XPortrait

What inspired you to create this? Like many makers, we were blown away by the recent explosion in generative AI. But as we looked at the practical applications for job seekers and professionals, we felt the existing tools were falling short. They felt more like toys than professional utilities. We were inspired to take the latest, most capable models (which are often hard to control) and tame them into a simple, reliable workflow that anyone could use to upgrade their professional online presence instantly. What problem did it solve? It democratizes access to high-end professional photography. Getting a great headshot is expensive, intimidating, and time-consuming. We've reduced that friction to zero. More importantly, we solved the "almost perfect" problem inherent in AI. Often, users get a great likeness but hate the outfit or background. Instead of forcing them to reroll endlessly, we built tools to fix those specific elements. How did your approach or process evolve while working on this launch? We started broadly, exploring general AI portrait photography. But we quickly realized that "professional headshots" were the killer use case with the most urgent demand. The biggest evolution was moving away from a pure "credit-for-generation" model to a "credit-for-control" model. We learned users are happiest when they can cheaply generate many options (previews) and then spend their credits on perfecting and downloading the one shot they love.