Inspiration
LCKR all started with Aliza's quest to become a "cool surfer girl." She went to the beaches of San Diego trying to catch a wave. Getting a wave was the easy part... getting a board, now that was difficult: the local surf shop was closed, her surfer friends were busy, and the available options were unreasonably pricey.
This experience fueled her mission: no one should be deprived of what they need to unlock their next adventure. She set up at PennApps to create the world's first community-based experiential marketplace.
What it does
Through our platform, we bring together like-minded individuals who can lend, rent, or borrow gear. Together, let's build a community where experiences are elevated, access to equipment is equitable and passion knows no bounds.
How we built it
We used a mixture of React and MySQL tools to built this marketplace. We also plan on integrating a third party chat bot developed on Javascript to help provide a better experience for the users. Additionally, exploring functionalities with Twilio to improve real-time communications. Furthermore, we used GoDaddy for the domain and the Microsoft email functionality.
Challenges we ran into
Building or using a pre-developed Chatbot. Furthermore, integrating an off-the-shelf chatbot meant that we had to review data privacy
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Developing a self-insurance policy that is dynamic and supports a dual income revenue stream. Furthermore, insurance is critical for instilling confidence with our renter/lender community.
What we learned
We learnt how to tackle different issues while deploying a React App to github and then further using Heroku. Other than technical skills, we learned about the financial aspects of running the startup and considering unit economics / economies of scale. Our solution needs to incentivize both the lender to use it, and be a positive UX experience for the renter. Two-way marketplaces are difficult and we strove to think about this from various user flows.
What's next for LCKR
Applying for Penn's Venture Innovation Practicum (VIP) program to continue building out our business case. Furthermore, we are exploring ways to integrate our site with a smart lock system - and have ordered component parts from Alibaba. This will support our pick up / drop off functionality.
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