The builder's path
For: Holidaymakers and neighbours in Spain can't easily check whether a tourist flat listing is legally registered.
“The true creator is necessity, which is the mother of our invention.”
Routes to a solution
Each route is a different kind of journey, with real people and organisations to contact at each step, starting with those in Spain.
Step 1
Join an incubator or startup mission
They connect you to schemes and officials.
Y Combinator's free course and co-founder matching.
Accelerator for tech nonprofits.
Network of civic tech groups in many countries; find the one near the problem.
Step 2
Win a seed grant
Prove the idea works with a small, funded prototype.
Funds bold ideas in global health and humanitarian work.
Let the people a free tool helps fund its maintainer directly.
Grants for open source that makes the internet better.
Funds open source solutions from emerging economies.
Step 3
Pilot with a public body
A district, city or department tries it with real people.
Network of civic tech groups in many countries; find the one near the problem.
Ideas, sources and tools for this problem, from first interviews to funding.
Independent listing data for Spanish cities, including licence fields.
Led the action against unregistered listings and receives the platform data.
Starter prompt
Built from this problem's brief. Paste it into Claude or any AI assistant.
Help me design and build a first working prototype for this problem in Spain. Problem: Holidaymakers and neighbours in Spain can't easily check whether a tourist flat listing is legally registered. Who it hurts: Travellers booking short stays, and residents who suspect a flat in their building is being let illegally. The moment it hurts: Booking a flat that is later cancelled or removed, or living next to a flat with a new group of guests every few days. What people do today: Listings may show a number, but there is no simple public check that the number is real and matches the property. Why it is still unsolved: Registration moved to a new national registry in 2025, and checks rely on platforms and regional authorities, not on the people affected. What solved looks like: Anyone can paste a listing link or registration number and see whether it matches a valid entry in the national and regional registers, with a one-click report to the regional authority when it doesn't. Where: Spain First, list what you would need to learn from the people affected before building, as interview questions. Then propose the simplest version that would help, the screens or messages it needs, and the data it would use. Keep it cheap to run, accessible, and respectful of people's privacy. Flag anything you are unsure about instead of guessing.
Talk to the people who live it before you build.
“Lead me from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light.”
असतो मा सद्गमय। तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय।
asato mā sad gamaya, tamaso mā jyotir gamaya
Get a working version in front of people fast.
Using AI is not cheating. Every tool carries the work of the people who made it, and using it well is how knowledge has always moved forward. The thinking, the care for the people who live the problem, and the judgement are still yours.
“The Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.”
Open data that fits this problem.
“When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it: this is knowledge.”
Tools matched to what this problem needs.
“The things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”
Ship it responsibly, and find help and funding.
“Give me a place to stand, and I will move the earth.”
δός μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν κινάσω
Kit written for this problem from its brief; every link was checked. Links go to each provider's own site. Zetema is not paid for any listing.