When I look back, Buildbook wasn’t born in a boardroom — it started from a place of frustration. I was studying Mathematical Finance at CSU Long Beach and looking for people to build real software with. Not for a class, not for a grade — just to get better. But around me? Nothing. No builders. No momentum.

So I started looking elsewhere. I found a Discord server of people helping each other with Leetcode. We started talking. It turned out many of them were from Berkeley or nearby, and they were just as hungry to build something real. We spun up a side chat and built a real-time podcast fact-checking extension together. It wasn’t perfect, but it clicked. Everyone grew. We gained new skills, new stories to tell in interviews, and most importantly, new collaborators.

That one project changed everything. It made me realize that what’s broken isn't just recruiting — it’s how technical people find each other, collaborate, and show the world what they can do. LinkedIn is outdated. GitHub is noisy. Product Hunt is a ghost town. None of these platforms were built for what Gen Z and AI-native builders need.

So we started Buildbook — a place where technical students and professionals collaborate in public, get credit for what they build, and get discovered based on real work. It’s social GitHub meets verified identity. We launched in January, and since then over 16,000 users have joined us — all grassroots, all word of mouth.

This isn't just about helping students build resumes. It’s about redefining how people break into tech, how they grow, and how recruiters find actual builders instead of keyword matches. I’m building Buildbook because I needed it. And I know a million other people do too.