lilipod was a social job search application founded on original sociological research examining the emotional and structural dimensions of long-term unemployment in the United States. The core insight, developed through research at ICT (an MIT nonprofit I co-founded), was that job searching is not merely a logistical challenge but a profoundly isolating social experience — one in which the weight of American individualism compounds the psychological toll of unemployment, often extending its duration. The research found that job seekers who had access to peer community and social solidarity during their search were meaningfully more likely to find employment than those who searched alone, suggesting that the experience of job searching itself — not just skills or qualifications — is a significant variable in labor market outcomes.

lilipod translated these findings into a gamified, user-centered mobile application that connected job seekers with one another, transforming an isolating process into a communal one. By building social infrastructure around the job search, the platform addressed what existing tools ignored: the affective and relational dimensions of unemployment.

The project was a finalist at Y Combinator and received a seed funding. lilipod was represented by one of the largest tech startup law firms in the nation.

The technical team was assembled and led by me, and comprised of computer scientists from Harvard and MIT. We held our meetings in my Porter Square apartment and ate pancakes made from my rice cooker.