FoundryHub

A collaborative platform connecting founders, freelancers, investors, and buyers — from idea validation to MVP marketplace.

Live Demo · Report Bug · Request Feature

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Table of Contents

• Overview
• Features
• User Roles
• Tech Stack
• Architecture
• Getting Started
  • Prerequisites
  • Installation
  • Environment Variables
  • Running Locally
• Seeding Demo Data
• Available Scripts
• Testing
• Deployment
• Security
• Roadmap
• Contributing
• License
• Contact

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Overview

FoundryHub is a full-stack ecosystem for startup ideation, team formation, investment, and MVP sales. It connects four distinct personas — Founders, Freelancers, Investors, and Buyers — into a single collaborative workspace, backed by an AI co-pilot for startup advisory, real-time team pods, sweat-equity tracking, and a marketplace for validated MVPs.

A guided demo mode is available so evaluators can explore any of the four roles without registering an account.

Features

• AI Startup Co-Pilot — Powered by Google Gemini 1.5 Flash, provides MVP scoping advice, pitch deck guidance, and equity structuring recommendations. Conversation history persists per user via Firestore.
• Project Pods — Role-governed workspaces with real-time messaging, team applications, and dedicated founder–investor deal rooms.
• Sweat Equity Engine — Freelancers log verified hours; founders review and approve equity allocation.
• MVP Marketplace — Public listings with pricing, tech stack tags, and live demo links for buyers to browse and purchase.
• Community Forum — Cross-role discussion space for feedback and feature ideas.
• Demo Mode — One-click access to four pre-seeded demo accounts sharing a live data environment, useful for reviewers and QA.

User Roles

Role	Description	Key Capabilities
Founder	Builds and manages a startup	Launch projects, review applications, negotiate with investors, list MVPs
Investor	Backs promising startups	Discover startups, chat with founders, track equity/ROI, review pitch decks
Freelancer	Contributes skills to projects	Showcase portfolio, join pods, log hours, track contributions
Buyer	Purchases validated products	Browse MVPs, message sellers, purchase, submit reviews

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	React 19, Vite 6, React Router v7
Styling	Tailwind CSS v4, Flowbite React, Lucide Icons
Backend-as-a-Service	Firebase 11 (Firestore, Authentication, Storage)
AI	Google Gemini API (@google/generative-ai, gemini-1.5-flash)
Tooling	Firebase Admin SDK (Node.js) for data seeding
Deployment	Netlify, Render

Architecture

FoundryHub/
├── startup/
│   ├── public/
│   │   └── _redirects               # Netlify SPA routing rules
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── components/
│   │   │   ├── AICopilot.jsx        # Floating Gemini AI assistant
│   │   │   ├── CommunityForum.jsx   # Team & public forum discussions
│   │   │   ├── InvestorChat.jsx     # Founder-investor chatroom
│   │   │   ├── LoadingSkeleton.jsx  # Skeleton loading states
│   │   │   ├── MobileNav.jsx        # Mobile bottom navigation
│   │   │   ├── ProfileSetup.jsx     # Role selection & onboarding
│   │   │   ├── ProjectCard.jsx      # Project showcase card
│   │   │   └── ProtectedRoute.jsx   # Auth & role-based route guard
│   │   ├── contexts/
│   │   │   └── AuthContext.jsx      # Firebase Auth session provider
│   │   ├── firebase/
│   │   │   └── config.js            # Firebase client SDK init
│   │   ├── hooks/
│   │   │   └── useGeminiChat.js     # Gemini chat hook with memory sync
│   │   ├── pages/
│   │   │   ├── Landing.jsx
│   │   │   ├── Login.jsx
│   │   │   ├── Signup.jsx
│   │   │   ├── Dashboard.jsx
│   │   │   ├── CreateProject.jsx
│   │   │   ├── ProjectDetails.jsx
│   │   │   ├── Teams.jsx
│   │   │   ├── Investors.jsx
│   │   │   └── dashboards/
│   │   │       ├── FounderDashboard.jsx
│   │   │       ├── InvestorDashboard.jsx
│   │   │       ├── FreelancerDashboard.jsx
│   │   │       └── BuyerDashboard.jsx
│   │   ├── services/
│   │   │   ├── geminiService.js     # Gemini API calls & prompts
│   │   │   └── memoryService.js     # Firestore chat persistence
│   │   ├── App.jsx
│   │   └── main.jsx
│   ├── netlify.toml
│   └── vite.config.js
├── render.yaml
└── README.md

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js v18 or later
• npm, yarn, or pnpm
• A Firebase project with Firestore and Authentication enabled
• A Gemini API key from Google AI Studio

Installation

git clone https://github.com/omm-prog/FoundryHub.git
cd FoundryHub/startup
npm install

Environment Variables

Copy the example file and fill in your credentials:

cp .env.example .env

startup/.env:

VITE_FIREBASE_API_KEY=your_firebase_api_key
VITE_FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN=your_project.firebaseapp.com
VITE_FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID=your_project_id
VITE_FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET=your_project.firebasestorage.app
VITE_FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID=your_sender_id
VITE_FIREBASE_APP_ID=your_app_id
VITE_GEMINI_API_KEY=your_gemini_api_key

Never commit .env files. Ensure .env is listed in .gitignore and that keys are rotated if accidentally exposed.

Running Locally

npm run dev

The app will be available at http://localhost:5173.

Seeding Demo Data

To populate four demo accounts with shared projects, investments, and chat history:

1. Download a Firebase service account key and save it as serviceAccountKey.json in startup/.
2. Run:

node seed-demo-users.cjs

serviceAccountKey.json and seed scripts are excluded from version control via .gitignore — never commit service account credentials.

Available Scripts

Command	Description
npm run dev	Start the Vite dev server with HMR
npm run build	Build an optimized production bundle to dist/
npm run preview	Preview the production build locally
npm run lint	Run ESLint across the codebase

Testing

Add your test runner and instructions here once a test suite is in place, e.g.

npm run test

Consider adding unit tests (Vitest/Jest), component tests (React Testing Library), and end-to-end tests (Playwright/Cypress) as the codebase matures. Contributions that add test coverage are especially welcome.

Deployment

Netlify (recommended)

1. Connect the GitHub repository at app.netlify.com.
2. Configure build settings:
   • Base directory: startup
   • Build command: npm run build
   • Publish directory: startup/dist
3. Add the environment variables listed above under Site configuration → Environment variables.
4. Deploy. SPA routing is handled automatically via public/_redirects and netlify.toml.

Render

Use the included render.yaml blueprint to deploy as a static site with one click.

Security

If you discover a security vulnerability, please do not open a public issue. Instead, report it privately by emailing the maintainers (see Contact) so it can be addressed before public disclosure.

General guidelines:

• Firebase security rules should enforce role-based access at the database level, not just in the client.
• Rotate API keys immediately if they are ever exposed in a commit, log, or public URL.
• Review firestore.rules and storage.rules (if present) before deploying to production.

Roadmap

• Automated test suite (unit, integration, e2e)
• CI/CD pipeline (GitHub Actions) for lint/test/build on PRs
• Formal Firestore security rules documentation
• Payment integration for marketplace transactions
• Notification system (email/in-app)

See open issues for a full list of proposed features and known issues.

Contributing

Contributions make the open-source community a great place to learn and build. Any contributions are greatly appreciated.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Please open an issue first for major changes to discuss what you'd like to change. See CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines (add one if it doesn't exist yet).

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

Contact

Maintained by the FoundryHub team. For questions, bug reports, or security disclosures, please open an issue or reach out directly.

Project Link: https://github.com/omm-prog/FoundryHub