Building in public
TrainPlate is one person plus a lot of stubbornness, self-funded. Nothing here is required — the app will get built either way. But if you want it to get built faster, there are three ways to push.
Every email on the waitlist is proof this should exist, and waitlist members become the beta testers who shape what ships. If you do one thing, do this.
If you know someone juggling a calorie app, a workout app, and a spreadsheet — send them the site. Word of mouth beats any ad budget we don't have.
Money goes to the unglamorous parts: Apple's $99/year developer account, food-database access, and testing hardware. No perks promised yet — but early backers get founding-member pricing once that exists, and they'll be thanked by name in the app's credits unless they'd rather not be.
Apple Developer Program — $99/year, non-negotiable to ship an iOS app.
Food data & AI costs — the photo-logging and database lookups cost real money per use.
Testing hardware — the app needs to work on more than one phone.
That's the whole list. Nobody's salary is in it.