North - Discover, remember, and share great places with friends

Hey folks! Devon here, and I’m one of the founders of our small team at North. We built North because we’re big “place” nerds. We love great coffee shops, new restaurant openings, and boutique hotels. But we couldn’t find the perfect place to organize favorites, share them with others, and discover new gems. If you’re similar to us, you probably save pins on Google Maps; see travel TikToks and IG posts and promptly forget about them; share rambling texts with friends when they ask what to see in Paris; and you’ve downloaded a half-dozen apps that sound similar to North. So, we decided to do something crazy, and launch a new product in a crowded space that’s littered with failed startups. Apparently, we’re stupid. 😆 But to us, there were 3 ingredients needed to make the perfect app in this category: - - - - - - - - 1. 🗄️ Flexible and Fast Organization. Each of us has over 2k places saved in North. We can add detailed (private) ratings, quickly find places with flexible filters, and save our most useful filters for later—making it easy to build a lasting and useful catalogue of the best places to spend our time, at home or abroad. Plus, North is for all sorts of places. Most of our users start with restaurants, shops, coffee, and bars. But it’s also great for remembering world-class hotels, cataloguing art museums, or saving great hikes, beaches, and parks. - - - - - - - - 2. 😊 Social; But Good Friends Only. Some of the best places come via recs from friends; they know us well, they have similar tastes, and it’s fun to compare notes once we’ve been. In North, you can easily build collaborative lists together, follow what friends are discovering in realtime, and browse each other’s personal maps. There’s no FOMO—it’s not about bragging, it’s about finding great places, together. No one is posting algo-optimized content that suffers from the “Instagram vs. Reality” problem. And there’s no fake reviews and angry strangers; reviews are private to you and your close friends, so you can feel comfortable sharing your honest and helpful thoughts. - - - - - - - - 3. 💎 Crazy Attention to Detail. We use North every, single, day. And, North should help you explore the world, not suck you into your device. So it needed to be a delight to use, and, frankly, get out of the way so you stop using your phone and check out a new coffee shop instead. It is lightning fast, has beautiful animations, and we’ve been refining the design for over a year. - - - - - - - - If any of this sounds exciting, we’d love it if you’d give North a try. It’s completely free—we’ll add some paid premium features eventually—but we’ll always keep the core product at no cost. Some tips for getting the most out of North: 1. 🗺️ If you use Google Maps, import your saved pins. We built an in-app importer if you are a heavy Google user. Don’t worry—all that hard work hasn’t gone to waste. 2. 👯 Add friends. North is at its best when you can scroll your friends’ activity and find great places they have added. 3. 🌐 Publish some lists. We made published lists the easiest way to send your recs to someone else when they ask: “what are your favorite places in Paris?”. Recipients don’t need North—published lists are beautiful, responsive websites. Here are a few of my favorites: Top of Paris (by me!): https://north.industries/list/23... Top Cocktails in NYC: https://north.industries/list/5b... Favorite Hotels: https://north.industries/list/a0... We’re proud of this launch, but we’re also just getting started. Your feedback matters so much to us. We respond 100% to every comment or piece of feedback you have for us 💬❤️! Devon, Sam, and Kate

Great timing as it seems that Foursquare City Guide has finally shat the bed!

I have had a chance to use North since early beta. It’s dreamy for the tons of moments where someone raves about a place or thing that I know I will be near eventually, but not in a timeframe that will be remembered by my memory. Now I take those recos and place them contextually in North lists for future reference. I also do this with memorable spots or itineraries that I want to hold on to for the future or to share with friends the next time someone asks something random like “where should we stay in Indy” (there is a place! It’s amazing!). Great UX, upbeat, loving tone and a huge solve for the increasing number of use cases that arise for me that coincide perfectly with North.

Have loved using it so far, especially to find what friends would recommend when traveling. Super easy to just store all my thoughts on North and access it or share it with people I trust later. The app I never knew I needed but definitely did!

it's so clutch being able to share a list to answer the inevitable "where should I go?" when friends come to visit: https://north.industries/list/be... and they don't even need to download the app (looking at you, mom) to see it!

Lovely idea. Google Map is after you, just kidding. :)

This looks awesome. We rely heavily on friends' recommendations, it would be so cool to be able to share such lists much more easily with an app!

Absolutely beautiful product from @sfelsey & North’s amazing team. ✨The detail, intention & constant updates make this a product completely worthy of the download. Do yourself a favor, and give North a 👀.

I've been looking for something like this. I've tried Google Maps, a custom Notion template, and a couple other trip apps but hope this really works well. Will put North through its paces for my upcoming Asia trip.

Hey Devon, How do you balance privacy concerns with the ability to share recommendations? For someone who travels frequently, does North have any features to help organize places by trip or location? Congrats on the launch!

I’ve been using North in beta and I’m obsessed. It’s great for planning upcoming trips, but I’m also loving it for exploring locally more thoroughly. By keeping places that aren’t in my usual rotation top of mind, it’s encouraged me to try new places more often. I’m super excited by where the social features are going and have had a lot of fun recently seeing what friends are saving in North.

I have had the chance to use this app for a while now and got to test it during our recent trip to Japan. It helped us find so many amazing places that I would have completely passed by otherwise. I am not always the best at planning ahead so the ease that this app brings to making a trip plan and then finding everything with quick filtering abilities has made planning much easier for me already. It also helps me find new places quickly if I don’t have a plan ahead of time. Need a place to eat? See what’s nearby on North. Need the highlights of a spot that you’ve never been to but your friends have? Get ahold of their North list of personal favorites.

I end up using North literally every day. I see a TikTok of a new restaurant- save it in North. I am trying to find a coffee nearby- look it up in North. I am planning a trip to the coast next month- make a list of places in North. It is so nice to have everywhere I love and want to explore in one place that is beautiful and easy to use.

Very cool, I love the google places import too!

Well done on the North launch! What feature do you think users will love the most?

Exciting concept, Devon! North sounds like a game changer for all of us who love exploring new places but often feel overwhelmed by options. The emphasis on private reviews and trusted friend recommendations is something I think a lot of people will appreciate—especially without the noise of social media algorithms. I also love that you focused on flexible organization; with so many places to keep track of, that’s crucial. Can’t believe you’ve put together such a well-thought-out app after a year of refinement—impressive! I’m definitely going to give North a shot and will import my Google Maps pins to get started. Looking forward to seeing how North develops further! Upvoting! 🚀

Love the idea of private reviews and trusted friend recommendations. How do you ensure the app remains clutter-free with so many saved places? Congrats on the launch! 🎉

Wow, this product looks so interesting! Congrats Devon and Teams on your launch and thank you for making this useful product!

Already supported, I voted for it. I believe many users need a pure, completely clean app for sharing and recommendations, where you can get away from the polished but misleading ads on YouTube and Instagram. Stay genuine, keep the passionate desire to share, and I believe it will bring me a huge surprise!

I like the private reviews and friend-focused recs, feels way more authentic than most social platforms!