AskDucks - International Student Consultation Marketplace
A Flutter-based mobile marketplace born from personal experience, connecting prospective international students with current students studying abroad for paid consultation services. The platform featured intelligent matching based on destination city, university, nationality, field of study, and lifestyle to pair students with consultants who had directly relevant experience. COVID-19 killed the market when universities closed to international students.
Problem Solved
International students studying abroad were constantly interrupted by repetitive calls from prospective students asking the same questions about visas, housing, and university life, while prospective students struggled to find reliable, personalized guidance
- •Built cross-platform mobile application using Flutter
- •Designed and implemented Firebase backend infrastructure
- •Created smart matching algorithm based on multiple criteria
- •Developed user profiles, consultation booking, and messaging systems
- •Integrated payment processing for consultation services
- ✓Built complete two-sided marketplace MVP connecting international students
- ✓Created intelligent matching system pairing students by city, university, nationality, field, and lifestyle
- ✓Implemented full consultation workflow: profiles, booking, messaging, and payments
- ✓Enabled students abroad to monetize their knowledge and experience
- ✓Designed services ranging from consultation calls to full-service apartment hunting
- ✓Validated problem through personal experience - both co-founders lived the pain point
- ✓Cross-platform deployment reaching both iOS and Android users
Scale
- • Cross-platform iOS and Android application
Technology Stack
Challenge
Initial concept of personal consultation service received feedback that 'your advice might not apply to me' since experiences varied widely by location and background
Solution
Pivoted to marketplace model with smart matching - connecting prospective students with current students who shared their specific city, university, nationality, and field
Impact
Created highly personalized consultation experience that addressed the core objection
Challenge
Building reliable cross-platform application with real-time messaging, booking system, and payment integration as a small team
Solution
Leveraged Flutter for cross-platform development and Firebase for serverless backend, enabling rapid iteration without managing server infrastructure
Impact
Delivered full-featured MVP that worked on both iOS and Android
Challenge
COVID-19 pandemic arrived in early 2020, causing universities worldwide to close doors to international students
Solution
No viable pivot available - the market literally disappeared overnight as international student travel stopped
Impact
Project discontinued despite validated idea and completed MVP
Situation
Both co-founders were Egyptian international students in Europe (one in Latvia, one in Germany) who spent years fielding repetitive calls from students wanting to study abroad. The questions were always the same: visa process, housing, university selection, bank accounts, student life. These calls interrupted their lives but the callers had no other way to get personalized guidance.
Task
Turn this personal pain point into a product that would benefit both sides - letting students abroad monetize their knowledge while giving prospective students access to personalized guidance from people exactly like them.
Action
Khaled built a Flutter cross-platform application with Firebase backend. Initial user feedback revealed that generic advice wasn't valuable - students wanted guidance from someone who had done exactly what they planned to do. This led to building a sophisticated matching system that paired prospective students with consultants sharing their destination city, university, nationality, field of study, and even lifestyle preferences. The platform offered tiered services from basic consultation calls to full-service apartment hunting and contract handling.
Result
The MVP was completed and validated the core concept. However, COVID-19 arrived in early 2020 and universities worldwide closed to international students. The market disappeared overnight - no one was planning to study abroad when borders were closed. Despite a solid product and validated problem, external factors ended the venture.
Technical
- • Flutter cross-platform development
- • Firebase serverless architecture
- • Two-sided marketplace design patterns
- • User matching algorithm implementation
- • Payment integration for marketplace services
Soft Skills
- • Building products from personal pain points
- • Iterating based on user feedback
- • Co-founder collaboration and alignment
Key Insights
- 💡 Products born from genuine personal frustration often have strong problem-solution fit
- 💡 External factors like global pandemics can kill even validated ideas overnight
- 💡 Two-sided marketplaces require critical mass on both sides to achieve value