Reverse Lookup: Find names, locations, public profiles, and more
Search engine for people: let users find public profiles, verify identities, or reconnect using names and basic info
Monetization
Subscription
Difficulty
Intermediate
Time to first
6-10 weeks
Market signal
$250K–1M/mo
Why it works
A Other product in this shape is already a proven earner — real businesses here run at roughly $250K–1M/mo. See the live example for exactly how it's packaged and sold.
Who it's for
Solo or 2-person team in Nigeria; customers are: recruiters, remote hiring platforms, verification services, dating apps, fraud investigators, or B2B platforms needing identity validation
How to build it
1. Scrape + index publicly available profile data from LinkedIn (via unofficial API or HTML parsing), Twitter/X, GitHub, public business registries, and local Nigerian business directories — start with one source, expand.
2. Build a fast, typo-tolerant search API using Elasticsearch or Meilisearch; optimize for partial name matches, location filters, profession keywords.
3. Wrap in a simple web UI (React/Next.js) and/or expose REST API for B2B buyers; add rate limiting and tier-based access (free tier 10 searches/mo, paid tiers 1K+/mo).
4. License data legally: publish clear ToS that you aggregate public data only; partner with data brokers or get explicit permissions where needed to avoid legal friction.
5. Sell via two channels: direct B2B (API keys to hiring platforms, fintech verification tools) + self-serve SaaS dashboard for small businesses and individuals.
Suggested stack
Node.js or Python (data pipeline)Elasticsearch or Meilisearch (search index)PostgreSQL (user accountsaudit logs)Next.js or React (frontend)Redis (cachingrate limiting)AWS S3 or Backblaze B2 (data storage)Stripe or Flutterwave (payments)
Your edge as a builder from anywhere
Nigerian builder can source + index local data (FIRS business registry, LinkedIn profiles of African professionals, local job boards, Naija Twitter users) faster and cheaper than Western competitors; serve African fintech/hiring platforms and diaspora use-cases (Nigerians abroad looking up family/friends) that US tools ignore; payment friction for African customers is solved via local rails (Flutt
Market signal
Real ad-market activity behind this proven pattern — from public ad libraries.