Looking for React, Next.js, TypeScript dev for Hardcover (Goodreads competitor)

Hey hey all!

Back in 2020 Goodreads decided to deprecate their API. I'd been building personal projects using it for years, and that change spurred me to start Hardcover, a social network and book discovery platform for readers.

In the last two years, we've been built a lot. We launched our beta website, launched iOS/Android apps, paid accounts, and a have been building out the platform based on interviews, surveys and research into our users and target users.

We've been so focused on building and trying to understand product/market fit that marketing has taken a back seat (perhaps because we've been a team of developers 😅). We're to ~2k users now, with about ~100 weekly active users.

We're making an effort to switch from features to marketing as more and more of our users feel happy with the experience. We recently launched a paid accounts, and have a few other revenue-generating plans in the works. We are not yet making enough money to pay our expenses or salary.

We see Hardcover as the next book platform for readers. We're moving fast and trying out lots of fun projects - using OpenAI, creating new ways of engaging around books, and trying to find ways to help people have more fun reading.

We love experimenting and brainstorming what's missing in the online book world – based on what we're hearing from our users combined with what we all want as readers.

The team right now includes me (full-time, full-stack dev/product manager), a visual designer/front-end developer (part-time), a front-end developer (part-time), a data scientist/back-stack dev (part-time), and a marketing/community manager (part-time). We brainstorm things together, validate problems and prototypes with users, then prioritize and begin implementation.

React Developer

We're looking for a React developer to join the founding team of Hardcover. Someone who can come in with opinions and wants to build stable, scalable, fast software that people love using.

A few pieces of software we're using today:

React - Obviously.
TypeScript - With linting.
Next.js - Hosted on Vercel.
Hasura - Our GraphQL API that's a gateway to Postgres and Ruby on Rails.
Ruby on Rails - Our backend for any business logic. The Next.js app doesn't manipulate data in the DB at all – only the Rails side does.
Capacitor - We're using Capacitor to create our iOS and Android apps.

Here're a few libraries and opinions we're using today on the React side: Tailwind.css, Apollo GraphQL Client, next-auth.

We're looking for someone who can come in help us create a stable React for an application that could be used by readers every day (or more likely weekly - we've found the touchpoints for an app like Hardcover to be around when people start, finish, or want to research a book).

There are two of us currently working on the React side. We're a large enough project that there's no shortage of things to do.

Equity

From an equity standpoint, we're using the Slicing Pie Model. This means that everyone (myself included) earns equity based on the work and value they bring in to the project. No one is "awarded" equity for joining. This means you'd earn equity based on either 1) chipping in for company expenses or 2) Being paid an hourly salary in equity.

Here are some videos about how Slicing Pie works if you're curious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiViMax0tis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4b_3wtUKL8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TZF_miGWhY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgVQqZLzD68
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_Ii6S7DEyw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnyh6Ide9SM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bRKpFDXS0g

Everyone on the team can see everyone else's equity, and I update it monthly for the team to see. Our hope with this approach is to incentivize hard work and sticking around rather than just getting in early.

The hope of this equity plan is to create an environment that encourages hard work, bypasses equity resentment, and builds a long-term team who enjoys working together for the long run.

Up for it?

We're looking for someone to join our team who's up for working on this not just for a week or month - but for years.

There have been dozens of Goodreads competitors that have come and gone over the years. We're trying to build one that stands the test of time. Part of that is building a strong team that can work together with an eye toward the long-term viability of the project.

If this topic (books) and tech stack (react) meshes with your own goals, please reach out! We'd love to bring someone on board this month. Email me (adam at hardcover.app) or comment on this post!