From Hackathon to Funded Startup: How Soshi Built an AI Social Media Manager on Supabase

We used Supabase at the hackathon because it let us go from idea to MVP in under two days. Then it took only a couple of months to turn that janky MVP into a production-ready application.

In November 2024, Elijah Muraoka and Michael Long joined a Supabase Hackathon with a wild idea: build the world's first AI-powered social media marketing employee. What started as a 36-hour sprint has since become Soshi, a venture-backed company with over 1,300 user sign-ups, its first sales, and serious momentum.

This is the story of how two college founders used Supabase to go from zero to one…with a little bit of luck, a lot of hustle, and the right tools at their backs.

"We built the first version in 36 hours."#

When Elijah and Michael saw the Supabase Hackathon announcement, they almost didn't apply. But with a last-minute decision and a quick application, they got in.

That weekend changed everything.

I've won other hackathons before, and I've had startups that didn't work out. But this one felt different. We both knew: if we don't go all in on this, we never will.

Building with Supabase#

The Soshi team built their backend entirely on Supabase, relying on a range of integrated products to accelerate their development and ensure a solid production foundation. Here's how each piece of the stack contributed to their velocity and reliability:

• Database: Supabase's hosted Postgres database gave the team a rock-solid foundation from day one. It handled their growing user base and production workloads without issue, giving them confidence to build and scale without second-guessing their infrastructure.
• Auth: Setting up Google OAuth took just minutes, allowing users to onboard seamlessly. The team also implemented magic link authentication with a custom Loops integration, making the experience simple for end users while keeping control in their hands.
• Realtime: Supabase Realtime allowed Soshi to deliver a dynamic, collaborative experience for users. It powers live updates and interactions, helping the app feel fast and responsive—critical for a product rooted in social media engagement.
• Row Level Security (RLS): RLS ensures that only the right users access the right data, offering a strong baseline of data privacy and integrity without requiring complex manual enforcement.
• Branching: With Supabase branching, Soshi created and maintained clean local, staging, and production environments. This made it easy to test and ship features with confidence, knowing they wouldn't compromise live data or stability.
• Local Development & CLI: Supabase's CLI and local development support enabled a fast, flexible developer workflow. The team could spin up and tear down local instances at will—experimenting, iterating, and validating ideas before deploying them.
• TypeScript Generated Types: Automatically generated TypeScript types from Supabase dramatically improved the team's developer experience. They integrated seamlessly into the team's Next.js + React + React Query stack, making it easier to build components, queries, and mutations with strict type safety and minimal friction.

Together, these tools allowed the Soshi team to stay focused on what mattered: building their product and delivering value to users. Supabase gave them the infrastructure, security, and developer ergonomics to move fast—and do it right.

The DX is just excellent. Supabase's CLI, branching, local dev support, and type safety made everything so smooth.

They also praised the documentation, YouTube tutorials, and early help from the Supabase support team, who advised them on schema design and vault-based credential storage.

From idea to impact#

What began as a hackathon project quickly turned into a serious business. Within months:

• They launched their production app
• Signed up over 1,300 users
• Posted more than 20,000+ AI-generated tweets
• Officially incorporated Soshi in April 2025
• Raised $500,000 in seed funding from Link Ventures
• Recently launched paid plans and made their first sales

We went from a weekend hackathon project to a funded startup with real users and revenue all during what was supposed to be my last semester in college.

Why Supabase was the right platform#

Supabase didn't just help us move fast. It helped us build with confidence.

The Soshi team never had to worry about stitching together multiple services or battling vendor lock-in. Supabase gave them everything they needed to build a backend without sacrificing flexibility:

• Postgres at its core
• A complete suite of tools—realtime, storage, auth, functions
• Strong dev tooling and local-first workflows
• Predictable pricing as they scale

Advice for other founders#

If you're thinking about doing a Supabase hackathon, just do it. You never know what it might become.

Both Elijah and Michael recommend hackathons not just for the prizes—but for the focus, creativity, and feedback they unlock. And they believe Supabase is the best platform to bring new ideas to life.

They're now hiring and continuing to scale. If you love building with Supabase, they'd love to hear from you.

Looking Ahead#

The next chapter for Soshi is ambitious:

• Turning their V1 into a true AI-powered marketing employee
• Expanding beyond X to platforms like LinkedIn, Threads, and Medium
• Growing their team and feature set while staying nimble and user-focused

Supabase gave us the foundation to build in a weekend—and now it's helping us scale to millions.

Follow in Soshi's footsteps#

Find a Supabase hackathon near you. Be sure to read Soshi's complete guide to preparing for a hackathon.