Case Study
Mustang Market
Peer-to-peer marketplace for Cal Poly students enabling secure buying and selling of campus items. Features real-time messaging, image uploads, and listing management. Grew to 750+ registered users with active daily listings and organic campus-wide adoption.
01
The Problem
Cal Poly students relied on fragmented channels — GroupMe chats, Instagram stories, dorm bulletin boards — to buy and sell items. There was no centralized, trusted platform designed specifically for campus commerce.
02
The Approach
I built a dedicated marketplace web app with Cal Poly email authentication to ensure trust, real-time messaging for buyer-seller communication, and a clean listing system with image uploads. Then wrapped it as a native iOS app for mobile access.
03
Technical Highlights
- Firebase Auth with .edu email restriction for campus-only access and trust
- Firestore real-time listeners for instant messaging and live listing updates
- Image upload pipeline with compression and Firebase Storage
- Next.js SSR for SEO and fast initial page loads
- iOS App Store deployment via native wrapper with push notifications
04
Results
750+ registered users with organic campus adoption
Active daily listings across multiple categories
Published on the iOS App Store
Word-of-mouth growth without paid marketing