Barlo is a platform designed to spark a new kind of economy—one where people don’t need cash to build, grow, or collaborate. It’s a public bartering system where creatives and entrepreneurs trade skills, launch campaigns, and co-create value—out loud, in the open, and on their own terms.

  • Need a portfolio? Trade for it.
  • Got a bottleneck? Trade it away.
  • Barlo makes collaboration a currency.

The Challenge

The gig economy is broken—especially for people just starting out. Too many creatives are stuck doing unpaid gigs, trying to “build experience” in systems that don’t value them.

I was one of them.

After two years out of tech, I found myself working a draining security job in Queens—underpaid, over-managed, and overlooked. I had no money to invest in my career, but I still had something to offer: my skills. That’s when the idea for Barlo clicked.

Bartering gave me hope when nothing else did.

The Strategy

I approached Barlo like I would any startup—through research, validation, and community. But I also lived it.

For three months, I bartered with the two people who are now my co-founders:

  • A developer, who I supported with design work to unblock his projects
  • A social entrepreneur, who I supported by opening/closing his cultural hub in the South Bronx

These weren’t hypothetical trades. They were trust-building, skill-leveraging, lived-experience data points that shaped Barlo’s core.

I ran GPT-powered reflection workshops (using my own AI co-founder, Sentinel X), created lean canvases, interviewed people in person at the shop, and iterated not just the product—but my own strategy methodologies.

The Execution

  • Recruited and onboarded two co-founders through real-time bartering
  • Built Barlo’s product strategy from scratch using custom GPTs and lean UX methods
  • Designed user archetypes based on emotional needs, not just market segments
  • Created the initial knowledge base and virality mechanics focused on “barter campaigns”
  • Launched development of the MVP (GitHub repo live as of April 2025)

What Makes Barlo Different

Barlo doesn’t just help you find someone to work with—it helps you launch public barter campaigns. You don’t just make a deal—you show your work. And the story of that trade becomes a calling card for others.

We’re building a world where:

  • A stylist can trade with a videographer and go viral
  • A product designer can trade a site for mentorship
  • A founder can build a business—without cash in the bank

This isn’t just tech. It’s infrastructure for overlooked talent.

What’s Next

We’re launching our first closed beta in Summer 2025, with a goal of activating 100 high-trust users into curated, successful barter campaigns.

The mission is clear: Make bartering culturally cool. Make starting feel possible again.

And we’ll keep building until every overlooked creative knows: You don’t need money to be valuable.