How Reef actually works.
Four steps from sign-up to your first co-founder. Verified .edu only. No résumés, no recruiters, no high-school finstas.
Four steps. Days, not semesters.
You sign up with .edu
Drop your university email. Verified the moment you submit. No recruiters, no spammers, no high-school finstas. Every account is a real student.
You pin what you're building
Project name, stage badge, one sentence about what it is. Your profile shows the world what you're working on right now. Not what you did last summer.
Someone sends a collab request
Not a follow. Not a DM into the void. A real message about why you, specifically. One button to Accept. One to Decline.
“Saw your AI tutor post. I'm a designer and was a premed. I've felt this exact pain. Want to talk this week?”
You meet. You build.
Accepted requests open a DM thread with the original message pinned to the top. The work begins. Days, not semesters.
“Saw your AI tutor post. I'm a designer and was a premed. Want to talk this week?”
LinkedIn is for jobs.
REEF is for what comes next.
Same Jake. Two networks. Look at what each one rewards.
🚀I'm thrilled to announce that I've been working on something exciting in the EdTech / AI space. More to share soon. Open to chatting with anyone passionate about leveraging cutting-edge technology to revolutionize learning. #grateful #buildinpublic
Mira v0.1 is live. Tested with 12 premed students this week. 8/10 said they'd use it. Looking for a designer. DM me.
You shipped v0.1 of your project this week. Here's what you'd post on each.
🚀 Thrilled to announce that I've been working on an exciting new venture in the EdTech space, leveraging cutting-edge AI to revolutionize how premed students learn organic chemistry. Excited to share more soon. Open to chatting with anyone passionate about disrupting education through innovation. 🙏 Grateful for the journey.
#buildinpublic #grateful #aitutor #disrupt #edtech #journey #blessed
Mira v0.1 is live. Tested with 12 premed students this week. 8/10 said they'd use it. Looking for a designer who cares about education. DM me.
Every feature that matters, side by side.
Tell people where you are.
They'll find you when you're ready.
Every project carries a stage badge. Honest about where the thing actually is. No more pretending an idea is a real business.
A napkin sketch you can't shake.
You found a teammate. The first prototype is ugly but works.
Strangers download it. The first real review comes in.
Users who pay you. Hiring your first contractor.
Wire hits. The board call is on the calendar.
Not a follow. A collab request.
A collab request is something you actually have to write. What you're building, what you need, why this person specifically. The recipient hits Accept or Decline. If accepted, a DM thread opens with the original message pinned to the top.
It's the warm intro you couldn't get any other way. Now it's a button on your phone.
“”
“Starting a nonprofit teaching photography to kids in low-income Dallas schools. Need someone to shoot the launch event. You free Saturday morning?”
“Running the new esports club at UT. 12 members, zero momentum. You wrote that piece on growing student orgs. Want to help me get to 100 by fall?”
“I'm submitting a short to SXSW. Need a tiny site to host the trailer. 3 days, dead simple. Pay you in coffee, credits, and a thank-you slide.”