Promptly

✨ Inspiration

“Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.”

Promptly was born out of curiosity—and a recurring frustration. As a daily user of Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, I often found myself hitting usage limits on free plans. I’d waste time and tokens rewording vague prompts just to get a decent result. That inefficiency made me question: Is prompting the real problem?

I quickly realized that most people struggle with how to prompt AI properly. The lack of prompt engineering knowledge was a barrier. That insight, coupled with my product management background and user research, led to the creation of Promptly—a tool that simplifies the process by asking users the right questions to generate high-quality prompts.

🛠 What it does

Promptly is your AI prompt co-pilot. It helps users generate optimized prompts by guiding them through smart, contextual questions.

Instead of guessing how to phrase a request for tools like ChatGPT or Gemini, users answer a few tailored questions—and Promptly turns those answers into a powerful, ready-to-use prompt. No prompt engineering experience required.

🧱 How we built it

I built the Promptly waitlist landing page entirely with Bolt, leveraging its Pro version. The UI/UX flow was designed with accessibility and simplicity in mind. The backend is connected to Supabase for data storage (waitlist signup tracking), and the frontend includes user-friendly flows for prompt generation and onboarding.

Together with a teammate who's an ML Data Scientist and who worked on the prompt engineering on the backend, I handled everything from product strategy and content design to frontend prototyping using Bolt’s no-code interface and Supabase integration.

⚠️ Challenges we ran into

• Designing a UI that balances minimalism with flexibility for various use cases.
  
• Creating contextual question flows that feel intuitive but deliver effective prompts.
  
• Managing Supabase integration and troubleshooting cross-origin (CORS) and deployment issues.
  
• Educating users on the value of better prompts without overwhelming them with technical language.

🏆 Accomplishments that we're proud of

• Launched a functional waitlist landing page with analytics, feedback loop, and working database—all as new builders.
  
• Validated a real problem through research, interviews, and usage friction.
  
• Created a clear product narrative that resonates with multiple user personas: founders, writers, marketers, developers, and everyday AI users.
  
• Learned new tools (Bolt + Supabase + Netlify) and used them effectively.

📚 What we learned

• You don’t need to wait for a technical co-founder to validate and build your product idea.
  
• Great UX for AI means simplifying—not replacing—the tools people already use.
  
• Building fast and iterating openly with feedback is better than chasing perfection.
  
• Curiosity and consistency are better drivers of progress than having it all figured out.

🚀 What's next for Promptly

• Start building the MVP: integrating OpenAI/Anthropic APIs to power real-time prompt generation.
  
• Expand contextual question templates for key user groups (PMs, Founders, Developers, Marketers).
  
• Introduce user accounts, saved prompt history, and customization.
  
• Launch a public beta, collect feedback, and iterate quickly.
  
• Long-term: Make Promptly the default UX layer for Gen AI tools—an essential part of every AI user’s workflow.

Built With

• bolt
• grokai
• netlify
• supabase