Tribe (Working Title)

Tribe is a trust-based platform that connects people who need things done with those who can do them—and those who can teach them how. It’s built to support quality over quantity, helping users build real reputations and find the right people, not just anyone.

Entrepreneurs can grow income streams without quitting their day jobs. Mentors guide new talent and can be paid upfront or later when those mentees succeed. Customers use Tribe to find help they can trust—not through anonymous reviews, but through real-world connections.

For any project where somebody else's skill could be helpful, Tribe makes it easier to find that right person, creating win-win-win situations for everybody.

🛠️ What We’re Building

Tribe is a trust-based social network where users can:

  • Earn money doing what they already know how to do
  • Collaborate with others as a fractional member of money earning opportunities of various sizes.
  • Learn new skills from mentors and build toward meaningful work
  • Find quality regular folks who can do what you need done
  • Become trusted, recognized in their areas of interest. The seal-of-approval they give can potentially influence someone else's decision on who to work with.

The network connects customers, entrepreneurs, and mentors. Every user builds a reputation score that grows as they have more positive interactions with other users, and falls otherwise. This pattern creates an inviting, and reverberating cycle for all, based on continued value, trust, and opportunity.

💡 Why Now

  • Millions of Gen Z youth in the U.S. are not in education, employment, or training (link)
  • Freelancing and gig work are exploding, but marketplaces are crowded and impersonal
  • AI enables smarter reputation modeling and skill-matching at scale
  • People want to work for themselves—but need networks, not just platforms

✅ Why Tribe Works

  • Entrepreneurs post opportunities that others can join and make themselves available to customers
  • Mentors get paid on their own terms, up front, or after the mentee succeeds
  • Customers find trustworthy help filtered through real-world relationships
  • Everyone can define their own skills and attributes. Other users can vouch for them. You decide which of those vouches are meaningful for you. This ensures everyone can define who they want to work with
  • Users control who can contact them: Each user can set contact rules requiring specific skills/attributes from the person reaching out. This helps protect time and focus.
  • Optional fee to initiate contact: For high-value skills, users can set a small fee (e.g. $5–$20) that must be paid to send a request. Tribe takes 4.5% and the rest goes to the recipient. This creates a marketplace for attention and filters for seriousness.
  • A user's actions which are positive for the network increase a user's reputation. Other users can use this to inform which collaborations they make.

🤔 Why Will People Join and Use Tribe?

  • For the money. Whether earning directly through a Money Earning Opportunity or investing in skills for future payouts, Tribe helps people monetize their skills.
  • For businesses and stores: Tribe is a low-maintenance way to support entrepreneurial customers and earn community loyalty.
  • To claim a space and build a brand: This is a greenfield social network. Early adopters can stake their claim and grow influence and authority.
  • To improve recommendations: Instead of depending on bot-manipulated online reviews, customers can rely on trust signals from their personal network.
  • For connection and purpose: Tribe makes it easier to find people who align with your values and goals, whether you're looking to work, learn, or mentor.

💰 Revenue Model

  • 4.5% platform fee on completed transactions
  • First transaction is free to onboard users
  • Premium services: advanced search, mentorship tools, profile boosts
  • Paid endorsements: Users can pay Tribe to verify their skills. Tribe sets objective criteria, and a successful review results in a platform cosign—boosting discoverability and credibility in searches and MEOs.
  • Insights into our data: Where searches for skills are not matching with entreprenuers describes unmet demand. We can sell such insights to help users "get in the way of success".

🚀 Traction

  • MVP prototype is nearly complete
  • Core app features are implemented: profiles, attributes, vouching (attribute cosigning), fees to contact high demand users
  • Runs on Android for certain and iPhone iOS with a little effort
  • Needs UI polish and onboarding flow refinement
  • We are in the process of having 100 conversations about the idea to confirm its utility

🧑‍💻 Team

Johnathan James – Founder

Software engineer and systems designer. Focused on building tools that help people find each other, learn, and collaborate with accountability and trust. Currently seeking co-founders and advisors.

📢 What We’re Looking For

$500,000 pre-seed to support:

  • 3-person dev team (1 full-time, 2 nearly full-time)
  • Marketing and community operations
  • Server costs, legal, and pilot testing
  • Outreach to early mentors, customers, and entrepreneurs


We've all experienced it: Good help is hard to find! Let's fix that!


(last updated: April 2025)