Inspiration
When we tried to onboard merchants to DropX, a dropshipping platform I co-founded, the process was very hard for them and for us if they were receiving orders through chat. There are a lot of challenges, but they all tell us that a cash order is more likely to be cancelled or returned than a paid one.
Many merchants just want to have a systemised way to collect and deliver orders, without the need to use many tools or to have expertise in complicated tools like Shopify.
What it does
This product "Chat-to-order Product" helps you manage orders and collect money in an easy way, with very minimal configuration. I like the fact that it reduces the number of steps a seller needs to process an order.
Nothing is sent, and no money moves until the seller taps. We are trying to eliminate any agentic issues, so it’s a critical step that needs human approval, and it kind of increases sellers’ trust in using the app.
How we built it
This isn’t the first time I’ve used Claude Code to build apps. The key is being able to manage the context and build agents, skills or guardrails to make sure that you are implementing an SDLC to deliver a product that achieves KPIs.
PayPal is one of the biggest fintech products and has enabled a lot of merchants to grow their work. Gemini offers a free tier and a very easy, ready-to-use configuration, so it’s very good for this prototype phase. The scope, PRD and spec all helped complete the picture.
Challenges we ran into
I had to cut one thing: this app could be operated completely through the main messaging channel that sellers sell on. The seller may never need to use the app except in the background, and the rest can be managed in WhatsApp. This would cut even more of the steps users need to take, without being less productive, but unfortunately there’s no room to test that in the prototype now.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Honestly, it’s coming up with a simple yet effective flow like that. I was able to be faster than ever in building this prototype: just a couple of days.
What we learned
I know that everything in technology is now easy to acquire, with tons of alternatives, but it now really depends on your ability to ship and verify fast. If I started again tomorrow, I’d probably come up with a way to build the same app faster, and find more ways to verify that this app is the one sellers need.
What's next for Chat to Order
I will continue integrating with WhatsApp and get feedback from actual sellers after they use the app.
