Yapital

Inspiration

We’ve all been there trying to prep for a big pitch but not having a real way to simulate what it actually feels like. You either pitch to a friend who nods politely, or you talk to yourself in the mirror. We thought, what if you could practice in front of someone who challenges you, asks the tough questions, and actually makes you sweat a little but it's all powered by AI? That’s how Yapital was born. It gives founders a safe space to mess up, improve, and come back sharper for the real thing.

What it does

Yapital is an AI-powered pitch simulator. Founders choose a VC persona, like The Skeptic or The Optimist, step into a mock pitch session, and get challenged in real-time by AI video agents. These agents interrupt with questions mid-pitch just like an actual investor meeting. After the session ends, Yapital gives you structured feedback that highlights what you did well, what needs work, and how to improve your pitch before you’re in a high-stakes room.

How we built it

We used Bolt.new to quickly build the frontend and create a clean, responsive interface. i didnt write a single line of code other than .env files . Tavus powers the AI video agents that act like investors. Supabase stores the pitch sessions, feedback data, and VC persona details. The app is deployed on Netlify, and we used Entri to launch it on the domain yapital.tech.

Challenges we ran into

Making the AI personas feel believable and realistic took a lot of experimentation. Getting the timing right when to interrupt, how to keep the flow natural was tough. Styling inside Bolt.new also needed some creative workarounds to get the visual polish we wanted. On top of that, keeping everything responsive and smooth across devices while integrating Tavus video agents added complexity.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The app feels polished and usable. We didn’t just prototype something we built a tool founders would actually use to get better. We created six distinct VC personas, each with their own tone and question style, and made it feel like a real investor meeting. The feedback after the session is clear and genuinely useful. We also kept the UX clean, modern, and dark-themed to match the premium experience we had in mind.

What we learned

We learned that a stack like Bolt.new, Supabase, and Tavus can move fast if you're focused. And finally, we were reminded that polish matters a clean, smooth experience builds trust fast.

What's next for Yapital

We're planning to add more VC personas with different industry expertise, like a Crypto VC or someone from an accelerator background. We also want to let users upload pitch decks and get feedback on slides, not just the spoken pitch. Real-time coaching tips during the session could be helpful too. Long-term, we’d love to partner with incubators, startup schools, or even pitch competition organizers to make Yapital a standard prep tool.

Built With

• netlify
• react
• supabase
• tavus
• typescript
• vite