BroadCast

Inspiration

We set out to address the monopoly of parasocial influencer ads (celebrity/athletes) by empowering authentic, local voices to help small businesses tell real stories that resonate in their communities. Our teammate Brandon shared how posting his DJ mixes on Instagram never felt like a “side hustle” because monetization was out of reach—big brands only work with creators who have massive followings—so we asked how to bridge that gap locally. The insight: millions of small businesses want affordable, relatable content while countless micro-creators want their first paid break, and connecting them unlocks win‑win community value.

What it does

BroadCast matches small businesses with small creators to produce user‑generated content that’s authentic, affordable, and locally relevant, then showcases those collaborations as portfolios and reviews on both sides. Creators discover nearby gigs, submit offers, track earnings and ratings; businesses post briefs with budget and deliverables, review applicants, and assess content performance. The platform intentionally lowers barriers to entry by valuing fit and locality over follower count, enabling first gigs, repeat work, and stronger neighborhood economies.

How we built it

We designed an end‑to‑end flow that has easy onboarding for creators and businesses, a discover map with location filters, profiles with linked socials and portfolios, and gig workflows spanning posting, application, selection, and review. On the creator side, we implemented dashboards for ratings, completed gigs, total earnings, response rate, and activity; on the business side, we built analytics for active gigs, applicants, spend, and average ratings. The demo experience emphasized clarity: quick actions, portfolio-first browsing, and streamlined gig creation with fields for category, location, description, budget, deliverables, and timeline. (See Built-With Section for specific technologies)

Challenges we ran into

Ideation was by far the hardest part. We really wanted to create something novel without making something for a crowded sector like a "personal finance app" or "Local Events/People Finder". Finding a unique problem not already solved pushed us to iterate repeatedly. We struggled to define a minimum viable wedge that distinguishes BroadCast from generic marketplaces: prioritizing hyper‑local matching, small budgets, and authenticity over reach was the breakthrough.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are really proud of turning a broad thesis ("UGC should serve communities, not just brands”) into a concrete, demo-able product that highlights local genuine connections instead of using famous celebrities/influencers. Most importantly, we reframed social content from parasocial performance into community storytelling with measurable pathways for small creators to access entry‑level monetization.

What we learned

We believe the most important lesson from this hackathon was the importance of storytelling. Being able to transform a problem into specific explainable solution is an extreme important skill for anyone.

What's next for BroadCast

We plan to deepen search so micro‑niches (ie. jazz coffee shop creators) and hyper‑local matches surface first, ensuring visibility for creators with small but relevant audiences. Adding in‑app messaging will streamline collaboration, and integrations with Instagram/TikTok will simplify credentialed portfolio import and performance verification. Over time, we want to build lightweight analytics that reward authentic local engagement so compensation aligns with real community