DisputePack (gig-worker dispute packets)

Who it's for

Gig economy workers (rideshare/delivery/handyman) who today cope by copying screenshots into emails, filing platform help tickets, or calling support with no standard evidence bundle.

The problem

Time + money: wasted hours composing proof and low success rates cause lost earnings and unpaid disputes (financial pain and time spent chasing $10–$200 payouts).

How to build it

A tiny web app + iOS/Android PWA that: (a) imports screenshots/phone photos and app-chat logs (paste/drag), (b) auto-extracts timestamps/GPS/merchant/order IDs, (c) assembles a one-page PDF packet and a platform-specific filled dispute template for copy-paste/upload.

How it makes money

Who pays: gig workers (or their small driver collectives) pay a micro-fee (one-off $2–$5 per generated dispute packet) or $6/month for unlimited packets; why they pay: typical successful dispute recovers $10–$100 so paying $2–5 is high-ROI; free options (manual screenshots + support threads) are slow, error-prone, and have lower success rates so users prefer a higher-probability paid workflow.

Why it doesn't exist yet

Incumbents (expense apps, invoicing, legal-aid sites) avoid this because dispute data is heterogeneous (screenshots, chat, GPS) and platforms frequently change submission formats; platforms also monetize dispute flow so they don't provide neutral tooling. An indie can ship a narrow, pragmatic UX for a few top platforms and iterate quickly with small maintenance overhead.

First users

First 10 users are local gig workers recruited via Reddit/Discord/rideshare/driver Facebook groups and Messenger communities who face frequent small-value disputes and will test a tool that promises faster wins and a reusable packet — they trade early feedback for free/discounted claim credits.

Build size

2 people x 8 weeks (1 full-stack developer to build web/PWA + ingestion/parsing pipelines and export templates; 1 designer/product person to build flows, platform templates, and initial outreach). Included: parsers for screenshots/receipt text, GPS extraction from image EXIF, 8 platform-specific dispute templates (Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Doordash Eats, Instacart, Grubhub, Postmates, TaskRabbit), PDF packet generator, simple payments. Excluded: native app stores, automatic submission APIs to platforms (manual copy/paste upload only).

Biggest risk

One concrete event that kills it: a major platform (e.g., Uber or Stripe) launches a native, official 'one-click evidence packet' import endpoint or partners with free dispute tooling that renders third-party packets unnecessary for the high-volume platforms targeted.

Conditions for a hit (all 3 required)

• Generated packet: produces a single-page PDF + compressed evidence ZIP containing (1) extracted timeline table (timestamped events normalized to ISO8601), (2) GPS trace or point (lat/lon) when available, (3) extracted order/booking IDs and merchant names — for any input set, a packet is produced within 120s.
• Platform templates: contains 8 platform-specific, filled dispute-text templates (plain-text and paste-ready) where placeholders (order id, timestamps, GPS, quoted fare) are auto-filled; each template is verifiable by opening the filled text and matching the extracted fields to inputs.
• Success tracking: a built-in basic outcome tracker where a user marks dispute result (Resolved/Rejected/Pending) and the app reports conversion rate per platform (observable metric — e.g., 10 disputes filed with 6 marked Resolved within 30 days).

How it's judged (in 6 months)

Product Hunt: product page reaches Daily Top 5 (Product Hunt 'Ship' launch) OR GitHub: repo reaches 1,000 stars if open-sourced (either criterion qualifies)(judgment date 2027-02-14)

AI self-confidence 55/100 — self-reported likelihood of meeting the criterion, not a business success rate