gofy

gofy is a live map of what’s happening around you right now. see what’s happening, share what you find, verify what’s real and earn when your discoveries get verified.

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Inspiration

the idea for gofy came from something very simple.

one day i was walking in the street and saw a good offer on a board outside a business. it was a limited offer, and i realized that if i had not walked past that place at that exact moment, i would have never known about it.

a few days later i kept thinking about it. google maps is useful, but a lot of the information there is static. at the same time, businesses were already sharing temporary offers and things happening in their places on instagram and other platforms.

so i started thinking, what if people could actually see what is happening around them right now?

but i didn't want gofy to depend only on businesses posting. normal people discover things every day too.

that's where the idea started becoming clearer. people could share what they find around them, other people could verify it, and the person who contributed could earn from a verified discovery.

What it does

gofy is a live map of what is happening around you right now.

people can see what others are sharing nearby, add their own discoveries and verify information from other users.

the goal is not to be another static map or local guide. gofy is built around things that are happening now and can disappear or change quickly.

users can also earn when their discoveries are verified.

there is also a business side where local businesses can have a presence on gofy and connect with people nearby.

How we built it

i built gofy around a live map and a community system.

the app uses a map to show nearby gems and information shared by users. users can create a gem, add the relevant information and the community can verify it.

i also built the reward and subscription system around this.

the idea is that subscriptions create a reward pool, and eligible users can earn from that pool when their discoveries are verified.

i built the product with a focus on keeping the experience simple because the whole point is to open the app and quickly understand what is happening around you.

Challenges we ran into

one of the hardest parts was figuring out how to keep the information fresh.

if gofy only depended on businesses posting, there would always be places or events missing. that's why the community side became a big part of the product.

another challenge was verification. if people can post anything, the map can quickly become full of outdated or low quality information.

i also had to think carefully about the reward system. i wanted to give people a reason to contribute without creating a system that could become unsustainable.

and of course, building the map experience itself and making it feel fast and useful was a challenge.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

the biggest thing for me is that gofy is actually live and people are using it.

we have already seen organic users discovering and using the app, and one of our videos reached more than 14k views and brought around 150 new users in one day.

gofy is also already live on the App Store, with the Google Play version currently under review.

i'm also proud that the product has grown from that original simple idea into both a consumer experience and a business side for local businesses.

What we learned

i learned that the hardest part of building a local product isn't just putting information on a map.

the information needs to be recent, useful and trustworthy.

i also learned that you can't always depend on one side of a marketplace. businesses can provide information, but users are also out there discovering things that businesses may never post themselves.

that's why the community became such an important part of gofy.

i'm still learning from every person who uses it and every piece of feedback i get.

What's next for gofy

the next step is to keep growing the community and make the map more useful in more cities.

i want gofy to become the place people open when they want to know what is happening around them right now, not what was happening yesterday or what might happen next week.

i also want to grow the business side so local businesses can reach people nearby while users continue contributing and earning.

there is still a lot to build, but the original idea is still the same:

if something is happening around you right now, you shouldn't have to walk past it without ever knowing.

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