How a Healthcare Startup Got Unstuck: From Blocked Deployment to 500 Users in 3 Weeks
AppUnstuck Team
Your Partner in Progress
The Challenge
Dr. Lisa Chen had a vision: a telehealth platform where patients could book video consultations, access their medical records, and receive prescriptions—all in one place. She'd spent 4 months building it on Replit with the help of AI code generators, and the app worked beautifully in development.
But when it came time to launch, she hit a wall. Every deployment attempt failed with cryptic error messages. The app would work for a few hours, then crash. Patient data wasn't persisting correctly. And worst of all, her launch date—already postponed twice—was just 3 weeks away.
Lisa was stuck. She'd invested $15,000 and countless evenings into this project. She had 200 patients on a waiting list. But she couldn't ship a broken product in healthcare—the stakes were too high. The stress was overwhelming.
The Partnership
When Lisa reached out to us, she was exhausted from trying everything: re-deploying dozens of times, posting on forums, even hiring a freelancer who disappeared after taking her money. We started with a 30-minute call to understand where she was stuck.
In our initial audit, we discovered the core blockers:
- Database connections were timing out in production (but not in dev)
- Environment variables weren't properly configured
- The video call feature relied on a Replit-specific API that didn't work in production
- No error logging, so failures were invisible
We laid out a clear 3-week plan:
- Week 1: Stabilize the database and fix deployment configuration
- Week 2: Replace Replit-specific features with production-ready alternatives
- Week 3: Testing, security hardening, and launch preparation
Lisa appreciated the transparency. She knew exactly what we'd work on each week, and we set up daily 15-minute check-ins so she always knew our progress.
The Solution
We tackled the blockers one by one, keeping Lisa in the loop throughout.
Week 1: Getting the Foundation Stable
We migrated the database from Replit's built-in storage to a managed PostgreSQL instance that could handle real traffic. We set up proper environment variable management and configured the deployment pipeline so it worked reliably every time. Lisa could finally deploy without everything breaking.
Week 2: Making It Production-Ready
The video call feature was the trickiest part. It used Replit's collaboration API—great for prototyping, but not viable for a real healthcare app. We replaced it with a HIPAA-compliant video solution and added proper error handling so if something went wrong, Lisa would know immediately instead of patients getting stuck.
Week 3: Polish and Launch
We added monitoring so Lisa could see if anything went wrong after launch. We conducted security testing to ensure patient data was protected. We helped Lisa test the entire patient flow from signup to consultation. By day 18, everything was ready.
The Results
Lisa launched on schedule—actually, one day early. In the first week, 150 patients from her waiting list signed up. By week three, she had over 500 active users booking consultations.
Here's what changed:
Business Impact:
- ✅ Launched on time after being stuck for 2 months
- ✅ 500+ users in first 3 weeks
- ✅ $12,000 in revenue (first month)
- ✅ Zero downtime since launch
- ✅ HIPAA-compliant and secure
Peace of Mind:
- ✅ Can deploy updates confidently
- ✅ Knows immediately if something breaks
- ✅ Spends time on patients, not debugging
"I was terrified I'd have to abandon the whole project. AppUnstuck didn't just fix the technical issues—they helped me understand what was wrong and why. Now I can actually focus on my patients instead of panicking about the app crashing. We launched on time, and it's been rock solid ever since."
— Dr. Lisa Chen, Founder
Three months later, Lisa has over 2,000 patients using the platform. She's even started building new features—something she was afraid to do before because she thought any change would break everything.
Key Takeaways
Warning signs you might be stuck like Lisa was:
- You've postponed your launch date multiple times due to deployment issues
- It works in development but fails in production
- You don't have proper error logging or monitoring
- You're afraid to make changes because something might break
- You're losing sleep worrying about your app failing
When to get help:
If you're more than a month past your planned launch date and still can't deploy reliably, don't wait. Every week of delay costs you users, revenue, and momentum. A professional audit can identify blockers in hours that might take you weeks to find.
Get Unstuck
Stuck in a similar situation? We'd love to help you get moving again. Start with a free 30-minute audit where we'll identify your blockers and map out a clear path forward—no pressure, no sales pitch, just a plan to get you shipping.
Whether it's deployment issues, platform pricing surprises, or technical debt slowing you down, we can help you get unstuck and back to building your business.
This case study represents a common scenario we see with AI-generated healthcare apps. Client details have been modified to protect privacy.