FrontierFund

Pool, vote, and grow your investments with trusted partners. Fair and Democratic investing with friends and family. "Your Money, your Vote."

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Inspiration

One of our team members, Jared, was inspired by his family’s experience with the Mexican tanda, a system where groups save money collectively, and each member takes turns receiving the full pot. This inspired FrontierFund, a shared brokerage app where individuals can pool money together in “ranches” with people they trust. Investments in each ranch are democratic, allowing members to vote to invest, add funds, withdraw, or remove members, while leveraging alpaca APIs on the stock market to guide decisions.

What it does

FrontierFund allows users to:

  • Create accounts and join or start ranches
  • Pool money with trusted friends and family
  • Vote on investment decisions, adding or withdrawing funds
  • Track portfolios, guided by Alpaca AI

It combines social, democratic investing with stock market insights, letting small groups make smarter financial decisions together.

How we built it

  • Frontend: React Native, Expo, TypeScript
  • Backend: Python, FastAPI, AWS DynamoDB
  • Libraries & APIs: boto3, uvicorn, passlib, python-dotenv, Alpaca API (for stock market data)
  • Tools: Git & GitHub, Docker, Figma, VS Code, GitHub Copilot, Notion

The app was structured so the frontend communicates with the backend via API calls, keeping the UI updated with real-time investment data.

Challenges we ran into

  • Setting up React Native from scratch with Expo and TypeScript
  • Configuring Docker to run frontend and backend together
  • Merge conflicts on GitHub while working as a team
  • Integrating frontend and backend, making sure API calls worked and updated the UI

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Building a working full-stack prototype in a short time
  • Successfully implementing democratic investment mechanics
  • Overcoming team collaboration challenges with Git and clear task management

What we learned

  • The importance of communication and clear task lists
  • How to work as a team and resolve merge conflicts
  • How to integrate a React Native frontend with a Python backend
  • Managing full-stack development tools like Docker, Expo, and AWS

What's next for FrontierFund

  • Expand on Machine Learning models to provide more personalized investment advice
  • Add real-time notifications for voting and investment decisions
  • Build analytics dashboards to track ranch performance
  • Explore mobile-first UI improvements and accessibility features

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