Airatae, ready for the real world.
From a promising prototype to an app people install from a link and use standing in the place they want to help.Here is where the platform honestly stands today, what your Simplified MVP needs, and how I'd build it with you: three focused sprints with a steady retainer running alongside, and a mobile-first product that finally closes the loop.
Thanks for Thursday.
Andrea, Dennis,
Thank you for the time on the call, and for being so open about where Airatae is and where you want it to go. You named the real problem plainly: people already know what they want to do for their community and why. Coordinating the people and the work is where it falls apart. Your Simplified MVP puts that at the center, and I think it's the right call.
I did my homework before writing this. I read the whole codebase, looked at the live database (read only), and walked the app on my desktop and my phone. Where things are strong, I say so. Where they aren't, I say what it takes. Nothing here asks you to start over.
Two things I heard clearly: you'd rather have a partner than a fixed statement of work, and you want the user journey to be as clean and intuitive as it can be. This proposal is built around both. A steady monthly retainer for the thinking, the calls and the fixes, and three focused sprints for the big builds.
Every figure in the roadmap and engagement sections is a real proposal, not a quote. If any of it needs to fit a specific budget, tell me the number and I'll tell you plainly what fits inside it and what moves later. Nothing here is take-it-or-leave-it.
Every screen, image and line of wording further down is a placeholder. Nothing is set in stone. It gives us a scope to map against and a direction to build toward, and we refine all of it together on preview links before anything ships. One more thing to be precise about: what I'm proposing is a progressive web app that installs from a link, not an app-store mobile app.
A strong idea and a real backend. The loop just doesn't close yet.
Two things are genuinely strong: the idea and the foundations. Most of the rest either needs work or needs a proper rebuild. Here's the honest picture, and what we keep from the Lovable build.
44% never runs.
354 files of front-end code, and 166 of them are never loaded by the app. Old experiments, duplicate builders, abandoned pages. It's not broken, it's just carrying weight. Sprint 1 keeps what's good and clears the rest so everything after it moves faster. Here's what that means in practice:
- Your Supabase project: accounts, data, photos all stay put
- Google sign-in, already set up in your own Google Cloud
- The secure photo-upload function (genuinely well built)
- Location capture: find me, drop a pin, search an address
- The action lists: five categories, ten actions each
- Brand assets: the mark, the wordmark, the type, the indigo
- The map screen, rebuilt for phones with grouping and a list fallback
- The create flow, with type, category, photo and one-or-many added
- Profiles and member data, with private details split from public ones
- The design system: one palette, one type scale, real pill and glass parts
- The landing copy and story, reused on the new airatae.com
- The "+ Add" idea from the studio, wired to a real workspace
- Three of the four collaboration builders
- The "on-chain" registry and its claims
- Impact points, wallet and subscriptions (back later, done right)
- AI search and the mission assistant (later, behind a login)
- Missions, proposals and bidding, the entrepreneur directory
- Spotlight, Analyze, Radar, Command and 12 unreachable pages
✓Strong today
- ✓The idea is clear.Post something, organize people, show what got done. It fits in one sentence, and it's easy to explain to a stranger.
- ✓The foundations are right.Your own database, your own Google sign-in, your own code repository. That's the expensive part to fix later, and it doesn't need fixing.
That's the short list. It's also the list that matters most. Everything else gets built on top of it.
!Needs work
- !Posting and the map.Drop a pin and post works. But the map breaks on small screens, can't handle many pins, and posts lose their photo and category on the way in.
- !Signing in.Password reset doesn't work, and Google sign-in can leave people on a loading screen that never ends.
- !The action lists.Five categories, ten actions each, already written. Not connected to the create flow yet.
- !The look.Clean type, rounded controls, a bottom bar with a plus button. Close, but inconsistent and not built for phones.
×Needs a rebuild
- ×Everything after posting.Collaboration, tasks, roles, completion, outcomes. Screens exist, nothing is saved. This is the heart of the MVP and it has to be built properly.
- ×The phone experience.A squeezed desktop. Buttons overflow, tables clip, nothing installs. It becomes an installable app.
- ×The security rules.Right now anyone can read members' emails, phone numbers and home locations, and there are 16 more findings like it. Rewritten, then proven.
- ×The codebase and database.44% of the code never runs and the database can't be reproduced. Cleaned out and re-based so anyone could pick it up.
One loop. Post it, organize it, prove it.
Your scope boils down to a single flow. Everything in this proposal is organized around it, so it's always obvious what each piece of work is for. Not a dashboard, not a marketplace, not a volunteer app.
Swipe to follow the loop →
"Airatae's MVP makes it easier for people to create positive change in their communities by enabling them to post an opportunity, organize actions, and document outcomes with photos."Your goal, in one sentence · Simplified MVP scope
Six screens. Here's what exists, and what we build.
The Simplified MVP is six screens. One needs work, two need a rebuild, three don't exist yet. Every one of them ships in the sprints below.
Explore map
Create opportunity
Design collaboration
Complete task
Show outcomes
Profile
Everything that isn't one of these six screens is listed under Retire in section 02. It gets hidden or removed so the product only claims what it does. Some of it comes back later, once the loop is proven.
The locks are on. Some of them are on the wrong doors.
None of this is unusual for a build that grew fast, and all of it gets fixed in Sprint 1 before anything new goes on top. I'm listing what, not how.
is what the database's own security check reports. It checks whether protection is switched on, and it is, on every table. It doesn't check whether the rules are right. I found 17 things to fix.
- Anyone can read every member's private details
- Any signed-in user can make themselves an admin
- Impact points can be created by anyone, for anyone
- Billing records are open to everyone
- Users can set their own wallet balance
- Both AI endpoints and the map-key endpoint accept calls without a login
- Anyone can send anyone a notification inside the app
- Rate limiting can be skipped
- Who "owns" a listing isn't enforced
- The security log can be faked
- Public file storage with no size or type limits
- Leaked-password protection is switched off
- Database engine is behind on security patches
- A map key is committed to the code
- Duplicate rules and unused indexes that will slow things at scale
- Backups and recovery settings not yet confirmed
- Placeholder branding, broken legal links, old page titles still public
Build for the phone in someone's hand, standing where they want to help.
Three structural moves, made once. Then the part I'm most excited about: what every screen becomes.
An app you install from a link
Airatae becomes a progressive web app. Open it on a phone, tap install, and it lives on the home screen like any app. No app store, no waiting for approvals, one codebase, updates ship instantly.
- Bottom tab bar with a center Post button
- Uses the phone's location and camera
- Thumb-reachable controls, real tap targets
- Keeps working on a weak connection
Split the website from the app
airatae.com tells the story. app.airatae.com is the product. Each one loads only what it needs and can look like what it is.
- A real marketing site with one clear call to action
- Sign in hands you straight into the app
- Faster pages, cleaner analytics, simpler changes
- Feasible now, the site code has no app dependencies
Off Lovable, onto infrastructure you own
Code in your GitHub. Hosting on Vercel, in your name if you like. Your database stays exactly where it is. Every change gets a private preview link before it goes live.
- No hosting tax, no function timeouts
- Anyone qualified can pick it up after me
- Preview, your look, then live. Every time.
- One-click rollback if we ever need it
Send someone a link. Ten seconds later Airatae is on their home screen.
No app store listing, no review queue, no separate iPhone and Android builds to pay for. One product, installed from the browser, updated the moment we ship.
AirataeThe website gets one job: explain it in a breath, then hand people into the app.
Same design language as the app, but built to be read, not used. Story, proof, one button.
AirataePost it. Organize it. Show what got done.
Airatae makes it easy to post an opportunity in your community, organize the people and actions to make it happen, and document the outcome with photos.
Nine screens, in the language your scope describes: quiet, rounded, glass where it helps, photos as the record.
AirataeTogether.
Using your location · tap to change
People trust faces. Optional.
Tap to move the pin
Photo added · just now
Same app, wider. The map gets room, the details slide in from the side.
AirataeExploreOutcomesActivityProfile+ PostThree sprints, with the retainer running alongside. Live in three to four months.
Each sprint has a fixed scope and a fixed price, and ends with something you can open on your phone from a private link. The retainer runs underneath the whole way, covering the calls, the UX and UI input, and the fixes along the way. Weeks are estimates and will flex with your feedback. The order won't.
Make it safe, make it yours, make it a real app
SPRINT 1 · $5,180The biggest sprint, and the one everything else stands on. Security fixed and proven, the code moved onto infrastructure you own, a real website, and the installable app shell every screen will live in.
- Fix all 17 security findings, then prove it with a two-account test
- Move off Lovable: your GitHub, Vercel hosting, private preview links
- Split airatae.com from app.airatae.com, both on your domain
- New marketing website: story, proof, one clear call to action
- The app shell: installable, bottom tab bar, center Post button, phone-first layouts
- Design system tidy-up: one palette, one type scale, real glass and pill components
- Sign in fixed end to end: password reset, Google, onboarding, no dead ends
- Database baseline rebuilt so it can be reproduced and safely changed
- Retire the 44% of code that never runs, and the prototypes that mislead
- Rotate exposed keys, lock down file storage, real page titles and legal links
Post it, organize it, complete it with a photo
SPRINT 2 · $6,240The heart of the Simplified MVP. Real tables for collaborations, actions, tasks, people and roles. Photo completion that rolls up automatically. The map rebuilt for phones.
- Create opportunity: proactive or reactive, one category, action, place, photo, one or many
- Explore map rebuilt: groups nearby pins, always a list fallback, opportunity sheet
- Collaboration workspace on real data: + Add action, task, person, role
- Your action lists loaded for every category (you supply the final lists)
- Complete a task with a photo. Task done, action done, opportunity done
- Activity and notifications for the moments that matter
- Empty, loading and error states written like a person would say them
- Tested on real iPhones and Androids, not just a browser window
The visible record, then out the door
SPRINT 3 · $2,810Outcomes and profiles, a proper design pass over every screen, a small private beta with people you choose, then the public launch.
- Outcome record and page: title, place, category, photos, people, date
- Outcomes feed and a completed layer on the map
- Profile with history: started, helped, recent outcomes
- Design pass on every screen, phone and laptop
- Tap targets, keyboard, contrast, motion preferences
- Analytics and error monitoring you can actually read
- Private beta with 10 to 20 people, fixes from what they teach us
- Legal pages, backups verified, launch checklist signed off together, then live
What comes back when it's earned
SCOPED SEPARATELY- The financial layer: money flowing directly to the people and teams doing the work
- An assistant that turns "I want to help" into a posted opportunity
- A verified impact record, with real verification before any label
- App store listings, if installing from the web ever isn't enough
- Shared building blocks with the Institute's other projects
One retainer for the partnership. Three sprints for the big builds. $21,730 to launch.
You said a retainer fits better than a fixed list of deliverables, and I agree. There's real thinking to do together, especially on the user journey. So the retainer covers the partnership and runs the whole way, and each sprint is a fixed price for a fixed piece of the build on top of it. They aren't sequential: the retainer runs underneath all three sprints, start to finish.
Retainer
About $2,500 a month. General development, meetings and strategy sessions, and the steady stream of improvements a live product needs.
- Weekly working call, async in between
- UX and UI design and input on every screen
- Bug fixes and errors found along the way
- Small improvements and changes of direction, no rework charges
- Security and dependency upkeep
- Continues after launch to keep it healthy
Sprint 1
Foundation and rework: security, hosting, website, app shell, sign in, clean baseline.
- Everything in Sprint 1 above
- Security sign-off you keep
- $2,590 at kickoff, $2,590 at sign-off
Or split into three monthly payments of about $1,727.
Sprint 2
Close the loop: create, map, collaboration workspace, photo completion, activity.
- Everything in Sprint 2 above
- Two accounts run the loop on phones
- $3,120 at kickoff, $3,120 at sign-off
Or split into three monthly payments of $2,080.
Sprint 3
Outcomes, profile, design pass, private beta, public launch.
- Everything in Sprint 3 above
- Beta, then live
- $1,405 at kickoff, $1,405 at launch
Or split into three monthly payments of about $937.
What it adds up to
$14,230 across the three sprints, plus the retainer running alongside them the whole time: six payments of $1,250 over roughly three months of build, $7,500. If we take four months instead of three, the retainer simply continues at the same rate. Spreading the sprints out doesn't change the sprint prices.
Easier on cash flow: each sprint can be paid in three monthly parts instead of half up front and half at sign-off. Just say so and I'll set it up that way.
You own everything
Your code, database and domains stay in your name and your accounts — documented, and always in your control.
How work flows
Every change ships on its own branch and a preview link. Nothing reaches real users without your OK.
Your side of the table
Reactions and feedback from Andrea and Dennis, plus a small group of beta testers you trust.
Plain terms
A simple, confidential agreement. Retainer every two weeks, sprints split however works best for your cash flow.