IMDB for NFTs
A social network for NFTs that 2,000 people actually used.
Built a social network for NFT discovery using the MERN stack and OpenSea APIs. Pitched to YCombinator and 100xVC. 500 users in the first week, 2,000 total. A useful lesson in the gap between building something and building something people find.
What it is
Alpheta was a social network for NFT discovery — think IMDB but for digital assets. Built with the MERN stack and OpenSea APIs, it let users explore NFTs, follow collections, and see what others were watching. It reached 500 users in the first week and 2,000 total.
I also pitched it to YCombinator and 100xVC. Neither funded it. That's fine.
What I learned
Building something 2,000 people find and use is a different problem from building something that works. The technical execution was straightforward. The harder questions were about distribution: how do you reach people who don't know they want the thing you built?
Pitching to VCs was useful mostly for the sharpening effect — you learn quickly which parts of your product you understand deeply and which parts you've been hand-waving.