Build a Credit Card Points Redemption Optimizer

1. 1

   Study the incumbents before writing code

   AwardWallet (balance tracking, free plus a roughly $30 per year tier), MaxRewards (premium around $108 per year), CardPointers, and the award-search tools serious hobbyists pay for. Write down precisely what question none of them answers simply; that sentence is your product.

2. 2

   Pick one currency and one traveler

   One transferable-points program and the everyday cardholder who has never transferred a point. Depth on one program with current partner charts and honest valuations beats shallow coverage of all of them.

3. 3

   Lead with content that proves the math

   Concrete walkthroughs ('here is the same trip paid three ways') rank, get shared, and pre-sell the tool. This market is reached through search and points communities, not app store browsing.

4. 4

   Ship the calculator before the platform

   A points-in, options-out calculator with plain-language tradeoffs is sellable alone. Balance syncing, alerts, and multi-program support come after revenue, not before.

5. 5

   Charge subscribers, not issuers

   Affiliate commissions from card issuers quietly bend every recommendation engine in this space. A paid app whose only customer is the user is the trust wedge against bigger, conflicted competitors, and your marketing should say so.

6. 6

   Add alerts as the retention layer

   Transfer bonuses, award sale windows, and expiring points are time-sensitive events users will pay to never miss. Alerts convert a one-trip tool into an every-month subscription.

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