Huntr

The Insight

Pop-ups are built on urgency and FOMO. Discovery platforms are static and lifeless.

Estate sales, sample sales, food pop-ups, flash markets, vintage fairs — anything ephemeral, limited-time, gone when it's gone. Discovery is fragmented across EstateSales.NET (2008-era directory), Facebook groups, Instagram, word-of-mouth, and Craigslist. No platform covers all pop-up categories. Zero real-time intelligence. You don't know if it's worth the 30-minute drive until you get there.

Today's Experience

x Check EstateSales.NET on Wednesday, screenshot addresses

x Drive 30 min each way — good stuff already gone

x Hear about pop-ups the day after they happened

x No crowd intel, no alerts, no FOMO mechanics

x 2-4 hours/month wasted on bad information

Huntr Experience

+ All pop-up categories in one beautiful, map-based app

+ Real-time crowd intel: "packed," "items going fast"

+ Smart alerts with drive-time and departure reminders

+ Countdown timers, trending badges, save counts

+ Gamified contributions build the data flywheel

Core Capabilities

Six systems that make discovery feel alive

🔍

Discovery Engine

Search, filter, map-based browse across all pop-up categories. Location-aware with radius controls. SEO-optimized web pages for organic acquisition.

📡

Real-Time Crowd Intel

Waze mechanic: check in, report items (still here / gone), live crowd levels (quiet to zoo). Data model built to grow toward wait times, parking, pick-over level.

⏳

Urgency & FOMO Layer

Countdown timers, "Going" counts, drive-time integration ("18 min from you"), traffic-aware departure reminders, trending badges powered by save velocity.

🎮

Gamification Stack

XP progression (Newbie to Legend). Scout Cash earned currency with Kohl's Cash-style expiration. Earn by checking in, reporting, uploading. Spend on premium features.

📱

Mobile App Gate

Web app is gorgeous but feature-limited. Saves, alerts, Scout Cash, crowd reporting, and calendar sync all require mobile. Tasteful prompting drives conversion.

👶

Kid Mode (Planned)

Hand the phone to the kids at the event. Scavenger hunt mechanics, collecting, age-appropriate engagement. Keeps kids busy while parents shop. Zero competitors offer this.

Personas

Five distinct user types, one platform

💎

Treasure Hunter

Casual buyer, all ages, loves the thrill of the find

Discovery + FOMO

💰

Reseller

Semi-pro/pro, hunting inventory for resale businesses

Efficiency + early access

👪

Family

Parents + kids, weekend activity seekers

Family filters + kid mode

🏺

Collector

Older demographic, antique/vintage enthusiast

Knowledge + provenance

📋

Organizer

Estate sale co, pop-up vendor, food truck (B-side)

Traffic + analytics data

Competitive Landscape

Nobody owns this category

Estate Sale Directory

EstateSales.NET (3M+ monthly visits)

Single category, 2008 UX, no mobile, no real-time intel, no community.

Pop-Up Finder

POP-UP SHOP (~50K downloads)

Bare-bones listing directory. No gamification, no crowd intel.

Fashion Events

Chicmi (niche)

Fashion-only, no real-time data, dated UX.

Small Events / Nightlife

Posh ($66.8M raised)

Nightlife-focused, not shopping/family, no gamification.

Hosted Events

Luma / Eventbrite

Beautiful but for talks/meetups. Too generic, no pop-up-specific features.

Social Platform

Facebook Events

Cluttered, no category focus, no real-time intel, declining with young users.

First platform to unify all ephemeral event types with real-time crowd intelligence, gamification lock-in, and community-generated data

Network effects on crowd intel

More users = better real-time data = more users. Hard to replicate without the user base.

Gamification lock-in

Scout Cash + tier progression creates switching costs. You don't walk away from Legend status.

Multi-category aggregation

First platform to unify all ephemeral event types. Building breadth takes time and local knowledge.

Community-generated data

Item reports, crowd levels, photos from the floor. This dataset doesn't exist anywhere else.

Architecture

Built for speed, SEO, and real-time data

🌐 Web Frontend

Next.js 14 (App Router) + Tailwind CSS. SSR/SSG for SEO, component model for complex UI. Landing, discovery, detail, leaderboard, auth, submit pages built.

📱 Mobile Frontend

React Native / Expo (planned). Shared logic with web, push notifications, camera for check-ins. The retention product.

⚡ Backend + Auth

Supabase: PostgreSQL + PostGIS for location queries, Auth, Realtime subscriptions, Row-Level Security. No custom server management.

🗺 Maps + Search

Mapbox GL JS for map browse and drive-time. Supabase full-text + PostGIS for location-aware search. Upgrade path to Typesense/Meilisearch.

📊 Data Pipeline

Make.com or Supabase Edge Functions for scraping. PostHog/Mixpanel for analytics. Stripe for subscription billing. Expo Push for mobile alerts.

Thesis Fit

"You Are an API" — Event discovery is locked inside fragmented, ugly listing sites that hoard data and offer zero intelligence. Huntr extracts that data, layers on real-time crowd intel that only an engaged community can generate, and gives users actionable information they can't get anywhere else. The user controls the intelligence.

Wherewithal Ventures — Business Model Inversion thesis

Business Model

Two-sided: buyer subscriptions + organizer analytics

Consumer Tiers

Free (Web)

$0

SEO storefront

Browse, search, map
Event details + countdowns
Drive-time estimates

Free (Mobile)

$0

Core app

5 saves, basic alerts
Check-in, earn XP
Crowd reporting

Huntr+

$5

per month

Unlimited saves
15-min early alerts
2x Scout Cash earning
Ad-free experience

Huntr Pro

$10

per month

30-min early alerts
Route planner
Reseller tools
Export + analytics

Organizer Tiers (B-Side)

Basic

Free

Claim your listing

Manage listing
Respond to reports
Basic view count

Pro

$29

per month

Full analytics dashboard
Promoted in category feed
Save + check-in data

Premium

$79

per month

Push to nearby users
Customer messaging
Multi-event management
Featured placement

$31K

Year 1 (Seattle)

$507K

Year 2 (3 Cities)

$3.5M

Year 3 (10 Cities)

85%+

Gross margin
(SaaS, minimal COGS)

23:1

LTV:CAC
(premium users)

$2-5

CAC via organic/SEO
($8-15 paid social)

<$2K

Pre-revenue burn
Bootstrap to PMF

Roadmap

Seattle seed, then city-by-city expansion

Phase 0 (Mo 1-3)

Seattle Seed

Scraped + curated listings, SEO play, 3-5 estate sale partners, 500 MAU web

Phase 1 (Mo 3-6)

Prove the Loop

Mobile app with gamification, 20+ organizers, 5K MAU web, 1K MAU mobile

Phase 2 (Mo 6-12)

Expand

Second city (Portland/SF), premium tiers live, organizer dashboard, $30K+ ARR

Series A Trigger

Scale

50K MAU, 3+ cities, 5% premium conversion, $500K+ ARR run rate

Current Status

Web app v1 built on mock data

15

Pages built
Landing, discovery, detail, leaderboard, auth, submit

3

Mock events
Seattle estate sales (16 total in multi-category framework)

Next.js 14

Stack
Supabase + PostGIS + Mapbox + Tailwind

Pressure Test

Strengths and risks

Strengths

$95B global market with zero modern discovery infrastructure

Network effects on crowd intel create genuine defensibility

Gamification + earned currency creates switching costs competitors can't easily replicate

SEO-first web acquisition is capital-efficient ($2-5 CAC organic)

Bootstrap-friendly: PMF achievable on <$2K out of pocket

Founder has direct personal access to Seattle estate sale community

Risks to Watch

Cold start on both data and crowd intel — biggest risk. Mitigated by hyper-local Seattle seeding

EstateSales.NET could block scraping — need community submission as alternate data source

Gamification may not drive retention — requires aggressive A/B testing of reward structures

Pop-up category fragmentation makes aggregation hard — start narrow (estate sales only)

Posh ($66.8M) or Eventbrite could add pop-up features — move fast on moat

"Huntr" trademark conflict possible — search required before committing

The Ask

$500K

Seed raise
Engineering team + 3-city expansion

$500K+

ARR target
Series A trigger point

50K MAU

Scale milestone
3+ cities, 5% premium conversion