I built a food delivery price optimization platform that algorithmically stacks discounts across multiple layers (store promos, credit card rewards, gift cards, etc).
Initially, I found a lot of discounts were hiding behind the massive marketing budgets of delivery corporations. I originally architected cross-platform price comparison, but delivery platforms' terms of service explicitly prohibit displaying "priced items from multiple retailers on the same screen." This forced a complete pivot from comparison to single-platform optimization. Basically they don't want me comparing their prices and promos to competitors. Makes sense.
So my adapted approach is: Instead of price comparison, the system takes your list/search terms and builds optimized platform-specific carts.
- Real-time promotion discovery
- Credit card reward optimization
- Smart cart building so it can qualify for all discounts
- Uses ML to suggest product swaps that maintain savings while improving nutritional value
- Predictive rebate matching based on shopping patterns
In early testing I'm seeing around 35% higher cart values on average. So I really think the idea has legs and I don't want to give up, but navigating these partnership dynamics as a solo founder is proving to be challenging.
Has anyone else had to completely restructure their product architecture due to partnership requirements? How do you balance technical capabilities with business partnership limitations?
sbeli•7mo ago
Initially, I found a lot of discounts were hiding behind the massive marketing budgets of delivery corporations. I originally architected cross-platform price comparison, but delivery platforms' terms of service explicitly prohibit displaying "priced items from multiple retailers on the same screen." This forced a complete pivot from comparison to single-platform optimization. Basically they don't want me comparing their prices and promos to competitors. Makes sense.
So my adapted approach is: Instead of price comparison, the system takes your list/search terms and builds optimized platform-specific carts.
- Real-time promotion discovery - Credit card reward optimization - Smart cart building so it can qualify for all discounts - Uses ML to suggest product swaps that maintain savings while improving nutritional value - Predictive rebate matching based on shopping patterns
In early testing I'm seeing around 35% higher cart values on average. So I really think the idea has legs and I don't want to give up, but navigating these partnership dynamics as a solo founder is proving to be challenging.
Has anyone else had to completely restructure their product architecture due to partnership requirements? How do you balance technical capabilities with business partnership limitations?