The gig economy, encompassing services like Uber and delivery platforms like DoorDash and Instacart, has been growing rapidly. However, gig workers often struggle to understand their net hourly earnings, especially after accounting for expenses such as gas and vehicle depreciation. In many cities, gig workers earn less than the local minimum wage after expenses, and the COVID-19 pandemic has further driven down pay for many workers across various platforms. The primary challenge was the lack of a tool that could help gig workers estimate their hourly net earnings and compare them with other gig workers in their city.

Giverrang, a local marketplace app, was founded with the mission to boost small businesses and increase local spending. The app rewards members with cash back for spending at local businesses, providing a platform for shoppers to discover local products and experiences, and for merchants to increase local visibility and sales. However, the founder, Mark Walerysiak Jr., faced a significant challenge in developing the app due to the high cost of traditional development. His background in journalism and creative writing, and experience in mass media and community and economic development, did not provide him with the technical skills required to build the app himself.

Golifo, a social ticketing app, was founded by Laurence Mourasse, an ex-corporate in the events industry. The challenge was to create a platform that would help people connect, network, and unlock event offers reserved for groups. The founder recognized that most people do not like to attend events alone, even when the content is great. Therefore, the need for a platform that would allow people to connect early, network, and unlock group offers was identified. The app was designed to be a managed marketplace where ticket owners could post and manage group offers, using Golifo as a social marketing channel to increase ticket sales. However, the founder being a non-technical woman in her forties, faced challenges in deciding the right platform and tools to build the app.

Goodstead, a financial planning robo-advisor, was created to address the challenges faced by the common worker in saving money for the future. The current economy is not well-equipped to help people save money, and fewer people have access to retirement plans through their employer or union than ever before. People are changing jobs more frequently and often aren’t offered retirement solutions. The founder and CEO of Goodstead, Robert Swigert, wanted to help regular people achieve financial independence by providing them with planning tools, financial education, and investment management, all from the convenience of a mobile handset.

GoSaily, a web app that connects private sailboat owners to sailor crews, was initially built with code in 2015. However, the founders, Stefano Failla and Paola Ginella, faced challenges in maintaining the platform due to high costs and time-consuming processes. The Italian sailboat market was relatively small, and GoSaily had to compete with well-funded competitors who were willing to invest heavily in web and social media marketing. The platform had gained a niche in the market, but the business model was not economically viable. The founders were looking for a solution that could reduce the running costs of the platform while maintaining the same number of features that GoSaily users already had. In 2018, due to personal reasons and lack of time, the founders decided to temporarily close GoSaily and switched to a simpler Wordpress site for promoting their local sailing activities.

The urban housing crisis, particularly in Paris, has been a significant challenge for millennials seeking affordable, furnished, and community-oriented housing. The traditional process of finding a suitable place to live is often time-consuming, complex, and lacks transparency. The founder of HackerHouse, Stephane Bounmy, identified this problem and sought to create a solution that would simplify the process and make it more accessible for millennials. As a full-stack developer with experience in startups in San Francisco and Paris, Stephane had the technical skills but found building a platform from scratch while running the company to be a daunting task.

The founders of Harmony Visualizer, Lillian Zhu, Anna Shih, Gargi Panatula, and Olivia Wang, were first-year Computer Science students at the University of Washington when they decided to build an app that provides users with a visual keyboard platform. The goal was to create a tool that could show how different musical notes can be harmonized in different keys. However, despite their computer science background, they lacked experience in frontend development and were concerned about the complexities of programming features like syntax and repositories. They needed a solution that would allow them to implement their ideas effectively without the stress of traditional programming.

Felipe Abello, the founder of HelloGuru, was a non-technical individual with a deep fascination for technology and computer science. Despite his business background and experience working at a startup, he felt frustrated by his inability to code and the significant time investment required to become a proficient developer. He was also aware of the growing demand for no-code skills in companies and startups. Recognizing the gap between non-technical individuals and the need for software development skills, Felipe sought an alternative solution that would empower non-technical individuals to build software without traditional coding.

The traditional tutoring model often requires a significant time commitment from both students and tutors, which can be a barrier for those seeking quick, targeted help. This is particularly true for students who may only have a single question or a specific problem they're struggling with. The challenge was to create a platform that could connect students with tutors for single-question tutoring, providing a more efficient and cost-effective solution. The platform needed to be user-friendly, fast, and compatible with an AI API to determine the subject, difficulty, and prices of questions to match questions to tutors.

In the modern era, creators are the backbone of entertainment. However, there was a gap in the market for a platform that allowed fans to connect directly with their favorite creators for personalized advice. This was the challenge faced by Cole and Katie Zucker, co-founders of Hey Hero. They wanted to create a platform that would not only allow fans to connect with creators but also provide a new form of monetization for the creators. The challenge was to build this platform quickly and efficiently without compromising on quality.

The founder of Honeyglider, Mads Schmidt Petersen, identified a significant challenge in the travel industry. The majority of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) prioritize the needs of airlines over passengers. This is because OTAs receive their revenue from airlines, which over time, drives them to focus on pleasing the airlines rather than creating a better product for the passengers. This situation often leaves passengers struggling to find reasonably priced flights, a process that can take days or even weeks. The Honeyglider team, being expats and avid travelers themselves, experienced this issue firsthand and sought to find a better way to support travelers in their quest for affordable flights.

Incentiv was founded by Matthew Haller, a former management consultant for Deloitte, who identified a significant problem in the business management application sector. He noticed that many companies were spending millions of dollars on custom solutions to support their sales teams, only to discard these solutions before they went live due to changes in business strategy. This wasteful and inefficient process was particularly prevalent in the area of commission calculation for small and medium-sized businesses. These companies needed a way to automate the commission calculation process, provide real-time insights into rep earnings, organize all sales contracts, and automatically provide insights and analytics on commission budget expenditure.

Freelancers often struggle with managing their finances and sending invoices, which can lead to poor financial planning and decision-making. They often lack clear answers to questions such as “How much money am I making this month?” or “Will I reach my financial goal at the end of the year?” This lack of clarity can push freelancers to make poorly informed decisions, hindering the success of their freelance career or business. Additionally, creating, managing, and sending visually striking invoices or proposals can be a time-consuming and complex process for freelancers.

The traditional startup fundraising model has been a source of frustration for many founders, including Trevor Goss, the founder of Intro2. The process of finding the right investors, creating a target list, navigating through LinkedIn for introductions, and following up on emails is time-consuming and often unproductive. Goss experienced these challenges firsthand while trying to find investors for his previous startup. The struggle to balance the roles of a CEO, operations manager, customer service, revenue generation, product development, and legal affairs further compounded the problem. The lack of a streamlined, efficient, and effective way to connect startups with potential investors was a significant challenge that needed a solution.

The founder of Isitu, Thomas Yeddou, identified a significant challenge faced by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) - understanding their financial situation. Many SMEs struggle to get a clear and precise vision of their finances, which can lead to uncertainty and lack of confidence with financial partners. This lack of clarity can also hinder the ability to plan and prepare for the future. The process of obtaining a complete financial statement of a company can be time-consuming and complex. Furthermore, Thomas, an ex-corporate banker, wanted to start his business and launch an app but had no knowledge about coding.

JustOKRs was founded by Chris Wagner with the aim of providing an efficient tool for managing professional objectives and key results (OKRs) for companies, teams, and individuals. The challenge was that most popular OKR software was expensive, bloated, and often lost focus on performance management instead of concentrating on making a really great OKR tool. The goal was to create a tool that was laser-focused on only making the best OKR tool, inspired by the ease of using Google Docs or Sheets to track OKRs. The tool needed to add the ability to easily score OKRs, assign ownership, and align OKRs across a company.

The traditional methods of communication between teachers and students' families were proving to be inefficient and cumbersome. Teachers had to juggle between a clunky classroom website, endless parent emails, and countless files. The existing system was not user-friendly and was not designed to cater to the specific needs of a classroom. The challenge was to create a platform that would streamline communication between teachers and parents, making it easier for them to share announcements, photos, files, Google docs, links, digital permission slips, and events with sign-up sheets. The platform needed to be intuitive, easy to use, and efficient, enabling teachers to focus more on teaching and less on administrative tasks.

Kinetic, an app designed to help startups create meaningful relationships, was conceived by founders Kris Eul and Andrew Verboncouer during the pandemic. The primary objective of the app is to assist startups by connecting them with their first hires, advisors, and investors. However, the founders faced a significant challenge. They had a limited budget and time to build a fully functional platform. Moreover, Kris had no technical background, which added to the complexity of the situation. They needed a solution that was user-friendly, cost-effective, and capable of delivering all the necessary features to bring their idea to life.

Kiter, an application designed to help users reach their dream job or school, was facing challenges in terms of speed and flexibility. The founders, Andrew Mangan and Peter Mangan, were looking for a platform that could allow them to experiment and improve their users' journey. They wanted to make tracking applications and interviews fast, effective, and fun with tools designed to help everyone steer towards their next adventure. The challenge was to turn the list of companies that users are interested in or have applied to into an interactive dashboard to help chart their path forward. The goal was to make action and accountability easy to achieve and provide an experience that saves users time getting organized.

Kreatus, an application designed to empower content creators, was facing a significant challenge when its full-stack developer had to leave the team temporarily. The app's founder, Hyunghwan Byun, a UX designer at Adobe, was left with the task of building the product without the necessary coding skills. The challenge was to create a platform that would allow content creators to transform their passion and experiences into a sustainable revenue stream. This platform would enable creators to coach their fans, provide services such as consulting, and manage and deliver orders, all while increasing engagement with their audience.

La Boutique was founded with the mission to make shopping at local stores easier for consumers and to help retail businesses thrive in an online-offline world. The challenge was to create a platform that could seamlessly integrate the convenience of online shopping with the unique offerings of local stores. The founder, Stephane Kattie, had experience using no-code tools like Google Sheets and Airtable to build products, but needed a more versatile tool to bring her vision to life. The goal was to create a marketplace where consumers could shop online at local stores in their city, supporting small businesses within and outside of their community.

Matt Jenner, the founder of Learning Circuits and Director of Learning at FutureLearn, faced a challenge when he wanted to rebuild his app, Learning Circuits. The app, which teaches children and young people about the basics of electricity and circuits, was originally launched in 2004 and was built on Flash. However, with the decline of Flash, Matt needed to rebuild the app. He tried using specialist e-learning authoring software in 2019, but was not satisfied with the outcome. He also found it difficult to rebuild the app from scratch in HTML5 due to his skill set. Additionally, he wanted to make the app more interactive and engaging for learners, who are generally aged 8-10.

Levin Sites, an agency that empowers small businesses to harness the power of the web, was facing a challenge. The agency's founder, Nathan Sessions, and his team were managing clients and projects via email, which was the industry standard. However, this method was time-consuming and inefficient, hindering the agency's ability to focus on their clients' success. The team needed a solution that would allow them to build functional applications quickly and efficiently, without diverting their attention from their clients. They also needed a platform that would enable them to adapt to the changing needs of their clients, without having to hire a third party or invest significant amounts of time and money.

LifeBe, an app developed by Wojtek Gargul, was initially designed to help users discover, share, and manage subscription and on-demand services. However, after receiving feedback from initial users, the team realized that the real problem obstructing people's financial freedom was debt. The challenge was to evolve the app to address this issue and help users transition to a debt-free lifestyle. The team needed a platform that could provide the necessary tools to build and enhance their app, including additional features such as templates and plugins. As a bootstrapped project, they also needed a cost-effective solution that could deliver a native-like experience.

The Lifestyle Method, co-founded by Andrew Stevens and Mackenzie Stevens, aimed to create a meal and exercise planning app to help people reduce chronic inflammation and develop a healthy lifestyle. The challenge was to build a fully-functional web app without having to code, as time was a significant constraint. The app needed to provide weekly meal plans, daily workouts, and educational articles, all tailored to the user's health concerns, time availability, food preferences, and workout preferences. The founders also wanted to offer additional resources such as a running blog of dessert and snack recipes and form and technique videos for exercises.

Ryan Ellman, the founder of Lingua Fortis, had a vision to create a language learning platform that was different from existing services. He wanted to create a platform that taught students the most important patterns in their target language first, using algorithmically created courses. This approach would ensure that the content reflected how the language is actually used in real-life conversations. However, as a solo entrepreneur with a busy schedule, Ryan faced the challenge of bringing his idea to fruition. He had experience in coding, but building and maintaining an app using code, even with a framework like Django or Rails, would be an uphill battle.

Lorenzo Suffritti, a front-end web developer, was faced with the challenge of creating a robust and scalable application that could aggregate links into a single, shareable location. Despite his coding skills, Suffritti lacked the necessary expertise to build a solid back-end for the complex application he envisioned. He needed a platform that could support the development of his app, allowing for customization, scalability, and the ability to build plugins if required. Additionally, he was interested in the no-code movement, viewing it as a disruptive technology for the future.

Localizoo, a pet rescue and adoption platform in Mexico, was founded by Gabriel Tamez, who had a background in finance but was keen to learn coding. The challenge was to create a platform that would allow independent and small-scale pet rescuers to manage their pet listings, reach a wider audience, and screen potential adopters. The platform needed to be user-friendly and efficient, allowing rescuers to upload an unlimited number of pets with specific details such as location, animal type, breed, size, age, etc. The platform also needed to provide relevant forms and paperwork to streamline the adoption process. The challenge was compounded by the overwhelming number of street and neglected animals in Mexico.

Luzsol, a Miami-based energy company, was founded with the aim of bringing reliable power to more people, particularly in regions with poor energy infrastructure and extreme weather conditions. The company's challenge was to design systems and products that are optimized for the needs of their clients and the location where they will be installed. The goal was to provide services that meet each region’s specific needs so that they can enjoy greater resiliency, independence, and security when it comes to accessing energy. However, the company faced challenges in reaching out to a larger customer base and providing a platform where customers could post questions about electrical and energy-related project needs.

Max, the founder of Make Fortnite Skins, was driven by his passion for gaming and technology, inherited from his father. He noticed a gap in the market where gamers were interested in skins for Fortnite, a popular online video game. However, he had little to no coding experience, which posed a challenge in creating a platform to meet this demand. Additionally, Max was unsure of the potential traffic his website could attract, although he had been fairly active on the Fortnite subreddit and had managed to get several posts to the front page. The challenge was to create a user-friendly platform that could cater to the needs of the Fortnite community and gain significant traction.