SandboxHOU

SandboxHOU product image (product-home.png).
SandboxHOU product image (product-request.png).
SandboxHOU project cover image (sandboxhou-demo-poster.jpg).
SandboxHOU current live app interface (captured 2026-09-27 19:40 UTC).

Inspiration

The Startup Sandbox brief asked for a local way to connect founders with relevant testers. SandboxHOU starts with the part that is often missing from a quick feedback request: a clear audience, a focused question, and a useful response format.

What it does

Founders can draft a request with a problem, audience, location, time box, and two to five questions. Visitors can browse and filter requests, join with fit context, and submit a rating, question answers, a surprise, and a next step. Feedback is visible only to the tester and request owner.

How I built it

The prototype uses Vite and vanilla JavaScript, an Express and TypeScript API, PostgreSQL with Drizzle ORM, Google sign-in and server sessions for shared mutations, and browser-local drafts. Example records are clearly labeled and cannot receive tester submissions.

Challenges

The implementation had to make structured feedback feel lightweight while keeping private participation and owner-only review boundaries intact. Separating illustrative examples from real submissions was also essential because an empty or early marketplace should not imply a real cohort.

Accomplishments

SandboxHOU ships public search and filters, a local-first request builder, authenticated publishing, tester fit context, private participation tracking, structured feedback, and focused access-control tests. The production state is honest about having examples rather than claiming completed matches.

What I learned

A matching product can begin with better questions before it begins with automation. Privacy rules are part of the experience: they determine whether a tester can participate with confidence.

What's next

The first real experiment would seed a small Houston founder cohort, observe whether the request template improves feedback quality, and learn which categories and stages deserve more structure. Matching, notifications, payments, and partner recruitment remain future work.