AI-Powered Consumer Decision Platform — MVP Development

We are seeking an experienced full-stack developer or small development agency to build the MVP of a new AI-powered consumer decision platform. The product will help users describe a purchasing need in natural language, answer a small number of clarification questions, and receive personalised product recommendations drawn from approved commercial data sources. The platform will be web-based, mobile-first, highly automated and designed for lean founder-led operation. Core MVP Requirements The successful developer should be able to build: • Conversational AI interface • Natural-language requirement extraction • Intelligent clarification questions • Product/API data retrieval • Structured recommendation logic • Personalised recommendation outputs • User accounts and saved preferences • Saved recommendations and multi-item lists • Affiliate/merchant tracking integration • Analytics and founder administration dashboard • Responsive mobile-first web experience • Secure API and authentication architecture The AI layer should use a modern LLM API such as OpenAI, but factual product information should come from authorised external data sources rather than model-generated guesses. The system should be designed so that multiple merchant or product-data integrations can be added over time. Preferred Experience Strong candidates should have experience with several of the following: • Full-stack web development • React / Next.js / TypeScript • Shopify or headless commerce • OpenAI API or similar LLM APIs • AI tool/function calling • Recommendation systems • Product feeds and third-party APIs • Affiliate or ecommerce integrations • PostgreSQL / Supabase or equivalent • OAuth and secure authentication • Analytics/event tracking • Cloud deployment • API security Experience building AI-powered ecommerce, recommendation, search or marketplace-style applications is particularly valuable. Important This is not primarily a Shopify-theme project and is not suitable for someone whose main experience is installing themes, adding chatbot plugins or manually uploading products. The project requires genuine custom AI/API development. Initial Deliverables The MVP should allow a user to: 1. Enter a purchasing requirement in natural language. 2. Answer relevant clarification questions. 3. Receive personalised recommendations based on real product data. 4. Understand why options were recommended. 5. Follow tracked merchant links. 6. Create an account after receiving value. 7. Save and revisit recommendations. 8. Return later with retained context. A private founder dashboard should also provide visibility into user activity, AI usage, outbound merchant activity and basic commercial performance. Project Structure We prefer a milestone-based fixed-price engagement covering: • Technical architecture • MVP development • AI integration • External product/API integration • Authentication and user accounts • Analytics • Testing • Security review • Production deployment • Technical documentation • Handover Proposal Requirements Please provide: 1. Relevant project examples. 2. AI/LLM integration experience. 3. Ecommerce/API integration experience. 4. Recommended technical architecture. 5. Shopify/headless commerce experience, if relevant. 6. Proposed timeline. 7. Milestone-based pricing. 8. Current availability. 9. Any major technical risks you foresee. Shortlisted candidates will receive the full project specification after signing a confidentiality agreement. Confidentiality The full business model, product architecture, commercial strategy, proprietary recommendation logic and detailed technical specification will only be disclosed to shortlisted candidates following execution of an NDA. Please do not apply if your experience is limited to basic ecommerce site builds or off-the-shelf chatbot implementations.