Discover
See what’s on around you.
Open the app to walks near you — events from local groups, the trail library, and an around-me map. A calm first screen for finding your next day out.
Manish Kumar
Founder · Builder · Context Engineer · Trail Leader
Building things
I care about.
I'm building TrekMeet for the people I walk with. It grew out of OZ Outdoors, the Sydney hiking community I started, and the things we needed on the trail.
I bring 18 years in enterprise software to the work, and direct the AI agents that build the app.
5
Months from first commit
to a closed Google Play beta.About three months building.
Two months away.
Live product
TrekMeet
Beta LiveAndroid + iPhone
The app I’m building for life outdoors. Find a walk, plan with your group and take the map with you when the signal ends.
TrekMeet Maps
Maps built for hikers.
Our own maps show what matters on foot: water, toilets, lookouts, trailheads — with 100 curated trails built in. Tap a marker for the detail; every trail works fully offline.
One Place
The whole trail day on one screen.
An event carries its route, the forecast on the trail, distance and climb, and the group going — with the map saved for offline before you leave signal.
Live Trek
Your group can see you’re okay.
Share your walk as it happens. The people you choose follow along, see how far you’ve come, and know the moment you end the trek.
TrekMeet does not watch your walk and cannot send help. In an emergency, call 000.
Record a Trek
Walk it, keep it, share it.
Record any walk and it lands on your Journey: distance, time, and climb. Share it as a card anyone can open in their browser, no app needed.
Groups & Events
Find your people, plan together.
Groups carry their own events and chat. RSVP, see who’s going, and sort the logistics in the same place you found the walk.
Discover · 1 of 6
See the live app Origin
Four hundred hikes with the wrong tools
3,000
+ members
450+
hikes led
6
years running
I started OZ Outdoors during the 2020 lockdowns. It's now among the top-rated outdoor Meetup groups in Sydney. Planning any group hike meant juggling five apps, and everyone felt the friction. I sent feature requests for a long time before accepting the tools weren't built for what we were doing, and started building the replacement. The people beta-testing TrekMeet today are the same people who kept showing up for the trails.
Behind the build
CEO Dashboard
An agent updates the dashboard from the project records. It brings the next decisions and open blockers into one place. I still check important claims against the work behind them.
Current chapter
TrekMeet
TrekMeet Pty Ltd was registered in August, ACN 701 247 145. The app has a company behind it now. Beta Round 3 is planned for September. Invites coming soon.
How I build
Codex has joined Claude Code, so I can run parallel missions across both. The agent team owns its slices: /Architect plans, /Engineer builds, /CTO signs off, /UX Partner specs, /QA reports. I still set direction and approve the work. Next is removing the founder as the heartbeat, so each handoff no longer waits for me.
On the bedside table
The Untethered Soul, by Michael A. Singer. On the difference between the self that observes and the self that reacts.
Back on the trail
Spring walks with OZ Outdoors are planned: Harbour to Hawkesbury and the Kiama Coast Walk.
The years before
Before the Build
18
+ years in complex domains
Six years running Soprano Design’s global messaging roadmap, with a Chairman’s Award along the way. Before that: US government healthcare at hCentive, later acquired by Optum, and gig-worker mobile at Swipejobs. That experience still shapes the decisions I make for TrekMeet.
Latest insight · LinkedIn
A map, and a better way
to make decisions
“TrekMeet has its own map and I am realising that how we build software is changing completely.”
I wasn't happy with the walking trace. The UX agent built a tool to compare today's design with the proposal, test a leader and follower, and adjust the trace at different zoom levels. I could try it, change the dials and give useful feedback before the spec went to the CTO.