Building BBSide — a local discovery platform that works before the network effect kicks in

Hey Indie Hackers!

I’m building BBSide, a platform for finding nearby products, services, and businesses available in a language you understand.

The obvious challenge is the classic marketplace problem: the product becomes truly useful only after enough local businesses and users join. To avoid building an empty map and waiting for a miracle, we added standalone tools for businesses — they can create, manage, and share their profiles even before BBSide has an active audience in their area.

We currently have a working web app, an Android app, and an iOS app under review.

I’d love to share the journey here and hear how other founders approached the early-stage marketplace chicken-and-egg problem.