From a failed chat app to GrowsChat, rebuilding with one rule: AI never pretends to be human

Hi Product Hunt, I'm Behan, a solo full-stack developer from India.

My first version of this product died from something simple: no rate limits, no real cost plan, and a product that looked polished but wasn't easy to actually walk into. Media hosting costs alone made it unsustainable.

So this time, with GrowsChat, I made one rule non-negotiable: if you're ever talking to our AI while we find you a real match, you'll always know it's AI. No exceptions, no fine print. Everything else followed from there, no account needed to start talking, a safety check on every video call, and zero user-uploaded media, we built our own situational sticker library instead so conversations still feel expressive without opening the door to abuse.

I'm building this entirely solo, still shipping daily, and launching on Product Hunt on Sep 16.

If you've built something solo before, I'd love to hear what you learned the hard way too. And if GrowsChat's approach to AI honesty and safety-first design resonates with you, following along or supporting the launch on the 16th would genuinely mean a lot at this early stage.