Where Indian creators build their brand and find paid work
A multi-app platform that helps creators monetize their influence and brands find authentic partnerships.
What They Were Struggling With
The Indian creator economy is exploding—millions of creators, thousands of brands wanting to collaborate. But the process was broken. Creators struggled to present themselves professionally, brands couldn't verify authentic engagement, and negotiations happened over messy WhatsApp threads.
Starrd's founders came to us with an ambitious vision: build the complete operating system for creator-brand collaborations. Not just a marketplace, but a platform where creators could build their professional identity, showcase real analytics, and manage collaborations seamlessly.
The technical complexity was massive—real-time Instagram and YouTube API integrations, token management that couldn't fail, multi-tenant architecture for different user types, and a system that could scale to thousands of concurrent users.
How We Solved It
We built Starrd as a multi-application ecosystem—three interconnected apps serving creators, brands, and the platform itself.
Creator App: A Next.js 15 PWA where influencers build media kits, connect their Instagram/YouTube accounts, and manage brand inquiries. Real-time analytics pulled directly from social platforms.
Brand Dashboard: A dedicated interface for businesses to discover verified creators, filter by niche and engagement rates, and manage collaboration workflows.
Backend Infrastructure: Express.js API with MongoDB, sophisticated Instagram/YouTube token management with automatic refresh, and real-time updates via change streams.
The Secret Sauce: Our token management system. Instagram's API is notoriously finicky—tokens expire, rate limits hit, APIs fail. We built a reliable system with exponential backoff, proactive token refresh, and automatic recovery that's maintained 99.9% uptime for social connections.
What We Delivered
Media Kit Builder
Drag-and-drop builder for creators to design professional media kits with portfolio, pricing, and real-time social stats.
Live Analytics
Real-time Instagram and YouTube metrics—followers, engagement rate, audience demographics—pulled directly from platform APIs.
Creator Marketplace
Searchable directory for brands to discover verified creators by niche, location, engagement rate, and pricing.
Verification System
Multi-step creator verification ensuring brands connect with authentic influencers with real engagement.
Platform Showcase
Professional media kit designer with live preview
Real-time analytics and collaboration inbox
Discover creators by niche and engagement
Full-featured PWA for creators on the go
The Transformation
Before
- Creators shared PDFs or random screenshots
- Brands guessed at engagement authenticity
- Negotiations via scattered WhatsApp messages
- Manual analytics tracking (copy-paste from Instagram)
- No verification = fake follower problems
After
- Professional, shareable media kits with live links
- Verified analytics pulled directly from APIs
- Structured collaboration workflow with history
- Automatic daily analytics updates and trends
- Multi-step verification ensures authenticity
Development Journey
Discovery & Architecture
Deep dive into creator economy, multi-app architecture planning, and Instagram/YouTube API research.
Backend Foundation
Express.js API, MongoDB schema design, authentication system, and initial social media integrations.
Creator App
Next.js 15 frontend, Media Kit builder, analytics dashboard, and PWA implementation.
Brand Dashboard
Creator marketplace, search/filter system, collaboration workflow, and inquiry management.
Token Management & Scale
Reliable Instagram token system, rate limiting, caching layer, and production hardening.
Launch & Iteration
Staged rollout, performance optimization, and continuous feature development.
Built With Modern Tech Stack
“The Instagram API integration would have taken us months on our own. Rightlabs shipped a system that's been running without issues since launch. They move fast and the code is clean.”
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