The problem
Students transferring or subletting tenancies had no trusted, verified channel. Facebook groups and WhatsApp chats are full of scams; landlords and letting agents aren't set up for mid-year handovers. The gap was verification — proving you're a real student at a real university.
What we built
GrabStays is a .ac.uk-verified platform where students can list and take over tenancies safely. Sign-up requires a valid university email; listings are scoped to Warwick and Coventry at launch. Built solo on Next.js and Supabase, deployed on Railway.
Go-to-market was deliberately scrappy: printed flyers on campus, targeted Reddit posts, student press — zero ad spend. The constraint forced focus on one thing that had to work on day one: trust via verification.
Lessons
Verification is the product. Features come second. Students won't browse listings if they don't believe the people on the other side are real. Everything else — search, messaging, filters — is built on that foundation.
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