Portfolio Case Study · Sustainable Marketplace Platform

Hunter and Gatherer Marketplace — Connecting Hawaii Fishers Directly to Local Buyers

Hawaiʻi imports 85–90% of its food despite having world-class fisheries. I built a marketplace platform that connects small-scale fishers and local producers directly to buyers, cutting out middlemen and rebuilding local food security — one transaction at a time.

Sustainable fisheries Food security Direct-to-consumer Marketplace Live in private beta Hawaii-based

Explore prototype ↗

Project at a glance

MVP Build

Live

Private beta, onboarding

Founder fee

First 50 sellers, permanent

Standard fee

10%

Post-founder, all others

Buyer cost

Always free to join

The problem: Hawaii's food security gap

Hawaiʻi imports 85–90% of its food supply despite having thriving fisheries, productive agricultural land, and a legacy of local food production. Small-scale commercial fishers earn $18K–$35K/year selling to wholesale intermediaries who take 40–50% of the price. Buyers, meanwhile, have no reliable way to find fresh local seafood — it never reaches their tables.

The barrier isn't supply or demand. It's infrastructure. Fishers have no direct sales channel. Buyers can't find verified local product. Compliance (Commercial Marine License verification, food safety, payment security) is complex and costly. Each side assumes the other doesn't exist.

The insight: Build the infrastructure layer. Connect the supply and demand that already exist, handle compliance transparently, and let economics do the work.

How it works

Step 1

Seller joins

Fishers & producers sign up with license proof

Step 2

Compliance verified

CML or food cert checked; seller goes live

Step 3

Buyer orders

Payment held in escrow; seller notified instantly

Step 4

Fulfillment

Pickup/delivery, then payment released to seller

What I built

Compliance engine

Core infrastructure

Commercial Marine License verification queue, food safety cert tracking, and seller credentialing built into signup. Compliance gates publishing, not onboarding.

Payment escrow system

Security

Stripe integration with funds held until fulfillment confirmed. No cash ever. Buyers and sellers both protected. 2-hour dispute window for perishables, 7 days for non-perishables.

Seller dashboard

Operations

Listing management, order tracking, payout visibility, buyer messaging, and tax reporting. Full operational control without platform lock-in.

Admin verification queue

Governance

Centralized dashboard for CML approvals, dispute resolution, seller suspension (for violations), and financial tracking. Transparent admin oversight.

Tech stack

Frontend

HTML / CSS / JS

SPA, mobile-first, no framework

Backend & Database

Supabase

PostgreSQL with Auth, RLS, & real-time

Payments & Hosting

Stripe + Vercel

Escrow, payouts, continuous deployment

Why this matters

Situation

Small-scale fishers have no direct sales channel; they sell to wholesalers who take 40–50% of the price. Local buyers can't find verified local seafood. Economic pressure drives fishers away from the profession, even as Hawaiʻi's food import dependency deepens.

Task

Build a marketplace that connects them directly, with compliance built in and payments secured. The system must be revenue-positive for the platform, efficient for fishers, and frictionless for buyers.

Action

Designed and built a full marketplace platform end-to-end: seller onboarding with CML verification queue, listing management, escrow payments, buyer checkout, order tracking, admin dashboard, and financial accounting. Built for compliance and scalability from day one.

Result

Live platform in private beta. Ready to onboard sellers. Positioned for sustainable growth: 8% founder fee (first 50 sellers, permanent lock), 9% standard rate thereafter. Next phase requires backend engineering hire to finalize payment escrow and seller payout workflows (1-month delivery).

What this signals

Systems thinking

Mapped a complex problem and engineered the solution

Didn't look for existing tools. Analyzed the fisheries gap, designed the full system (compliance, payments, operational transparency), and built it. This is the instinct that turns business needs into scalable infrastructure.

Resourcefulness

MVP built with zero external funding

Free stack, live platform, growth-ready. The MVP proves the concept. Scaling requires focused investment (backend engineering), not capital-heavy infrastructure. That's the efficient path to market.

Technical range

Full-stack ownership, no handoffs

Frontend UX, database schema, payment integration, compliance logic, admin governance. Rare outside engineering. Shows ability to bridge product strategy and execution.

Business acumen

Built for profitability from the start

Sustainable fee structure (8–9%). Hawaii GET tax handled transparently. Escrow system protects both parties. Every design choice serves long-term viability, not hype.

Next phase: scaling to impact

The MVP is live. What comes next requires focused engineering investment to unlock the full system:

Backend Engineering Hire (1-month contract): Finalize Stripe Connect integration for seller payouts, complete buyer-seller messaging, enable real-time order notifications, and harden compliance verification workflows. This transforms the platform from prototype to fully operational marketplace.

Projected impact (post-launch): 20–50 fishers onboarded in Year 1, each increasing margins by 30–40% (average fisher revenue increase: $10K–$15K/year). Platform revenue model supports continued growth without external funding after initial hire.

See it in action: Interactive prototype live here — Browse the marketplace, explore the seller dashboard, review the admin compliance queue. Built to demonstrate the full system architecture.