
Around turns shared locations into shared moments.
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