“The first version took around a week or two it was a web app that kind of just had the core features... it broke many times during the event but we were able to validate the core idea... after we validated with the web app we threw out the first version and that's because I honestly believe that consumer app is basically a craft”

Ship a throwaway web validation harness, then rebuild native from scratch

Even if you're building a mobile app, write a scrappy web version in 1-2 weeks and tie it to one real upcoming event (a friend's Halloween party for Once). Let it break in production — the point is to prove the experience works with real strangers, not to ship the actual product. After that one event validates the mechanic, delete the entire web codebase and rebuild on the right platform from a clean slate. Don't let validation code contaminate v1.