Portfolio Case Study · Product & Engineering

H&G Hawaii —
Hunter & Gatherer

A compliance-first marketplace connecting Hawaii's licensed hunters, fishers, and gatherers with retail and wholesale buyers — built from zero by one founder.

Founder-built Full-stack Fintech / Payments Regulatory compliance Gov. partnership pursuit Hawaii DLNR aligned
View live prototype ↗

Project at a glance

Stage

Pre-launch

Phase 1 live

Target GMV

$250k+

Year 2 projection

Systems built

6+

Payments, tax, SMS

Gov. outreach

Active

DLNR engaged

What I built & why it matters

Full marketplace architecture

Engineering

Designed end-to-end: seller storefronts, live inventory, buyer checkout, Stripe escrow, automated payout cycles, and back-office tools — from a blank repo.

Compliance & regulatory layer

Risk / Legal

Built license-verification flows, seller certification workflows, and a platform framework targeting Hawaii DLNR state certification — no cash ever.

Seller financial back-office

Fintech

Automated invoicing, wholesale billing, IRS-ready 1099-K summaries, deductible fee tracking, and year-end tax reports — a full financial toolkit for micro-sellers.

Government partnership strategy

BD / Strategy

Drafted business plan and one-pager targeting a state-certified platform designation. Actively engaged with a Hawaii government contact.

Tech stack

HTML / CSS / JavaScript Supabase (PostgreSQL) Stripe Payments + Escrow Stripe Connect Google Apps Script Twilio SMS GitHub Pages 1099-K / Tax logic Wholesale billing License verification Inventory management B2B + B2C dual-channel

Why this matters

"I founded and architected a compliance-first marketplace handling real financial transactions, regulatory verification, and automated tax reporting — for an underserved local market with active state government engagement."

Situation

Hawaii's licensed hunters and fishers had no legal, digital way to sell their catch. Existing platforms were fish-only with no accounting tools or compliance infrastructure.

Task

Design and build a full marketplace from scratch — with payments, compliance, seller back-office financials, and a government partnership strategy — as a solo founder.

Action

Built a working prototype with Stripe escrow, automated 1099-K generation, seller license verification, live inventory, wholesale billing, Twilio SMS, and a Supabase backend. Drafted a business plan and engaged a Hawaii DLNR contact for state platform certification.

Result

Live prototype deployed on GitHub Pages. State partnership pursuit active. Designed for $50k+ Year 1 revenue scaling to $250k+ GMV — the only platform in Hawaii with full legal compliance infrastructure for this market.

What this signals

Systems thinking

Identified a workflow problem and engineered the solution

Didn't look for an app to solve it. Mapped the problem, designed the system, and built it — the same instinct that builds internal tools, automates reporting, and removes operational drag.

Resourcefulness

Production-grade output with zero budget

Free stack, live system, no ongoing cost. The ability to deliver real outcomes without waiting for resources or headcount is exactly what lean teams need.

Technical range

Frontend to backend — without a handoff

Owned the full build: UI design, JavaScript logic, serverless backend, deployment debugging, and CORS resolution. Rare in strategy and marketing roles.

Bias for action

Saw a gap and closed it — same day

No ticket, no approval, no sprint planning. Recognized a problem, built the solution, shipped it live. That speed of execution compounds across an organization.