Solving the social media cold start problem

Hey co-founders :) - A freelance Android dev here who recently stepped outside my comfort zone to build something beyond client work and mobile.

The problem I hit with my past projects: I've been publishing content for my projects (blog posts on Medium for my app MNDXT, LinkedIn posts for a freelancer collective I'm part of) but getting traction beyond my tiny existing network was brutal. Classic cold start - you need engagement to get algorithmic visibility, but you need visibility to get engagement. I even burned hundreds of $ on LinkedIn and Instagram ads with basically zero ROI.

What I built now is a solution to that problem: upvote.team, a reciprocal content promotion platform where creators support each other's content across platforms (Medium, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, etc).

It works like this: You support other creators' content → earn "Spotlight" credits → promote your own content. The goal isn't to game algorithms, but to get you past that initial zero engagement phase so platform algorithms actually start showing your stuff organically.

The MVP is live and free (and no ads). I'm actually giving away free Spotlight credits to new users so people can promote immediately. And yes, my platform has the same cold start problem it's trying to solve, which feels appropriately meta :D

I built this as a solo dev, so I'm wearing all the hats which means I'm probably blind to obvious issues and would like to read some honest feedback from fellow builders. Does this solve a real problem for you? What would make you actually use it vs. just scrolling past? What am I missing?