technical co-founder at GRADSTAY
London, UK 🇬🇧
Joining GradStay in early 2024 marked a significant shift in my entrepreneurial journey. For the first time, I took on the role of the sole technical member in a close-knit team of three. The leap in responsibility was evident, and I understood that my teammates relied on me to deliver quality results.🚀
Shortly after I joined, the co-founder and I began to work on a specification for our minimum viable product. As we focused on identifying key hypotheses to test, our creative director began to design our landing page. Within a month, we launched the page on our website, built entirely with React and Tailwind CSS.🌐
With a functional landing page actively collecting emails for our mailing list📧, we began developing our initial product. GradStay is a student housing platform with a unique business model that benefits current tenants and landlords alike. We decided to split our MVP launch into two phases: Phase I in early summer 2024 and Phase II in mid-summer.☀
The primary goal of MVP Phase I was to enable users to list their properties on our platform. What sets GradStay apart from other housing platforms is that current tenants, not estate agents, list these properties. I was responsible for the entire frontend and backend of the web app that included:
Introduction of Firebase🔥: Leveraging my prior experience with Firebase, I chose it for its quick setup. For MVP testing, the priority is to swiftly test our business hypotheses with real clients. While Firebase may not be the best choice for scalability, our focus in Phase I is on validating our business model.
React Frontend⚛: React is the web framework I am most proficient in, allowing me to focus on high-level technical questions rather than getting bogged down in the weeds of code. I also used Tailwind CSS as I find that it simplifies the styling process.
Data type design🗂: I dedicated significant time to designing the data types for this project. We use Cloud Firestore to store our data and Typescript to minimize developer errors and ensure robust type-checking.
GradStay is an ongoing project. This was last updated May 20th, 2024.📅
“The blend of social and technical capability becomes evident after even a brief conversation with Nick. Beyond high levels of productivity and unwavering work ethic, he consistently considers the most efficient strategies and builds his code on strong foundations, enhancing his speed in iterating any changes founders may need while ensuring robustness and scalability. His adaptability and positivity have been crucial in navigating the numerous pivots and edits required during the development of our initial MVPs and websites. As a founder building a product that caters to four distinct types of users, I have found his ability to sift through unnecessary features and create clarity around viable implementations to be unparalleled. Above all, the infectious positivity he brings to the workplace, both in person and online, inspires a sense of commitment and enthusiasm among the entire team, elevating the morale and productivity of everyone around him.”
Daniel Merighi, CEO and co-founder at Gradstay
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