FriendCards

Landing Page
FriendCards Dashboard
FriendCards Tableview
Create a FriendCard
Try AI Conversation Starter

Inspiration

My inspiration came from my personal struggles and experiences shared by countless others online. Like many adults, I found myself constantly forgetting important details about friends and dates, leading to missed opportunities for deeper connections. Exploring Reddit communities, I saw how widespread this issue was—people feeling lonely, disconnected, and frustrated by their inability to nurture meaningful relationships effectively. Initially, my hackathon idea was a small business permitting navigation app, as I work as a small business permit specialist for the City and County of San Francisco. However, the project scope was too large for someone without coding experience, and I discovered the government was already working on similar reforms. Reflecting on other topics that deeply interested me, I pivoted to the FriendCards idea based on my daily observations about relationships and connections.

What it does

FriendCards is a personal relationship management app—think Salesforce, but for your friendships and dating life. It allows users to:

Create detailed profiles (Friend Cards) capturing basic information, interests, memories, and inside jokes.
Log interactions and memories effortlessly, using built-in voice dictation powered by OpenAI.
Receive color-coded reminders (green, yellow, red) indicating when it's time to reconnect.
Generate AI-powered conversation starters tailored to individual relationships and shared memories.
View information clearly in both visual card format and organized table view.

How we built it

This was my very first coding project. Without any prior coding experience or technical background, I learned how to use Bolt to build the front-end and integrated essential services like Supabase for data storage and authentication, Stripe for payment management, and OpenAI for built-in voice dictation. Additionally, I incorporated Claude AI for generating personalized conversation starters. I also learned how to deploy my app on Netlify. I learned as I was building it.

Challenges we ran into

Having no coding background was undoubtedly my biggest challenge. Each step—from setting up my initial environment and integrating APIs to deploying the app—was entirely new to me. Balancing user-friendly UX/UI design with functionality was an iterative and continuous challenge. Understanding and implementing payments with Stripe and effectively integrating AI services from OpenAI and Claude AI required significant effort and troubleshooting.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I'm incredibly proud that I was able to go from zero technical knowledge to building a fully functional, useful, and user-friendly app in just a few weeks. Successfully integrating complex technologies like Stripe for payments, Supabase for backend management, OpenAI for voice dictation, and Claude AI for conversational AI, despite having no prior coding experience, is a significant personal win. Additionally, turning a common pain point in life into a tool that can genuinely help others improve their friendships and relationships is deeply rewarding.

What we learned

This journey taught me that curiosity, persistence, and passion could overcome even the steepest learning curves. I learned practical skills like deploying apps through Netlify, managing custom domains, and integrating advanced APIs. More importantly, I discovered the value of breaking problems down into smaller tasks, continuous learning, and never afraid asking for help (from my boyfriend who also participated in this Hackathon: stribe.me).

What's next for FriendCards

The next steps for FriendCards include marketing and promoting the app to attract more users. I will gather user feedback to further enhance the UI and UX, identifying additional features users find important. Additionally, I plan to develop smarter, more personalized AI-driven features such as automated gift suggestions based on interests, local event recommendations, and a comprehensive friendship health score. Ultimately, I aim to expand FriendCards into a robust mobile application that seamlessly integrates with users’ calendars, contacts, and messaging platforms—making maintaining meaningful connections effortless wherever you are. Try it out and let me know what you think! Would love to hear your feedback! :)