Building an MVP with AI - Part 1

How Antler's Deadline Inspired Fast Prototyping

Antler requested a working prototype within weeks. The challenge? My dev skills were rusty after six years in management-heavy roles—and I was never the strongest coder to begin with. That's where AI-powered tools and vibe coding changed the game.

Rapid Development Tools: Lovable, Supabase & More

Antler provided credits for tools that accelerated our MVP:

• Lovable (thanks Anton Osika!)
• Supabase
• Vercel
• Make
• Google Cloud

Initially, I built prototypes with Lovable, but integrating backend functionality proved challenging. Every fix seemed to introduce new issues, leading to frustration.

I decided to pivot entirely.

Adopting a Product-Centric Mindset

Rather than pursuing a quick-fix MVP, I adopted a disciplined product-team approach:

• Defined Core Features Clearly: Planned critical functionalities first.
• Deep Provider Research: Understood clearly how external systems would interact with our MVP.
• Supabase for Backend Simplicity: Chose Supabase to handle databases, authentication, and monitoring, significantly speeding up development.

A crucial early decision: focus on functionality first, UI/UX second. Building on a stable foundation allowed us to progress more efficiently.

Essential Vibe Coding Tips for Fast MVP Development

Optimizing AI-driven coding required refined techniques:

• Use Chat Mode: Costs more credits, but it lets you guide the AI's logic actively.
• Employ Prompt-Generating Agents: Initially helpful to translate human instructions clearly, although I later simplified my workflow.
• Provide Screenshots: Helps clarify frontend requirements visually.
• Detailed Instructions are Key: Precise requests ensure accurate outcomes—e.g., instead of "implement OAuth," specify detailed technical requirements.
• Supply Contextual Information: Feeding extra context (logs, snippets) helps the AI grasp complex requirements.
• Frequent Testing: Manually test and implement unit tests early. Tedious, but saves significant debugging time later.
• Always Review Generated Code: Quick code reviews ensure you catch errors early, crucial given the high volume of generated code.

What's Next

These strategies are just the start. In Part 2, we'll discuss how Reuben Scheckter built visual prototypes that landed us early customers before our full product launch. We'll explore how different vibe coding techniques suit different scenarios.

Ultimately, the synergy between our prototypes played a critical role in securing VC funding.

Stay tuned for more