Starter Service Marketplace

Listing Details

Google Drive with some screenshots of the product available upon demand.

Background

In August 2018, some fellow university students and I decided to build a universal service marketplace business (kind of like Thumbtack but available in Canada + more accessible). It supported instant messaging, a matching algorithm for matching the right service providers with nearby consumers, and a profile builder where service providers could showcase their services and experiences. We also built a scheduling interface to make it easier for clients to book service appointments with ease. It was meant to be unique through its matching algorithm, universality, and focus on helping small service businesses grow/improve.

The overall mission was to save consumers time finding a reputable service provider for the job while helping small service businesses manage their business from their phone (kind of like a digital back-office for any service-based business).

What I'm selling

Over the course of 2+ years, we've developed a consumer-side (high-fidelity) prototype, a working Android/iOS business-side app, and a minimal scheduling interface with a tested system for booking appointments and viewing information about a service.

Here's a Product/Platform Breakdown:

The API:

• - Written in Node and upgraded to TypeScript from plain JS
• - Uses MongoDB + Mongoose to store/update/query data
• - Handles service matching logic (finding the right/available service providers for the consumer)
• - Handles scheduling (booking/finding available time slots)
• - Handles email-password authentication using the AWS Cognito API + JWT Auth
• - Includes automated unit tests for core functions of the API (using Chai, MochaJS, and Jest)
• - Documented Postman collection with sample requests and sample responses
•  

The Mobile Admin App (React Native):

- 11,521 lines of TypeScript source code (upgraded from Flow to TypeScript)

- Was published on iOS TestFlight using Microsoft's AppCenter, but we had to suspend our launch before we got to publish to the real app store.

• - No UI library, components designed from scratch with help of our lead designer
• - Used Pusher to handle instant messaging, but became deprecated
• - Google Maps to view where the service provider worked, tailored designs for mobile, remote, and shop-based businesses
• - Profile Builder
• - Dynamic Profile Builder (add spoken languages, skills, name, images, etc.)
• - Multi-criteria reviews (beyond a basic 5-star review)
• - Messenger UI (fully deprecated as Pusher's messenger service was sunsetted)

The Consumer Side App (React Native + Figma Prototype):

Wasn't close to being launched, but we made a full user-friendly prototype for the consumer-side application

The Landing Page:

• - Built using WebFlow, exported as plain html/js/css (no longer have access to webflow)

The Design Language, Prototypes, and Icons:

- Access to Figma account with a bunch of prototypes for mobile apps

• - Icons + Illustrations + Design Language/Guide
• - Componentized (easily re-use components across multiple designs)
•  

The Web Lite React App:

• - Auth0 for password-less authentication
• - Google reCAPTCHA
• - React (using react hooks + context API)
• - uses Ant Design library
• - Integrated with the API's scheduling system
• - It was nearly deployed as a working product but things went south

Some other stuff that I'm including:

- Access to a MongoDB Atlas account with $3,600 credits (expires in 2099)

• - Documentation
• - Competitive Research & Market Research
• - Our pre-seed Pitch Deck with speaker notes
• - Sticker + T-Shirt Designs
• - Google Drive folder with random things (launch strategies, applications to grant programs, etc.)
• - Data + map of service provider leads in the KW + Toronto Areas
• - Marketing Content (dozens of posts – made using Canva)
• ---

Stack (tools, languages, services used): Node.JS, MongoDB, Express, Trello, AWS Cognito, TypeScript, Docker, GitHub Actions, Chai JS, React, React Native, Ant Design, Figma, Pusher, Google Maps API, Google Cloud App Engine, App Center

Why am I selling?

We spent months researching, designing, prototyping, applying for grants, and learning. Unfortunately, we had lots of trouble scaling up, getting users, and marketing a two-sided marketplace. We spent too much time on developing the product and when the pandemic hit, our app basically became redundant. We saw the harsh toll on other service marketplace startups (massive layoffs, small businesses shutting down, etc.). Our team also gradually started falling apart and I ultimately decided to pursue a new business that I had more confidence in & more experience with.

My new business is going moderately well and my effort will go to waste if I don't hand over the assets to someone else.

We never launched to the public and we didn't earn any cash from the business (only credits + perks). I still believe the code, designs, ideas, and documentation are highly valuable.

I will fairly compensate my co-founders and I wouldn't want to see our work go to waste.

What you can do with the code + assets?

If you're building a marketplace-based app or thinking about making a marketplace platform, our code + prototypes + documentation + research + know-how will definitely be useful.

You can use our assets for inspiration, re-using code, reproducing design, reselling to someone else, or polishing and actually launching to the world.

I've put in over 2+ years of my life working part-time on it along with some designers, marketing folks, and other developers.

Caveat:

Our social media accounts have already been repurposed for my new business.

How can the buyer take this project further?

If you're building a marketplace-based app or thinking about making a marketplace platform, our code + prototypes + documentation + research + know-how will definitely be useful.

You can use our assets for inspiration, re-using code, reproducing design, reselling to someone else, or polishing and actually launching to the world. You can also open-source the code and get the open-source community to refine the product.