Our Story

Built by
adventurers.
For adventurers.

Most social platforms were built around who you know. We built one around what you love to do.

Every outdoor community felt like a workaround

Facebook groups buried in noise. Meetup events with no follow-through. Dating apps that treated "enjoys hiking" as a personality. None of them were built for the way outdoor people actually form relationships — through shared activity, shared risk, shared stillness on the water.

The friendships that last aren't made on profiles. They're made on trails, at put-ins, around fires at the end of a long day outside. We wanted a platform that understood that.

Activity first. Everything else follows.

Catch of a Lifetime organizes people around what they do, not who they already know. You join a Tribe — fly fishing, backcountry skiing, van life, rock climbing — and find your people there. Real-time Campfires give your tribe a place to plan, banter, and play together. Sparks let you find a specific adventure partner without the awkwardness of a dating app. Events and the Adventure Map keep the action visible and local.

The gamification layer — Ember Points — rewards showing up consistently and getting outdoors. Not scrolling. Not posting. Going.

"The app that finally gets it — it's not about finding followers, it's about finding people who'll actually show up."
Jesse D. — Beta design partner, fly fisherman

The founders

S
Steve Johnson
Founder & CEO

Steve is the vision behind Catch of a Lifetime. With a background in building communities and a lifelong passion for the outdoors, he recognized that the way outdoor enthusiasts form real connections — through shared activity, shared risk, and shared stillness — was something no existing platform understood. He founded Catch of a Lifetime to change that.

LinkedIn
W
William C. Trent
Co-Founder

William brings the build. Passionate about using technology to solve real problems for real communities, he has been working alongside Steve to turn the vision into a platform that outdoor enthusiasts will actually use. He cares deeply about getting the culture right before scaling the numbers — quality of community over quantity of users.

LinkedIn

What we believe

Three principles that shape every product decision we make.

🎣
Activity over identity

You are what you do, not what you post. Our platform surfaces shared activities first — demographics are secondary and largely irrelevant.

🔥
Earn it outside

Ember Points reward getting out, not getting likes. Streaks, check-ins, and achievements track real-world participation, not engagement metrics.

🏕️
Community before scale

We're building this privately with design partners who will tell us when we get it wrong. Culture before growth. Quality before quantity.

Ready to find your tribe?

Join the waitlist. Beta spots are limited and allocated by hand.

Request Early Access