AlgoBuds

I knew that for a project like this to work the sign-up process had to be as seamless as possible.
But I also needed a way to guarantee that the user on the platform was actually the real user behind the Threads account.
I realized that the only way to have that certainty was to send the user a verification link on Instagram DM.

This of course increases friction but I tried to make it as fast and easy as possible for the user.

It works like this:
When a new user inserts his Threads username into the platform I receive a telegram message. Then I immediately send to that username on Instagram DM a pre-written message with his verification link. As soon as he clicks on the link he is immediately logged in and can start using the platform.

I put down the idea into a platform pretty fast, about 2 weekends of very deep work.

I know that I should try to validate more before working, but I realized that I could just build a product fairly fast and just validate it and it would be around the same amount of work, so I just did it.

How does AlgoBuds work?

It works like this: you enter the Threads username and automatically your bio and profile picture are pulled, I get a notification and I instantly send you a verification link in Instagram PM (this is to verify that the person who entered the username is actually the threads user).
At this point your account is in the list which can be filtered by account category.

The list is sorted by the number of points on the account: the more points you have the more people see your profile. You earn points by getting more friends to sign up.
You can do that very easily by just tapping on "Invite Now" in your profile this prompts the opening of Threads with a pre-written text with your referral link: any user that signs up to the platform after seeing that link will bring you points.

If you have ideas for other features or have feedback I would love to hear from you.

At the beginning of the year I decided to start creating a following on Threads to share my product ideas and get feedback and start building a IndieHackers community there.

So I started posting and engaging as everyone does.

I constantly saw posts like:

"Hey algorithm!
Please connect me with other developer, entrepreneur..."

They seemed a bit silly, but they absolutely work and I managed to create a lot of connections by engaging with those kind of posts.

After a while I understood that there has to be a more structured way to do the same.

So I saw the need and the opportunity of a platform to easily find Threads user of specific categories.