The problem Collabspace solves

Detailed Problem Statement:

1. Limited Collaboration Opportunities:

Issue: College students passionate about coding struggle to find suitable peers for projects and hackathons.
Impact: Hindered ability to engage in meaningful coding collaborations, hindering personal and professional growth.

2. Fragmented Team Formation:

Issue: Individuals participating in hackathons face challenges forming cohesive and skilled teams.
Impact: Inefficient team formation reduces success chances in coding competitions and collaborative projects.

3. Motivation and Recognition Gap:

Issue: Existing platforms lack gamification, making it challenging to keep users motivated and recognized.
Impact: Users may lose interest without a tangible reward system or recognition mechanism.

4. Verification Concerns:

Issue: Verifying users' coding skills and college affiliation is a common concern.
Impact: Without reliable verification, the platform lacks credibility, leading to potential trust issues.

5. Limited Skill Showcase Platforms:

Issue: Current platforms don't provide a comprehensive space to showcase coding projects.
Impact: Students miss opportunities to highlight skills, hindering collaboration and employment prospects.

Challenges we ran into

Challenges Faced:

1. User Verification
Verifying user information (college email, ID, Aadhar) posed challenges in ensuring a secure and reliable verification process.

2. Complex Team Formation Logic
Implementing an efficient team formation algorithm required addressing complexities in matching users based on diverse skills and interests.

3. Premium Features Implementation
Developing and integrating premium membership features while maintaining a seamless user experience presented challenges in balancing functionality and simplicity.

4. Payment Integration
Integrating Stripe for payments, including premium memberships, featured projects, and advertising spaces, required careful handling of financial transactions and security concerns.

5. Event and Project Highlighting
Implementing a paid feature for users to highlight their projects and event organizers to feature their events demanded careful consideration of user experience and fairness.

6. Ensuring Scalability
Ensuring the platform's scalability to accommodate a growing user base and increasing data demands required strategic planning and optimization.

Addressing these challenges was crucial to delivering a robust and user-friendly platform, providing a seamless experience for college coders and event organizers alike.