Full-Stack Developer for Mobile-First Web App

Full-Stack Developer / Small Team — Build Production MVP from Existing High-Fidelity Prototype Project Overview Elara is a guided personal-growth platform for women, designed to help users identify where they feel stuck and move through structured short-form transformation journeys. The product is already designed: the methodology, architecture, onboarding, assessment, and 7-day journey structure are defined in a working high-fidelity prototype. We are looking for an experienced full-stack developer or small team to build the first production-ready MVP as a mobile-first responsive web app, architected in a way that will not limit a future native iOS/Android app. Our priority is the smallest version that still feels emotionally complete and premium: a compelling journey experience, excellent daily-session UX, clear progress, and maintainable architecture rather than unnecessary feature count. What We Already Have High-fidelity interactive prototype, shared with shortlisted developers Established design system and screen designs Defined methodology, onboarding flow, assessment logic, and 7-day journey structure Six life areas used consistently throughout: SELF, ENERGY, MONEY, PURPOSE, LOVE, EVERYDAY Some UX details may continue to evolve during the build, so we are looking for a collaborative partner who can absorb reasonable refinements without destabilizing the project. Core MVP Scope 1. Accounts Sign up, login, logout, password reset, persistent profile, and saved progress. 2. Onboarding Welcome flow, reflection questions, life season, life-area signals, personalized recommendation, initial Blueprint, and recommended path. 3. Assessment Structured questions across all six life areas, stored responses, and area-level scoring. Questions, scoring logic, and assessment content must be configurable without requiring a code deployment. 4. Life Clarity Blueprint Visual summary of the six life areas, personalized interpretation, recommended next journey, and assessment retake option. 5. Paths / Journeys One guided journey per life area, approximately 7 days each, with progress saved so users can leave and resume without losing their place. 6. Daily Sessions Each session may include: Introduction Practice User input Reflection Completion Recognition The session system should be modular and content-driven rather than hard-coded individually for every day. 7. Today / Home Current journey and day, primary action, recent progress, recommendations, and important entry points. 8. Explore Allow users to browse the six life areas and available journeys, then start or continue a journey. 9. Circle / Community MVP A deliberately focused community experience including: Feed Posts Comments Reactions Create post Profile context Prompts Empty states Basic moderation This should remain focused and should not become a full social network. 10. Profile Account information, active and completed journeys, assessment history, progress, membership status, and settings. 11. Membership / Paywall Purchase flow, subscription status, free vs. paid access, subscription management, and cancellation. Stripe is likely, but we are open to alternatives if there is a clear technical or operational advantage. 12. Content Management Our non-technical team must be able to update: Journey copy Daily guidance Prompts Actions Assessment questions Community prompts These updates should not require a code deployment. Please recommend the simplest and most maintainable CMS/content-management approach. 13. Analytics Analytics should be implemented from launch. Key events include: Account created Onboarding completed Assessment started Assessment completed Journey/path started Journey/path completed Daily session started Daily session completed Community viewed Post created Paywall viewed Subscription started Subscription cancelled 14. Admin We need lightweight tools that allow our team to: View users View subscription status Moderate community content Update content Review basic engagement We prefer simplicity over building a large custom admin dashboard. Design Direction The product should feel: Calm Warm Emotionally intelligent Premium but approachable Spacious Typography-led Minimal and uncluttered It should not feel like a clinical mental-health app, productivity dashboard, generic chatbot, or social network. Build Approach We are considering a phased build: Foundation → Core Experience → Journey Engine → Community → Monetization & Operations → QA & Launch You may propose a different sequence if you can clearly explain the technical or product rationale. Optional AI / Chat Module — Quote Separately The prototype also includes a conversational guidance concept. The chat experience may use context from the user's assessment or active journey to provide guided reflection, suggested next actions, and LLM-generated responses where appropriate. Please provide separate estimates for: Option A The simplest useful AI/chat V1. Option B A more advanced contextual guidance experience that could be added later. Please clearly explain implications for: Development cost Privacy Moderation Reliability Ongoing API costs Maintenance We do not want unnecessary AI infrastructure in the initial release. What We're Looking For We are looking for a full-stack developer or small team that: Has shipped production applications, not just prototypes Has experience building from existing prototypes and design systems Can recommend a technical stack and explain decisions in plain language Values simplicity, maintainability, and speed over unnecessary infrastructure Is collaborative and communicative Can handle reasonable UX refinements during development Understands production deployment, QA, security, and handover Ownership & Handover Please confirm that: Elara owns the production source code Elara controls production accounts and infrastructure where practical Documentation will be provided Source code and deployment access will be handed over at completion Any proprietary technology, third-party dependency, or vendor lock-in will be disclosed in advance What to Include in Your Proposal Please include the following: 1. Estimated total cost for the Core MVP 2. Separate estimates for optional modules, especially AI / Chat Options A and B 3. Preferred milestone and payment structure 4. Timeline by phase, including major dependencies 5. Recommended stack for: Frontend Backend Database Authentication Payments Hosting CMS/content management Analytics Community AI, where relevant 6. 1–2 relevant production projects and your specific role in each 7. Availability and proposed start date 8. Team members and roles if applying as an agency or small team 9. Expected ongoing hosting, API, maintenance, and third-party costs 10. Any assumptions affecting your estimate 11. Anything you would recommend excluding from V1 12. Post-launch support terms, including warranty period, maintenance options, and response times for production issues PDF Proposal Required Please also attach a PDF copy of your full proposal for our internal review. The PDF should include your: Core MVP cost estimate Optional AI/Chat estimates Proposed timeline Milestone breakdown Recommended technical stack Relevant experience and portfolio Team structure, if applicable Availability and start date Expected hosting, API, maintenance, and third-party costs Key assumptions or exclusions Post-launch support terms Please make sure the PDF contains enough detail for our team to review your proposal internally. Pricing / Budget We have not set a fixed budget for this project. Please propose your own fee based on the scope. Your proposal should clearly separate: Core MVP cost from Optional modules, including AI / Chat Please also include your preferred milestone/payment structure. Pricing is part of our evaluation alongside technical approach, relevant experience, timeline, communication, and overall fit. Please be specific rather than sending a generic price range. Important The high-fidelity prototype will be shared with shortlisted developers. We are looking for a long-term, collaborative development partner who can turn an already-defined product vision into a polished, maintainable, production-ready MVP.