I Built an App This Weekend (And I'm Still Surprised It Works)

Hey!

So... I did something a bit crazy this weekend.

I built an entire web app that turns blog posts into audio podcasts. And it works.

Here's the Backstory

You know that frustrating moment when you find a fantastic article, but you're about to go work out?

I've been dealing with this for months.

Indeed, there are solutions available. But they're either:

• Expensive ($29/month for what?)

• Complicated (why do I need 17 steps?)

• They just don't work how I want them to

Friday evening, staring at another great article I wouldn't have time to read, I thought: "What if I just built my own?"

The Weekend That Changed My Perspective

48 hours later, I have a working app.

My friends are already using it in beta.

I'm fixing some bugs here and there, but I will share the link by the end of this week so you can use it as well.

It's generating actual podcasts that don't sound like robots.

And here's the thing - I'm not a "real" developer. I'm a designer who loves to code and build stuff on the internet.

What Made This Different

Three things changed the game:

1. AI-powered coding (Cursor AI wrote code I couldn't)

2. Design systems (Aurora UI handled what I'm not good at)

3. Clear constraints (48 hours meant no overthinking)

This Week's Deep Dive

I'm documenting everything.

The real process.

The mistakes.

The shortcuts that work.

Because if someone like me can build and ship in 48 hours, imagine what you could create.

For my designer friends, yes, you can build this stuff. The tools have changed everything.

For Developers Out There: AI isn't replacing you - it's making you superhuman.

For Anyone with Ideas, Stop waiting for "someday." Start this weekend.

Your Challenge

Think of one small problem you face regularly. Something annoying enough that you'd pay $10/month to solve it.

That's your weekend build waiting to happen.

Build something.

John

P.S. If you're a designer curious about this AI-powered building approach, I teach this stuff in my 5-Day AI UX Design Workshop. However, this week's series will provide a genuine behind-the-scenes look at how it works in practice.

P.P.S. Tomorrow, I'll show you exactly how I chose my tech stack in 30 minutes instead of 30 hours. The framework works for any project.