A porter carrying cherry blossom through a torii gate toward Mount Fuji. A porter carrying cherry blossom through a torii gate toward Mount Fuji.

From brief to a launch-ready booking platform in two months, with two builders.

SWANS · United States

  • 2 months from brief to an MVP ready to launch
  • 2 full-stack engineers, design and architecture included

What did Bushido build for SWANS?

Bushido designed and built SWANS, an invite-only platform where Hollywood stars and their managers find and book hair and makeup artists. Two full-stack engineers took it from brief to a launch-ready MVP in two months, from architecture to Stripe checkout, with every deliverable in the brief.

The same brief, run today.

Then Now
Time 2 months 6 to 8 weeks
Team 2 engineers A product lead and a builder, each with agents, and a designer in the sprint
How it went / What is delivered Straight into build. One release at the end.
  • A prototype in week 2, tested with managers and artists
  • Proofs of concept for invite gating and Stripe checkout
  • A/B tests on artist page and booking, during the build

Bushido’s estimate, the same brief run in 2026. The “then” column is what happened.

The problem

A US-based founder wanted a place where Hollywood stars and their managers find the best hair and makeup artists: an MVP, fast and on a tight budget, intuitive but exclusive.

The solution

  1. Chose the stack for deadline and budget.

    Airtable for the data and its automations, Next.js and Tailwind for the front end.

  2. Kept the door invitation-only.

    A gated invitation system in front of Clerk sign-up, so only verified users get in.

  3. Documented the handover.

    Architecture and design documents, mockups, demos, training and a support schedule.

The result

The brief What shipped
Artists Listings, service details and portfolios Artist pages with fees, availability and client history, searchable by name or skill
Booking and payment Booking and payment in one flow Booking from availability, paid through Stripe
Exclusivity Intuitive, but exclusive Invitation-only, verified users only
Stack, team and facts

Every deliverable in the brief,
in two months.

MVP Development
Solution Architecture
UX and UI Design
Web Development
Authentication
Payments Integration
Industry
Beauty and Personal Care Services, Professional Networking, Talent Management
Period
2 months, 2023
Team size
2 full-stack engineers
Deliverables
Technical architecture and design documents
UI and UX design mockups
User authentication system
Payment processing integration
Artist and client profiles
Post-launch support and update schedule
Tech Stack
Airtable, Next.js, Clerk, Tailwind, Stripe

Next

Questions

Questions people ask about SWANS.

Why build the MVP on Airtable?

To meet the deadline and the budget: Airtable held the data and automations, so two engineers did not build a database layer from scratch.

How was the platform kept exclusive?

A gated invitation system sits in front of Clerk sign-up, so only verified users get in.

How do clients book and pay an artist?

From the artist’s page: they check availability, book and pay through Stripe.

Yours is next.

Same team, sharper tools. Tell us where you are and we will tell you what it takes (scope, shape and a timeline we would actually hold ourselves to) on a 30-minute call with a builder.

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