u/zemblov

Same story every year: hours die in May, rent doesn't. But the restaurants I've talked to are simultaneously struggling to keep summer shifts covered. Workers and open shifts exist blocks apart and can't find each other.

I got frustrated enough to build an app around it (Putora — I'll drop details in comments only if anyone asks, not trying to spam the sub). Mostly I want to hear how you all actually bridge the summer — second jobs? Bonita? Savings? What would actually help?

I came here from Serbia and spent years working Naples restaurants. Every May the same thing happened: the snowbirds leave, the schedule shrinks, and half the staff gets told to "hang in there until October." Meanwhile restaurants running skeleton crews are one no-show away from a disaster night.

Both sides need each other and neither can find each other — job boards are built for résumés, not for Tuesday's dinner shift.

So I built Putora, a swipe-to-match app for shift work (free for workers, on the App Store and Google Play). I'm not here to sell anyone — I'm here because you all know this market better than any investor deck does.

What am I missing? What would make this actually useful for Cape? Honest criticism genuinely wanted.

I came to the United States as an immigrant with a suitcase, a work ethic, and no real connections.

Over the years, I’ve lived and worked in multiple states — Massachusetts, California, Hawaii, and Florida. I’ve worked in hospitality, met thousands of people from around the world, and seen firsthand how difficult finding work can be when you’re new somewhere.

Every time I moved, I started from scratch.

New city.

New job search.

New people.

New challenges.

What surprised me was that even in places desperate for workers, finding a job was still incredibly frustrating. You send applications and hear nothing back. Employers post openings but struggle to find reliable candidates. Everyone is looking for each other, yet somehow they’re not connecting.

I met students on J-1 visas, immigrants, seasonal workers, hospitality professionals, tradespeople, and Americans relocating across the country. They all had the same problem: finding the right opportunity often depended more on luck than skill.

After experiencing this myself across four different states, I started asking a simple question:

Why is finding a job still so hard in 2026?

That’s what led me to create Putora.

The goal wasn’t to build another job board. There are already plenty of those.

I wanted to create something that makes job searching feel more human. A place where workers and employers can discover each other directly, express mutual interest, and start conversations without sending hundreds of applications into a void.

My journey across Massachusetts, California, Hawaii, and Florida taught me that talent exists everywhere. Opportunity exists everywhere too. The hard part is helping the right people find each other.

That’s the problem I’m trying to solve.

Putora.net