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HadtobeHere
Ambient, real-time social networking for physical spaces
HadtobeHere is an ambient, real-time social networking platform for physical life. Discover who around you is open to conversation, collaboration, friendship, or meeting new people — but only when interest is mutual. Built for cafés, bars, coworking spaces, events, and neighborhoods, HadtobeHere helps transform physical spaces into more socially vibrant, high-engagement community environments.
Hey Product Hunt — Tunji here, founder of HadtobeHere.
I’ve spent the last several years obsessing over hyperlocal community systems and real-world connection.
Before this, I co-founded the public benefit corporation behind The Buy Nothing Project and helped architect the technology platform behind the movement. Watching those communities grow taught me something important:
People still deeply want connection. They just increasingly lack the infrastructure and social permission to initiate it.
Over the last couple of years living in Baltimore’s Mt. Vernon neighborhood, I started noticing how many meaningful conversations almost happen in cafés, bars, bookstores, and shared public spaces — but don’t.
People are open. Curious. Physically proximate. Often clearly on the same wavelength.
But everyone defaults back into the phone.
That observation became the seed for HadtobeHere.
We’re building an ambient, real-time social networking layer for physical life that allows people to quietly signal when they’re open to conversation, collaboration, friendship, or meeting new people — but only when interest is mutual.
Importantly, we’re starting with venues because they already possess trust, culture, density, and community dynamics.
For SMB hospitality venue operators, particularly, we believe HadtobeHere can become a meaningful engagement and retention layer capable of increasing repeat visitation, strengthening customer loyalty, and helping venues intentionally design social energy inside their spaces.
But the broader vision is infrastructure capable of operating anywhere people gather. We think cafés, bars, coworking spaces, bookstores, and other “third places” are some of the most important social infrastructure we have.
We’re launching hyperlocally through a flagship venue strategy in Baltimore and treating growth more like neighborhood organizing than traditional performance marketing.
Still very early. Still building carefully. But deeply excited about where this can go.
Would genuinely love feedback, ideas, skepticism, or thoughts from the community.
Appreciate you taking a look.
— Tunji
About HadtobeHere on Product Hunt
“Ambient, real-time social networking for physical spaces”
HadtobeHere was submitted on Product Hunt and earned 6 upvotes and 5 comments, placing #70 on the daily leaderboard. HadtobeHere is an ambient, real-time social networking platform for physical life. Discover who around you is open to conversation, collaboration, friendship, or meeting new people — but only when interest is mutual. Built for cafés, bars, coworking spaces, events, and neighborhoods, HadtobeHere helps transform physical spaces into more socially vibrant, high-engagement community environments.
On the analytics side, HadtobeHere competes within Social Networking, Community and YC Application — topics that collectively have 4.7k followers on Product Hunt. The dashboard above tracks how HadtobeHere performed against the three products that launched closest to it on the same day.
Who hunted HadtobeHere?
HadtobeHere was hunted by Tunji Williams. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
For a complete overview of HadtobeHere including community comment highlights and product details, visit the product overview.
Tunji Williams
Hey Product Hunt — Tunji here, founder of HadtobeHere.
I’ve spent the last several years obsessing over hyperlocal community systems and real-world connection.
Before this, I co-founded the public benefit corporation behind The Buy Nothing Project and helped architect the technology platform behind the movement. Watching those communities grow taught me something important:
People still deeply want connection. They just increasingly lack the infrastructure and social permission to initiate it.
Over the last couple of years living in Baltimore’s Mt. Vernon neighborhood, I started noticing how many meaningful conversations almost happen in cafés, bars, bookstores, and shared public spaces — but don’t.
People are open. Curious. Physically proximate. Often clearly on the same wavelength.
But everyone defaults back into the phone.
That observation became the seed for HadtobeHere.
We’re building an ambient, real-time social networking layer for physical life that allows people to quietly signal when they’re open to conversation, collaboration, friendship, or meeting new people — but only when interest is mutual.
Importantly, we’re starting with venues because they already possess trust, culture, density, and community dynamics.
For SMB hospitality venue operators, particularly, we believe HadtobeHere can become a meaningful engagement and retention layer capable of increasing repeat visitation, strengthening customer loyalty, and helping venues intentionally design social energy inside their spaces.
But the broader vision is infrastructure capable of operating anywhere people gather. We think cafés, bars, coworking spaces, bookstores, and other “third places” are some of the most important social infrastructure we have.
We’re launching hyperlocally through a flagship venue strategy in Baltimore and treating growth more like neighborhood organizing than traditional performance marketing.
Still very early. Still building carefully. But deeply excited about where this can go.
Would genuinely love feedback, ideas, skepticism, or thoughts from the community.
Appreciate you taking a look.
— Tunji