Startup Weekend • 54-hour MVP blueprint

PermitPath Bay

San Francisco Bay Area

Policy + Climate + Civic Tech

Cut clean-energy soft costs by making permits legible, trackable, and fixable.

A resident- and installer-facing permitting navigator plus a lightweight tracker that reveals where heat‑pump/solar permits get stuck across Bay Area jurisdictions.

Local fit: Multi-jurisdiction complexity (cities, counties, utilities), high cost of living, climate/air quality events, and stark digital divide within a high-tech region.

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Core user stories

As a resident/installer, I enter an address and see the exact permit steps, fees, and typical timelines for that jurisdiction.
As a resident/installer, I create a lightweight “case” and track status milestones (submitted → plan check → corrections → issued).
As staff, I view an anonymized funnel showing where applications stall and the most common correction reasons.

Clickable demo scope (what you build)

Clickable flow: address lookup → step-by-step checklist → create a case → status timeline.
Seeded sample jurisdictions (e.g., 3–5) with mock fee/timeline data + links to official pages.
Admin dashboard mock: stage counts + top friction points.

Team of four roles

Product & Policy Lead: Collect 3–5 jurisdiction permit steps/fees, define a shared data schema, and write the friction-point taxonomy (what ‘gets stuck’).
UX / Frontend: Build address lookup → checklist → status timeline screens; design clear ‘next step’ guidance.
Backend / Data: Create jurisdiction + permit-step database; implement case tracking and stage analytics; seed sample flows.
Partnerships / Story / Ops: Interview 2 installers + 2 residents; create before/after time-cost story; deploy and rehearse live demo.

54-hour build plan

Hours 0–6: Pick one user segment; do 5–8 quick interviews; lock the “one workflow” MVP.
Hours 6–24: Build the clickable flow end-to-end with stubbed data; draft the policy narrative.
Hours 24–40: Add one policy-ready output (brief/dashboard/export); tighten UX; seed data for 2–3 neighborhoods.
Hours 40–54: Polish demo script; add analytics mock; finalize pitch + one-page handout.

What to show in the final demo

The “happy path” (one user completes the core task in under 2 minutes).
One policy-ready output (a brief, dashboard view, or export).
One local proof point (seeded neighborhoods / agencies / partner types relevant to San Francisco Bay Area).

How it can earn revenue without becoming extractive

Revenue fit (values-aligned): sell a low-cost subscription to local governments/nonprofits, or charge implementation/support for pilots—avoid extractive fees on community participation.

Guardrails: publish scoring criteria, minimize data collection, and default to community ownership where possible (co-op/commons patterns).