Dhaka city is full of restaurants, cafés, events, workshops, sports and hidden gems. Yet, most people often end up visiting the same familiar places simply because discovering new ones can be surprisingly difficult. It involves hours of scrolling, going through reviews and looking at pictures after pictures.

This is the problem that nearU is trying to solve.

nearU is an online platform that brings together restaurants, events, activities, stays, rides and other places in one place. Its goal is to help people spend less time searching and more time exploring. The platform was created by a group of young people who began building it while several members of the founding team were still HSC candidates.

The beginning

The idea for nearU began with a simple frustration experienced by founder and CEO Mahtab Ayub and his friends. He says, “I often joke that nearU exists because my friends and I were looking for an alternative to Bengal Boi, and instead, we ended up building our own discovery platform.”

The group loved spending time together, but almost every weekend they found themselves visiting the same places. “My friends and I would end up in the same places that it became a running joke that if anyone couldn’t find us, they would probably find us in one of those two places.”

The problem was not a lack of options. It was the difficulty of discovering them.

Whenever they wanted to visit somewhere new, they would spend hours scrolling through Facebook and Instagram, searching Google Maps and asking friends for recommendations. That experience led to a question: why is discovering places so difficult in a city full of amazing experiences?

That question eventually became the foundation of nearU.

Building the platform

nearU officially began its journey on 1 January 2025. The team had to build a startup while managing classes, examinations and academic responsibilities. As Mahtab explained, “One of our biggest challenges was that our entire founding team consisted of students from schools and colleges. At that time, many of us, including me, were HSC candidates.” Therefore, instead of rushing to build everything at once, the team spent much of 2025 understanding the market, building a community and learning what users actually wanted.

Balancing studies and entrepreneurship, however, was not easy.

“I still remember days when I was in my college uniform at 2 pm, and an hour later, at 3 pm, I was sitting in a business meeting wearing formal attire. Most nights, two or three hours of sleep felt normal.”

The journey was also entirely self-funded.

From a six-member team to a growing family

Today, nearU has four co-founders: Mahtab Ayub, Founder and CEO; Marushah Ul Ala, Chief Business Officer; Tamanna Hossain, Chief Creative Officer; and Tashfin Mustafa Aohoan, Chief Strategy Officer.

The team began with only six people and has now grown to 14 members.

For the founders, however, nearU is more than a conventional workplace. Mahtab says, “We don’t believe in a traditional boss-employee hierarchy. Every team member has direct access to me, can challenge ideas, and is encouraged to take ownership.”

Mahtab also says, “Sometimes we work under immense pressure, and sometimes we’re on a call at 2 am talking about life, studies or random stories. That balance has helped us build not just a team, but genuine friendships.”

According to Mahtab, this collective commitment has been central to the company’s growth.

Building a community before building the product

Before focusing primarily on technology, nearU focused on understanding people.

The team built a social media community, created content, tested ideas and listened to feedback. This helped them understand how people discover places and what kind of information they actually need.

“From day one, we decided not to create content just to gain views. Every post had to help someone discover something new, a hidden café, an upcoming event or a unique experience they probably wouldn’t have found otherwise.”

This approach helped nearU grow from a social media page into a community built around discovery.

Where can people find nearU? – People can currently discover nearU primarily through its social media presence, particularly Instagram, where the platform shares information about restaurants, cafés, events, hidden gems and other experiences. Today, nearU has over 36,000 followers on Instagram.

“Social media has been one of the biggest drivers of our growth, especially Instagram, but I don’t think the platform itself is the reason. We believe our approach is,” says Mahtab.

The central problem nearU addresses is that information about a city is scattered across different platforms. “Dhaka has no shortage of restaurants, events, workshops, sports or unique experiences. The real problem isn’t the lack of options, it’s the lack of discovery.”

A person planning a day out may have to use Google Maps to find places, Facebook to discover events, Instagram for recommendations and messaging apps to plan everything with friends. In Mahtab’s words, “The information is everywhere, but it’s scattered. That’s where nearU is different. We aren’t trying to replace those platforms; we’re bringing the discovery experience together.”

The long-term goal is to make nearU a one-stop destination for people who want to discover and experience their cities.

How young entrepreneurs are viewing success

Anytime a young entrepreneur is trying to build a startup, the question of whether or not it would be successful comes first in their mind.

“At nearU, we don’t define success by how long someone spends on our platform. We define it by what happens after they leave it.”

The team considers it a success when someone discovers a new place, attends an event, supports a local business or creates a meaningful memory because of something they discovered through nearU.

The platform has received encouragement from creators, filmmakers, event organisers, businesses and everyday users. People have also contacted them after visiting places they found through nearU.

For the young founders, these moments demonstrate that the platform is creating real value.

As Fungsuk Wangdu says in 3 Idiots, “Don’t run after success; pursue excellence and success will follow.”