• 

  SkillSprout Logo

How I Built SkillSprout: A Mom Who Learned to Code (Sort Of)

What Inspired Me

Being a mom changed everything for me.

The moment I became a mom, I started thinking about the world my son would grow up in. I kept asking myself: Why don't kids have a place to just try things? Not for a grade. Not to check a box. Just to explore. To build something they dreamed of. To figure out who they are before the world tries to decide for them.

That idea became SkillSprout.

What I Learned

I want to be honest: I knew absolutely nothing when I started.

• I didn't know what an IDE was
• I had never written a line of code
• I couldn't tell you the difference between a frontend and a backend

What I did know was what I wanted to build, and clarity of vision turns out to be more powerful than any technical skill you start with.

How I Built It

I built SkillSprout entirely using Claude and ChatGPT, not no-code tools, but general-purpose AI I talked to like a very patient senior engineer.

My workflow looked like this:

1. Describe what I want in plain English
2. AI generates the file structure and code
3. I paste it into the right place
4. Deploy to Vercel, connect Supabase
5. Something breaks -> paste error back -> fix together
6. Repeat

Every feature, parent approvals, predefined messaging, private profiles, course creation, was built one conversation at a time.

The Challenges I Faced

• Not knowing what I didn't know - I didn't have the vocabulary to ask the right questions early on
• Context switching - juggling Vercel, Supabase, GitHub, and a code editor all at once, all brand new
• Debugging without a map - when something broke, I had no intuition for where to look
• Staying the course - there were nights I nearly quit

But then I'd think about my son. And every kid who deserves a place to discover what they love. And I'd open the laptop again.

Why It Was Worth It

"When you give someone real autonomy and the right tools, they will surprise you every single time."

If I, a mom with zero coding experience, could build a real, working, safe application for children using nothing but determination and AI, then I believe more deeply than ever in what SkillSprout teaches.

I built this for my son. And I built it for yours. 🌱

_ Quincy Snell, Founder of SkillSprout_

Built With

• anthropic-claude-api-(research-assistant)-storage:-supabase-storage-(videos
• images)-styling:-tailwind-css-fonts:-nunito
• languages:-typescript
• pdfs
• sql-framework:-next.js-14-(app-router)-platform:-vercel-database:-supabase-(postgresql)-with-row-level-security-authentication:-supabase-auth-payments:-stripe-(checkout
• webhooks)-apis:-finnhub-(live-stock-prices)