- next.js
- convex
- clerk
- typescript
- tailwindcss
- locationiq
- vercel
Project background
I co-founded Global Pet Sitter with my friend Jo. Two developers with over 10 years of housesitting experience between us, trying to build something transparent and community-driven in the pet sitting space.
The problem
After years of using platforms like TrustedHousesitters and Nomador, we got frustrated with the direction these platforms were heading:
- Trust and safety neglected — no real vetting, broken review systems where false reviews can't be removed, and minimal action taken even when theft or pet neglect is reported
- Over-commercialised — booking fees stacked on top of annual memberships, while customer support is replaced by chatbots
- Stagnant development — features the community keeps asking for never get built, as if improving the product stopped being a priority
- No real competition — one platform essentially holds a monopoly with no competitor matching their volume or quality, leaving members with little choice
Something that started as community-focused became over-commercialised. We thought we could do better.
The tech stack
We went with Next.js 16 (App Router + Turbopack), Convex for the real-time backend, and Clerk for authentication. Tailwind for styling because life's too short to write CSS from scratch.
Why Convex? Real-time updates out of the box. When a sitter applies or a message comes in, you see it instantly. No websocket setup, no polling, no headaches. The schema is defined in TypeScript, queries are type-safe, and deployments just work.
Building trust
This was our number one priority. When you're asking a stranger to look after your pet, you're handing over a family member. That level of trust doesn't come from a flashy landing page — it has to be earned through the product itself. Trust and safety became the driving force behind almost every feature we built.
- KYC identity verification — every member — sitter and owner — goes through ID verification before they can participate. This goes both directions: pet owners need to know who's looking after their animals, and sitters need to know they're arriving at a trustworthy home.
- Blind reviews — both parties submit their review independently, and neither can see the other's until both have submitted (or 14 days pass). This prevents retaliation reviews and keeps things honest.
- Safety reporting — if something feels off about a listing or a sitter, members can flag it directly. These reports go straight to our team — not publicly visible, no automated responses. We review every report personally.
- Review importing with AI — experienced sitters already have reviews on other platforms. They don't want to start from zero. Members link their profile, verify ownership, upload screenshots, and GPT-4 Vision extracts the review data automatically.
Other features
- Map search — find sits in your area visually with marker clustering
- Dual accounts — be a sitter and an owner with the same profile
- Privacy controls — you decide what info to share
- Real-time messaging — no refresh needed, messages just appear
- Early adopter rewards — founding members get special lifetime pricing
Lessons learned
The tech wasn't the hard part. A product without users is like an empty shoebox, it doesn't matter how well it's built. Two-sided marketplaces are especially hard: you need pet owners AND pet sitters, but each side won't join without the other. Marketing became the biggest lesson of this project.
We gamified parts of the app, ran social media challenges to incentivise members to share the platform and get rewarded for it, grew a Facebook community, promoted on Reddit and Facebook groups, and even went offline with posters in local pet stores.
Every complaint is a feature request in disguise. We added a community feature request board where members suggest and upvote ideas — and the most requested features actually get built. Combined with tools like PostHog to see where people get stuck, it changed everything about how we prioritise what to build next.
The impact
- Building a growing community of pet lovers who believe in transparent, community-driven pet care
- Members importing reviews from established platforms, proving the value of portable reputation
- Real-time features creating a smooth, modern user experience
- iPhone app currently in development
