As AI rapidly reshapes how we innovate, learning to build with the tech isn’t just about technical skills.
“Ultimately, your aim isn't to learn how to build with AI but to use it to accelerate your progress towards your personal or business objectives, like improving customer service or marketing efforts,” says Dan Parry, cofounder of voice survey platform Cluso and an educator focused on a blend of AI, no-code tools and entrepreneurship.
In our Startup Life newsletter, Dan shared some top tips to take your building with AI to the next level, so you can focus on what really matters: growing a new company.
And if you missed part one, you can find Dan’s advice for founders building their first project with AI here.
Talk to your computer
If you struggle with text, you can talk to your tools to interact with your code. I use a tool called Whisperflow, but there are many. Find one that works for you.
Create a custom GPT or Claude project when starting a new build.
Input all the information about your idea before you begin building. Get it to create your scope and documentation, as mentioned last week. You will then have everything in one place and the AI will pull from the specific data in that project, not anything else. You can also give it a role — assign it as your CTO or accountability buddy etc. so it keeps you on track and honest with how much you might be deviating from your plan.
From here, you can get it to create prompts for you to input into the platform you’re using to build your project. You can also get it to iterate with you. Some helpful questions to ask it as you go along with your build are:
- What's the best way for me to do this?
- I don't know what best practices are for this; what would you suggest?
- I don't even know what I don't know. What should I be thinking about?
- Am I doing this right?
- Am I on plan?
- Is this optimised?
- How do I figure out how my users are interacting with this?
Learn how to learn
There are great videos, blogs, workshops and documentation to learn from, but AI and its tools are evolving rapidly — resources become outdated very quickly. Instead, use AI as a learning tool. As you’re building, you will get stuck; you can ask the tool you’re using for step-by-step assistance. For example, you might need to integrate a social media’s API and your AI can guide you. You may also want the contextual understanding of what an API is — ask it! Over time, you will learn by osmosis how this stuff all fits together. You don’t need to know everything before you start!
Don’t fear databases
Building applications can often involve handling large amounts of data — whether it’s user information or images. Databases allow you to store, organise, manage and manipulate data. There are now tools that give you the power to incorporate powerful data functionality without needing to understand how it works under the hood. One example is Supabase, which simplifies database management and provides features like real-time data sync, authentication and ways to keep your data secure. Importantly, tools like Supabase integrate easily with others. For example, AI app builder Lovable lets you build with Supabase without the need for you to have a Supabase account.
Don’t go broad
It’s important to build something niche for a niche audience. Start small and get your audience to tell you what more it wants. Don’t build something that has everything and is super general just because you can — LLMs like Claude or ChatGPT are designed to serve everyone and they’ll win on this front. But, although ChatGPT is good for coding tasks, it’s never going to be as good as a coding specific tool like Cursor. Your job is to figure out how to be a Cursor for your market.
Focus on being a marketer
The hardest part used to be building a product. Now you can create an MVP in minutes and get it to market. As building becomes more democratised, your job is to be able to answer the hard questions efficiently:
- Is this a viable business model?
- Is this a good app?
- How do I get paid?
- Who are my customers and how do I keep them?
Tools we’ve spoken about can’t do this for you. Learning marketing skills is going to be key.
On the subject of... Building with AI
1. PRs need to start thinking about AI.
2. The 50 best AI tools for 2025. (So far).
3. Looking to create better images? Midjourney has just released new documentation making it easier to understand what a good prompt looks like. This Substack article looks at the latest updates in AI for creativity.
