Project Main Street by Redkart

My name is Neelan, I'm from Boston, and I run a mission-driven tech startup out of Cambridge called Redkart. Our goal is to create a more modern and tech-forward Main Street to better compete against the big box retailers and e-commerce giants in the digital age. Our hope was to run this as a non-profit, so we're raising donations and other funds to basically subsidize this for businesses, and to keep our products cheap and accessible (or even free) to local consumers.

So what do we do? We build tech to help modernize Main Street. Our main product allows customers to subscribe to local businesses for perks (see redkart.com). This creates upfront revenue streams for businesses and fosters customer loyalty, while customers get an exclusive experience with rewards for staying loyal. We have a range of other products that we're building (utilizing web3 and AI), that's meant to reimagine the way consumers interact with local businesses in their area. The idea is to gamify the local mom-and-pop shop experience to incentivize folks to spend more locally as opposed to larger national chains. You can visit redkart.co and redkart.io for more info.

Main Street has been hurting for years before the pandemic even began, facing fierce competition from big-box retailers and e-commerce giants alike. The national chains get bigger, and more advanced, using the latest technology, while small businesses struggle to adapt, lacking the proper infrastructure, resources, or assistance. For example, while Starbucks can afford to develop a top-of-the-line mobile app with their in-house tech team, the local coffeeshop can barely afford to white-label a 3rd-party glitchy mobile app (and often times decides to do without).

100% of donations will go towards our project, building the tech and adding features. The idea is that if we make this 'community-funded', we can offer the base product for free to customers and merchants. We (including myself) don't take any salaries at the moment. We struggled over the last 6 months to raise funds from local organizations and chambers, so we're turning instead to the people and the businesses themselves to help fund this project. We hope you'll join us!

We believe in buying local, and we believe in local businesses. Together, we can help Main Street not only survive, but thrive in the post-Covid digital age.