The Challenge
Building a two-sided marketplace iOS app as a solo developer without a mobile engineering background
As a solo founder, I needed to build a complex two-sided marketplace connecting motorcycle riders with experienced mentors. The challenge wasn't just building the web app—I needed a native iOS experience without hiring a mobile team or learning Swift. The app required real-time features, complex matching logic, payment processing, and had to feel native on iOS while sharing 100% of the business logic with the web platform.
The Solution
Leveraged Rails 8 with Hotwire and Turbo Native to build once, deploy everywhere. Built the entire backend and business logic in Rails, used Turbo to create real-time interactions without JavaScript frameworks, and wrapped the entire experience in Turbo Native for iOS. This allowed me to ship a native iOS app to the App Store as a solo Rails developer—no Swift, no separate mobile codebase, no mobile team required.
The Results
Successfully launched both web and native iOS applications as a single developer. The Rails monolith powers both platforms with zero code duplication. Deployed to the iOS App Store and achieved feature parity between web and mobile with a fraction of the typical development time and cost.
"Building RideMentor solo taught me that with the right stack-Rails, Hotwire, and Turbo Native-you don't need a full team to ship sophisticated multi-platform applications. This is the power I bring to every client engagement."
Dmitry SychevFounder, Axium Foundry & RideMentor