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StarPlex is an AI-powered startup intelligence platform that helps entrepreneurs validate their business ideas and connect with the resources they need to succeed. Powered primarily by Perplexity Sonar Pro, it features an interactive 3D globe interface as its main UI. Simply enter your startup idea, and watch as the AI engine analyzes and visualizes insights directly on the globe—mapping out competitors, markets, demographics, VCs, and potential co-founders across the world in real-time.

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Features

  • Market Validation Analysis with AI-proof scoring, market cap estimation, and growth trend analysis
  • Interactive 3D Globe Interface for visualizing global startup intelligence data
  • Competitor Research with threat scoring and competitive landscape mapping
  • VC & Investor Matching based on investment thesis and portfolio alignment
  • Co-founder Discovery with compatibility scoring and expertise matching
  • Demographic Research with heatmap visualization of target audience locations
  • AI Pitch Deck Generation creating investor-ready presentations
  • Context-Aware Chatbot with RAG integration across all research data

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Prerequisites

  • Node.js 18+ and npm
  • Python 3.8+ and pip
  • Perplexity API key (Sonar Pro)
  • Mapbox token and SERP API key

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Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/JerryWu0430/StarPlex.git
cd StarPlex

# Backend setup
cd backend
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Frontend setup
cd ../frontend
npm install

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Configuration

Create .env file in the backend directory: 
PERPLEXITY_API_KEY=your_perplexity_api_key
MAPBOX_TOKEN=your_mapbox_token
SERPAPI_KEY=your_serpapi_key

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Usage

  1. Start Backend: 
    cd backend
python main.py
  2. Start Frontend: 
    cd frontend
npm run dev
  3. Access Application: Open http://localhost:3000 and enter your startup idea
  4. Explore Intelligence: Use the 3D globe to visualize competitors, VCs, demographics, and co-founders
  5. Generate Assets: Create pitch decks and chat with the AI assistant about your analysis

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How StarPlex Uses Perplexity Sonar API

StarPlex leverages Perplexity’s Sonar API through a multi-module intelligence architecture: Market Analysis Engine Uses Sonar Pro for comprehensive market validation, combining Google Trends data with AI analysis to generate market cap estimates, AI-disruption scores, and growth projections with structured JSON outputs. Competitor Intelligence Employs multiple concurrent Sonar queries to identify competing companies, funding status, and threat levels. Each competitor receives a 1-10 threat score with detailed competitive positioning analysis. VC & Co-founder Matching Leverages Sonar’s real-time web knowledge to find relevant investors and potential co-founders, scoring matches based on investment thesis alignment, expertise fit, and geographic proximity. Context-Aware Business Assistant Implements RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) by feeding all research data into Sonar conversations, creating a knowledgeable startup advisor that can answer questions about market positioning, competitive threats, and strategic decisions. Geographic Intelligence Combines Sonar’s demographic insights with Mapbox geocoding to create interactive heatmaps showing where target audiences are concentrated globally.

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Code Explanation

  • Backend: Python FastAPI with AsyncIO for concurrent Perplexity API calls across multiple analysis modules
  • Frontend: Next.js with React 19, featuring Cobe for 3D globe visualization and Mapbox GL for interactive mapping
  • AI Integration: Multi-model Perplexity strategy using Sonar Pro for complex analysis and Sonar for faster queries
  • Data Pipeline: Intelligent caching, structured JSON responses, and real-time streaming for immediate user feedback
  • Visualization: Dynamic data binding between Perplexity insights and interactive globe/map interfaces
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