Co-SQRD

Inspiration

Small businesses face countless hidden risks, from signing unfavorable leases to partnering with the wrong people. These decisions often have long-term consequences, yet most small business owners lack the tools to evaluate those risks, especially when considering shared or co-ventured spaces.

We wanted to build something that helps real people, not just investors, make smarter, safer decisions in moments that can define the future of their business.

What it does

Co-SQRD is Co-venturing and risk analysis made easy, an AI-powered tool that helps small business owners:

Match with the right co-venturer based on trust, compatibility, and fit
Evaluate location risk scores using property characteristics such as crime rate, foot traffic, and appreciation rate
Understand operational fit and potential conflicts before signing a lease

How we built it

Frontend: Developed a clean, user-centered interface using Streamlit
Backend: Integrated a Python-based TensorFlow model to calculate risk scores
MongoDB to seamlessly retrieve user and property data

Challenges we ran into

Real estate APIs were either paywalled or too broad, and no niche-free options were available for our use case
We had to collect and clean real commercial addresses for our dataset manually due to the lack of publicly available datasets for commercial property risk analysis
With limited time, we couldn't build or integrate a full machine-learning model for risk-scoring
We faced limitations in customizing the interface due to Streamlit's restricted support for CSS styling
MongoDB's server being down resulted in difficulties seamlessly storing user and property data

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Identified and tackled a real-world gap in risk assessment for commercial properties that directly impacts real people
Developed a functional prototype with realistic, insightful data and a user-friendly interface
Defined a clear product vision with strong future potential for scalability in the real estate space

What we learned

You don’t have to build everything to build something meaningful
Focused execution, even with time limits, can make a niche idea come alive
Even simple features like foot traffic and nearby businesses can reveal powerful insights when framed well
Limited data paired with strong design choices can power meaningful and functional demos

What's next for Co-SQRD

Add a call and messaging system powered by an AI agent
Expand to more cities and add real-time business profile-matching
Incorporate operational fit into the property and risk evaluation model
Integrate with commercial real estate APIs for live listings and smarter scoring