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Case study · Product

Veteran Benefits GPS

Free turn-by-turn directions through the VA process. It sends a Veteran or a family member to the exact official VA.gov page to start on, the form where a form applies, and free help from an accredited representative.

Visit vbgps.org Follow the build
Role
Founder, designer, and builder
Built with
Next.js, TypeScript, Playwright, and Cloudflare
Status
Closed beta from October 13, 2026
Launch
Veterans Day, November 11, 2026, in 32 days

The problem

One question. 643 million answers.

A Veteran searches "va benefits where do i start" and gets about 643,000,000 results.

Forums, firms selling claim help, outdated pages, and somewhere in there the one official page that applies. In 2012 I sat at a college desk helping other Veterans through their VA paperwork, one person at a time. What helps is a starting point, not more information.

Launch post: the search 'va benefits where do i start' returns about 643,000,000 results
Launch post. Google Search, September 18, 2026; the count moves every day.
Launch post: the map of ten benefit territories
Launch post: the map.

The solution

Ten territories. One journey.

Every VA benefit sits on one map. A Veteran answers a few questions about where they are, and each stop points to the official starting place, names the form where a form applies, and shows where to find free accredited help.

  • Eligibility, Healthcare, Disability, Education, and Housing
  • Financial, Family and Survivors, Employment, State and Local, and Memorial

Design principle

It points. It never decides.

Veterans have been burned by confident wrong answers, so the tool is navigation only.

  • No login and no personal data. No name, no file number, no rating. Nothing a Veteran enters is sold, shared, or shown to a sponsor.
  • Official sources only. Every stop starts at an official VA.gov link, with free help from an accredited representative.
  • Not the VA, and it says so. It never decides eligibility, predicts a rating, or gives claim advice.
  • Free to every Veteran. Built to be paid for by sponsors and supporters, never by Veterans.
Launch post: what this is, and what it is not
Launch post: what this is, and what it is not.

What I built

A product and the company around it.

Product

The tool

Next.js and TypeScript, a full end-to-end test suite, and every official link and form reference re-verified on a schedule.

Company

The business

An Illinois LLC registered with SAM.gov, with its own books and a launch path through counsel, trademark, and a closed beta.

Revenue

The model

Sponsorships offered to local and regional businesses, plus a supporter program. No paywall for Veterans.

Reach

The audience

Paid and organic social on eight channels, press, Veteran service organizations, and a daily business email program.

Before launch

Early numbers.

20KFacebook views in our first two weeks
10,483people reached on Facebook by October 9
$0.23ad cost per visit to the site, October 5 to 10
150business emails in one day, with 0 bounces

Read in each platform's own insights and the send record, October 10, 2026.

Timeline

From the first commit to Veterans Day.

  1. May 31

    First commit

    Git, Next.js and TypeScript, learned from zero.

  2. Jul 21

    Company organized

    Veteran Benefits GPS LLC, Illinois.

  3. Sep 18

    vbgps.org goes live

    The public page, the map, and the launch date.

  4. Sep 29

    Registered for federal work

    SAM.gov active, CAGE code assigned.

  5. Oct 13

    Closed beta

    Veterans and family members test it on their phones.

  6. Nov 11

    Public launch

    11:11 a.m. Eastern, Veterans Day 2026.

How it was built

One person, with a team of AI agents.

The product, the outreach, the books, and the daily brief are all built and run by Claude Code agents under a verification layer I designed.

Contact me