FlickerShield

Crowdsource dorm power fixes and shield your bulbs from grid chaos.

Score: 7.7/10UKMedium BuildReady to Spawn
Brand Colors

The Opportunity

Problem

Dorm students suffer flickering and rapid burnout of energy-efficient LED bulbs due to irregular campus power grids.

Solution

FlickerShield lets students report power flickers by campus/dorm, building a real-time stability map with bulb recs. Premium users get automated replacement plans, affiliate bulb orders, and RA-maintenance ticket generators.

Target Audience

College students living in on-campus dorms

Differentiator

Community-powered power map with actionable dorm-specific fixes, beyond individual monitoring.

Brand Voice

edgy

Features

Flicker Reporting

must-have18h

Pinpoint and report power issues on interactive map.

Stability Heatmap

must-have22h

Visualize campus-wide flicker risks.

Bulb Rec Engine

must-have15h

Recommend stabilizers/bulbs based on local data.

Maintenance Tickets

must-have12h

Auto-generate emails to RAs/facilities.

Personal Plans

must-have10h

Custom schedules for bulb swaps.

Community Forum

nice-to-have12h

Discuss fixes per dorm.

Affiliate Orders

nice-to-have15h

One-click bulb purchases.

Trend Alerts

future8h

Campus-wide warnings.

Total Build Time: 112 hours

Database Schema

users

ColumnTypeNullable
iduuidNo
emailtextNo
campustextYes
created_attimestampNo

Relationships:

  • one-to-many with reports

reports

ColumnTypeNullable
iduuidNo
user_iduuidNo
dorm_buildingtextNo
severityintNo
timestamptimestampNo

Relationships:

  • foreign key to users.id

plans

ColumnTypeNullable
iduuidNo
user_iduuidNo
next_swaptimestampNo

Relationships:

  • foreign key to users.id

campus_metrics

ColumnTypeNullable
campustextNo
flicker_indexfloatNo
updated_attimestampNo

API Endpoints

POST
/api/reports

Submit flicker report

🔒 Auth Required
GET
/api/map-data

Fetch heatmap data

POST
/api/plans

Create replacement plan

🔒 Auth Required
POST
/api/tickets

Generate maintenance ticket

🔒 Auth Required
GET
/api/recommendations

Get bulb/stabilizer recs

🔒 Auth Required

Tech Stack

Frontend
Next.js 14 + Tailwind + Leaflet.js
Backend
Next.js API + Supabase
Database
Supabase Postgres
Auth
Supabase Auth
Payments
Stripe
Hosting
Vercel
Additional Tools
Supabase Realtime for mapAffiliate APIs

Build Timeline

Week 1: Map and reports

25h
  • Interactive map
  • Report form

Week 2: Metrics aggregation

30h
  • Heatmap
  • Campus stats

Week 3: Plans and tickets

25h
  • Plan generator
  • Email templates

Week 4: Recs and community

20h
  • Rec engine
  • Basic forum

Week 5: Pro features

20h
  • Payments
  • Affiliates

Week 6: Polish and test

15h
  • Mobile map
  • Onboarding

Week 7: Launch prep

10h
  • SEO landing

Week 8: Iterate beta

10h
  • Feedback impl
Total Timeline: 8 weeks • 185 hours

Pricing Tiers

Free

$0/mo

No personal plans

  • Report flickers
  • View map

Pro

$17/mo
  • Plans
  • Tickets
  • Recs

Campus Lead

$79/mo

For RAs

  • All Pro + Admin dashboard
  • Bulk reports

Revenue Projections

MonthUsersConversionMRRARR
Month 11002.5%$43$516
Month 61,5004.5%$1,012$12,144

Unit Economics

$7
CAC
$180
LTV
7%
Churn
90%
Margin
LTV:CAC Ratio: 25.7xExcellent!

Landing Page Copy

Fight Back Against Dorm Flicker Hell

Map the chaos, get your fix plan – community-powered bulb survival.

Feature Highlights

Live campus heatmap
Auto-maintenance tickets
Personal swap plans
Proven bulb recs
Roommate sharing

Social Proof (Placeholders)

"'Got my RA to fix the grid!' – Tyler, UMich"
"'Map showed my dorm sucks.' – Lena, OSU"

First Three Customers

Seed map with initial reports via Instagram dorm stories; partner with campus newspapers for feature; viral loop in group chats.

Launch Channels

Product Huntr/SaaSr/collegeTwitter campus accountsBetaList

SEO Keywords

dorm power flicker mapcollege dorm maintenance ticket appcampus led bulb recommendationsreport dorm power issuesdorm grid stability tracker

Competitive Analysis

Outage Maps

downdetector.com
Free
Strength

Broad outages

Weakness

Not dorm/granular

Our Advantage

Bulb-focused actions

Amazon Bulb Recs

amazon.com
E-commerce
Strength

Variety

Weakness

No power context

Our Advantage

Data-driven for dorms

🏰 Moat Strategy

Strong network effects – more reports = better map/value.

⏰ Why Now?

Student activism rising; campuses slow on infra fixes.

Risks & Mitigation

executionhigh severity

Low report volume

Mitigation

Seed data, incentives

legallow severity

Campus policy violations

Mitigation

Anonymize reports

Validation Roadmap

pre-build7 days

Twitter thread gauge interest

Success: 200 RTs

mvp14 days

Private beta map

Success: 50 reports/week

growth30 days

Viral referrals

Success: 10% referral conv

Pivot Options

  • General campus issue reporter
  • Stabilizer affiliate store
  • Smart dorm utilities hub

Quick Stats

Build Time
185h
Target MRR (6 mo)
$1,200
Market Size
$45.0M
Features
8
Database Tables
4
API Endpoints
5