What if AI could help you not just generate ideas but build a product that gets to #1 on Product Hunt? That’s exactly what happened when I used AI tools to create Flowdrafter—a writing app that solves a common problem for writers. (It’s currently #1 on Product Hunt for the day!)
The Background: Can AI Coding Agents Help with Marketing?
My wife is a writing coach, and I’m always looking for ways to help promote her business.
Seeing how easy it has become lately to create small tools using AI coding agents such as V0, I thought it might be worth experimenting with some tool-based content marketing (i.e. creating free tools as a way to bring relevant people to her site.)
But what tools should I create?
I asked Claude to list common problems writers face. One of Claude’s suggestions stood out: “I keep editing as I write, and it’s taking me forever to make progress. I’ll spend an entire writing session perfecting one paragraph.”
The Spark: AI-Powered Ideation
Claude’s suggestion got the ball rolling. My memory of this part of the process is a bit hazy and, going back, I couldn’t find much in my AI chat records but I believe I looked into Reddit discussions for more context and used ChatGPT to brainstorm app ideas. At some point, the idea for a writing app that (perhaps weirdly!) disables editing came together.
(I and/or ChatGPT may very well have been inspired by an existing tool or Reddit thread. If you’re aware of such a tool, please let me know as I’d love to mention it here.)
The Build: From Idea to Prototype in Minutes
I used V0, an AI app development tool, to quickly create a prototype. Within minutes, I had something basic but functional. I then used Cursor’s AI assistance to tweak and refine the app further.
Getting it live took a bit longer. I hosted it on Vercel and set up a custom domain. You can check it out here: https://flowdrafter.pickupyourpen.com/.
In all, it probably took me a total of a few hours to get everything in place.
The Launch: A Surprise Success
I launched Flowdrafter on Product Hunt, not expecting much. I’ve worked on other projects for considerably longer that didn’t get much attention there. But to my surprise, Flowdrafter quickly became the most upvoted product of the day!
Why This Worked
- It Solves a Real Problem: Writers could relate to it. (Thanks Claude!)
- It’s Simple: The app does one thing—helps writers focus on drafting.
- AI Made It Fast: Tools like V0 and Cursor let me build and launch quickly.
Lessons Learned
- AI Coding Agents Can be Great for MVPs: AI tools such as V0 can do a lot of the work in creating simple front-end apps such as this.
- AI Is a Great Partner: It’s not just for coding; AI can help with ideas too.
What’s Next
It’s been fun to see the interest in Flowdrafter on Product Hunt but I suspect it’s largely based on people liking the concept. Whether that translates to them actually using it and finding it useful is another matter and something I’ll be studying.
In any case, if you haven’t tried AI coding agents like V0 yet, I highly recommend doing so. They’re going to be getting more and more powerful and I’ll certainly be continuing to experiment to see what they can do!
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