seed: "For young professionals who want to find jobs that they are passionate about. Th…"
🗺️ regional · Texas United States
The Pitch
Trail Marker is a mobile app built for recent Texas college grads who know they want meaningful work but haven't yet figured out what that means for them — it replaces the cold keyword search with a short interest quiz and a swipe-based discovery feed of real job and internship listings from Austin, Dallas, and Houston employers, each tagged by vibe and interest category rather than GPA or years of experience. Every listing comes with a punchy why this fits you note that connects the role back to what the user revealed about themselves in the quiz, making the experience feel more like self-discovery than job hunting. Employers in creative, hospitality, and knowledge-economy fields pay for featured placements and qualified applicant leads, keeping Trail Marker completely free for the grads using it. Think of it as the guide marker on a trail you didn't know you were already walking — it doesn't tell you where to go, it shows you how far you've already come and what's worth pursuing next.
For Whom
👩💻🎓🔥🌊📋🧲 → Trail Marker Target User
Maya, 23, a UT Austin communications grad sharing a South Congress duplex with two roommates, scrolling LinkedIn at midnight feeling nothing while secretly bookmarking Austin food festival Instagram accounts and wondering if that counts as a career path.
Mock Screens
9:41●●●
Swipe Your Trail
🧭
Austin wants you, Camille.
Based on your love of people + design, here's a role that fits your trail — not just your resume.
📌 Community Events Coordinator @ Austin FC Foundation – $42K + benefits
💡 Why it fits: 'You light up when spaces bring people together'
👆 Swipe right to save · Swipe left to keep exploring
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9:41●●●
Vibe Match Screen
🎯
You've got a Creative Operator vibe
You light up when ideas meet execution — building things, running events, making spaces feel alive. Here are 3 Austin roles that match your trail.
🔥 Featured: Event Coordinator @ Stubb's Amphitheater — 'You'd own the guest experience from load-in to last call'
✅ Swipe right to save • Swipe left to keep exploring
●○○○
9:41●●●
Your Next Marker
🪧
You might love: Community Events Coordinator
Austin Parks Foundation • Austin, TX — Because you lit up on 'bringing people together outdoors' and 'seeing your work IRL,' this role has your name on it.
💚 Vibe Match: 91% — Outdoors + Community Impact
📍 2.3 mi from UT Austin campus
→ See Why This Fits You
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The Hero View
the one screen / scene people will remember
9:41● ● ●
🧭
Hey Mia, ready to explore?
14 new roles match your trail — Austin · Dallas · Houston
Trail Marker
Jobs picked for your vibe, not your GPA
You said you light up around people, creativity, and making things happen. These roles were tagged for exactly that. Swipe to explore, save what sparks something, skip the rest — no applications required yet.
Matches Today
14 roles
Avg. Time to First Response
3.2 days
Grads Hired This Month
47 Texans
in this view
1
🎨 Event Brand Coordinator — Stubb's, Austin
Tagged: Creative Energy · People-First · High Visibility. 'You ranked storytelling high — this role builds the voice behind 200+ shows a year.' $42,000 · Full-time
2
🍽️ Guest Experience Lead — Hai Hospitality, Houston
Tagged: Hospitality Vibe · Fast Pace · Community Impact. 'Your quiz flagged people-connection as your top driver — this role owns that daily.' $38,500 + tips · Full-time
3
📊 Junior Market Analyst — Forefront Real Estate, Dallas
Tagged: Curious Mind · Data + Story · Growing Industry. 'You said you like figuring out why things work — this team needs exactly that instinct.' $48,000 · Full-time
4
🎙️ Content & Community Intern — Austin FC Foundation
Tagged: Mission-Driven · Creative · Local Pride. 'Your interest in community showed up 3 times in your quiz — this internship lives there.' $18/hr · 6-month internship
💚 This fits me
🔖 Save for later
⏭️ Not my trail
Core Features
Spark Quiz: a 10-question interest and values assessment using scenario-based prompts (e.g., 'You have a free Saturday in Austin — what do you do?') that generates a personalized Passion Profile with 3-5 labeled interest tags like 'People Connector,' 'Creative Builder,' or 'Systems Thinker'
Vibe Swipe Feed: a Tinder-style card deck of curated Texas job and internship listings tagged by interest vibe and workplace culture rather than credentials, each card showing company name, city (Austin/Dallas/Houston), and a one-line 'why this fits your Spark Profile' explanation
Trail Notes: a lightweight in-app journal where users log what excited or repelled them after each swipe session, building a personal pattern map that progressively refines their Passion Profile over time
Employer Spotlights: featured employer cards that go beyond job listings to show team culture videos, a typical Tuesday walkthrough, and 3 real employee quotes — paid placements for Texas employers targeting entry-level talent
One-Tap Express Interest: a frictionless apply mechanic where matched candidates send a pre-filled interest card (photo, Spark Profile tags, one sentence) to employers without a resume, replacing cold applications with warm signals
Local Trail Events: a calendar of Texas hiring events, portfolio nights, and industry meetups in Austin, Dallas, and Houston surfaced based on the user's Passion Profile tags and browsable by city
Progress Blazes: a visual milestone tracker showing users how their Passion Profile has sharpened over time, celebrating actions like first swipe, first employer match, and first event attended to reinforce exploration as progress
Moodboard
Dusty Trail
#C4410C
Lone Star Amber
#F5A623
Hill Country Pine
#2D5016
Limestone Cream
#F2EDE4
Night Sky Deep
#1A1A2E
Display · Playfair Display
Aa Bb
Body · Inter
The quick fox.
exploratorygroundedkineticauthenticdirectional
User Flow
Interest Quiz Start → Vibe Profile Built → Swipe Job Cards → Why This Fits → Save & Apply → My Trail Map
Stack Suggestion
aiOpenAI GPT-4o via API for generating 'why this fits you' explanations per swipe card, lightweight interest clustering using cosine similarity on quiz response vectors stored in Postgres with pgvector extensiondataSupabase Postgres as primary database storing user interest profiles, job listings, employer accounts, and swipe interaction logs, Supabase Storage for employer brand assetsbackendNode.js with Express on Railway or Render, REST API with JWT auth, Supabase for auth and row-level security, Redis for session caching and rate limitingfrontendReact Native (Expo) for cross-platform iOS and Android with shared codebase, NativeWind for Tailwind-style utility styling, React Navigation for stack and tab routing, Reanimated 2 for swipe gesture animationsplatformDeployed on Railway (backend), Supabase cloud (data), Expo EAS Build for app store distribution, Expo EAS Update for OTA patches, Stripe for employer payment and lead billing flows
Monetization
Model
marketplace
Price tier
$0 for grads / $199/mo Starter employer / $499/mo Featured employer
Free vs Paid
Grads get full app free forever: interest quiz, unlimited swipes, job discovery, why-this-fits explanations, and one-tap apply. Employers pay for listing access: Starter gets 3 active listings and standard placement; Featured gets unlimited listings, priority placement in grad swipe decks, branded employer profile, and direct applicant lead data with contact details
Key conversion moment
An Austin or Houston employer posts a role free for 14 days, sees qualified swipe activity and applicant interest metrics in their dashboard, then hits the paywall when they try to export lead contacts or boost visibility in the discovery feed
The Vibe Trail
01 · audience
👩💻 🎓
I'm sensing a career-matching platform for Texas college graduates seeking roles that align with their emerging professi…
02 · domain or indu
💻 🍽️ 🎭 📚 💰 🌍
I'm sensing a platform connecting Texas young professionals with creative, hospitality, and knowledge-economy jobs that …
03 · mood/feeling
🔥 🌊
I'm sensing a Texas job platform for young professionals that channels their restless energy into discovering passionate…
04 · problem being
📋
I'm sensing a Texas job platform that helps young professionals break free from rigid resume-matching by discovering pas…
05 · core interacti
🧲
Ah, I see recent Texas grads lost on generic job boards, craving a swipe-to-discover app that matches them to careers by…