Hey IH 👋

Quick intro and a milestone I want to share.

I'm Leo, solo dev from Romania. For the past 6 months I've been building Folicle in parallel with freelance client work, and this week I'm opening the closed beta. First SaaS, first real attempt at productizing something instead of trading hours for money.

Why I built it

I've been on minoxidil + finasteride + microneedling for 18 months. The treatments work, but you can't tell. Scalp hair grows ~1cm per month, which is invisible to your own eyes in the mirror. Different angle, different lighting, different haircut, and you're convinced something has changed. So you panic buy more products. Or quit too early. Or spiral.

Mirror checking isn't a measurement. So I built one.

What Folicle does

- Captures 5 aligned scalp photos a week (90 seconds, hands-free, gyroscope-locked angle)

- Registers each new session to your first one, so week 12 is comparable to week 1

- Spits out one honest 0-100 Hair Score with breakdown (photo trend, routine consistency, recovery)

- Logs your treatment stack (minox, fin, microneedling, tret, keto, dutasteride)

- AI progress analysis via Gemini, served on-device when possible

Stack (for the curious)

- Expo + React Native (iOS + Android same codebase)

- Supabase (Postgres + storage + auth)

- RevenueCat (subscription handling)

- Gemini API (photo analysis)

- PostHog EU (analytics)

- Vercel (landing page)

Current numbers

- 6 months of build time, working solo around freelance client work

- ~12 closed beta testers lined up for week 1

- Founder pricing: €4.99/mo or €39.99/year, locked for life if subscribed before Aug 5

- Free tier: capture, log, weekly score, forever free, no asterisks

What I'm asking for

Two things, if anyone has 60 seconds:

1. Brutal feedback on the landing: folicle.app, is the value prop clear in 5 seconds, or do I need to rewrite?

2. Anyone in the hair loss space (yourself or someone you know on treatments) who'd want to be in the first 12 testers? Reply or DM and I'll send the beta link. Founder pricing free for 3 months as thanks.

Lessons so far (happy to expand on any of these in comments)

- Closed Testing requirement on Play Console (12 testers x 14 days) caught me by surprise. Google's policy for new personal accounts post Nov 2023. Worth knowing if you're planning Android launch.

- Going broad with audiences kills focus. I almost made Folicle "for everyone with hair concerns" before realizing the Tressless and serious protocol audience is 100x more valuable than general curious users.

- Solo dev + AI features = the most fragile part isn't the AI, it's the cost. Per-photo Gemini calls add up fast. Had to design the free tier carefully around analysis quotas.

Happy to answer anything. Especially want to hear from anyone who's shipped a mobile SaaS solo, how did you handle the post launch grind without burning out?

Leo