A networking coach that turns job seekers' dormant connections into daily warm introductions. Applications are a lottery — networking is a strategy.
After a disciplined incubation cycle (50+ interviews, MVP simulation, strategic pause), we revived the project and rebuilt it from the ground up as a native iOS & Android app. Now in active beta with limited spots.
Problem
Job seekers know networking works — but the moment they open LinkedIn with 1,200+ connections, they freeze. Who's actually relevant? What's a non-awkward reason to reach out? What do I even say?
So they default back to the application portal lottery: hundreds of submissions, silence, burnout. Existing tools surface contacts; none of them coach the user through actually connecting.
The Product Today
HeyThere is a native mobile app that delivers five personalized contact recommendations every morning, each with a concrete reason to reach out and a pre-drafted email in the user’s voice.
Five morning recommendations, each surfaced with a specific connection reason — shared employer, mutual friend, a recent post worth responding to.
Users set role type, target companies, location, and career context. Recommendations are filtered to what actually maps to the job they want.
Pre-written emails in the user’s voice, editable with one-tap tone shifts (“warmer,” “shorter”). Removes the blank-page paralysis that kills most outreach.
Follow-up reminders, reply tracking, gentle momentum — no streaks, no guilt-trip push notifications. Designed for the anti-hustle user.
Goals shape the Daily 5
Users define role, stage, location, target companies, and career context. The match engine filters every recommendation through those goals — so the five people each morning are relevant, not random.
A coach, not a notification spammer
The coach checks in on outreach — flags replies, suggests follow-ups, offers to draft responses. Momentum without guilt. No streaks, no push-every-hour growth hacks.
The Journey: Shelved, Then Revived
Phase 1 — Systematic Incubation
Ran 50+ interviews across Reddit, LinkedIn, and Discord to validate the core pain. Simulated the product manually using Apollo.io to test whether sourced-and-drafted outreach actually changed user behavior. Ran live trials with real job seekers.
Phase 2 — Strategic Pause
After validation, made a deliberate decision to pause rather than rush into a full build. The concept had legs, but the original PWA had real friction: push notifications were flaky, the daily ritual didn’t feel native enough, and retention suffered because of it.
Phase 3 — Native Rebuild
Relaunched the product as a native iOS and Android app. The native shell unlocked the morning ritual the product always needed — reliable push, real home-screen presence, and a tactile swipe-through-your-Daily-5 interaction the web version couldn’t support.
Phase 4 — Active Beta
Now in private beta with a limited cohort. Pricing is $19/month or $120/year, with 4 weeks free for beta participants. Focus is tightening match quality and building the habit loop before wider release.
What the Pause Taught Me
Form factor is product
A “five contacts every morning” ritual lives or dies on reliable notifications and native feel. PWA was the wrong substrate; native unlocked the behavior.
Shelving is a decision, not a failure
Pausing gave the concept room to breathe and let the right form factor emerge. The revival is stronger for it.
Rigor compounds
The research, interviews, and MVP trials from the first cycle are the foundation the beta is built on. None of that work was wasted.
Incubation Archive
The research and MVP work from the original incubation cycle. Preserved here as the foundation the current product is built on.
MVP Process Overview
Comprehensive overview of the MVP development process and networking approach methodology
Project Overview
Complete project overview covering market analysis, user research, and product strategy
Consumer Survey Analysis
Detailed analysis of consumer survey results and key insights from user research
MVP User Onboarding
User onboarding flow and automated outreach methodology for the MVP testing phase
Try the Beta
HeyThere is currently in private beta with limited spots. Beta users get 4 weeks free.
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