BUILDACADEMY
3-Week AI App Building Cohort. Online. Live.
Three live online Tuesday evenings. Build and deploy a real AI-powered web app. No coding experience needed.
6 hours of live teaching
Tuesday evenings, AEST
Live 1:1 support
We teach non-technical builders to ship real AI apps in three weeks.
3 Tuesdays. 15 seats. One working app on the internet.
No coding experience needed. Live support the whole way.
THE THREE WALLS NON-TECHNICAL BUILDERS HIT
“Anyone can build an app with AI now.”
You've heard it everywhere. So you opened Cursor or v0. You followed a YouTube tutorial. You got something working… kind of. Then it broke. You asked the AI to fix it, and it made things worse.
We researched 80+ sources on why non-technical builders fail with AI coding tools. Three problems came up in nearly every one.
WHAT KEEPS PEOPLE STUCK
- The fix spiral. You ask the AI to fix a bug. It fixes it but breaks something else. You fix that and break a third thing. Soon nothing works and you don't know how to get back.
- The planning gap. Vague prompts produce garbage. Without a clear blueprint of what you're building, the database, and the AI prompt, the AI just guesses.
- The deployment cliff. Building locally is easy. Getting it live is where almost everyone stalls. Environment variables, GitHub, Vercel — without a guide, this is where projects die.
buildAcademy is built around solving these three problems. Three Tuesday evenings, 15 people, live support the whole way.
WHAT YOU'LL BUILD
An AI-powered outreach email and LinkedIn message generator. Type in a prospect's name, company, and pain point, hit Generate, and get a personalised cold email and LinkedIn message back in seconds. Save results to a database. View your history. All running on your own URL.
It's a real app with a real AI feature. And by the end of week three, you'll understand exactly how it works — and how to apply the same patterns to your own project.
WHAT YOU'LL WALK AWAY WITH
- ✓ A deployed AI-powered app, live on the internet, that you can show anyone
- ✓ The complete project code and all workshop materials
- ✓ A clear understanding of how modern apps are made (Cursor, GitHub, Vercel, Supabase, OpenRouter)
- ✓ Three habits that save you every time you build: checkpoint before changing, revert instead of chasing fixes, plan before prompting
- ✓ An invitation to join the ongoing support community
WHY THREE WEEKS AND NOT A SINGLE DAY
Across three previous one-day workshops, the most consistent feedback was that one day wasn't enough. We listened. Here's what changed.
| One-day workshop | buildAcademy | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | 6 hours, one Saturday | Three Tuesday evenings + Saturday setup clinic |
| Time to digest | None — everything in one day | A week between sessions to build at your own pace |
| When you get stuck | Move on with the group | Private Discord between sessions, live 1:1 in session |
| Troubleshooting | Time runs out | Whole session 3 dedicated to debugging real attendee bugs |
| What you ship | A working prototype | A deployed app on your own URL |
| After it ends | You're on your own | Ongoing support community |
“Yes I think running a longer program with more time and detail will be useful.”
“It would be valuable to have follow-up sessions, deeper dives, and structured networking opportunities.”
“Further time in troubleshooting or customisation.”
“Ongoing support would be great Callum.”
WHAT'S INCLUDED
Three Tuesday evenings, a Saturday setup clinic, and everything you need to ship — included.
3 Live 2-Hour Tuesday Sessions
Three live evenings on Google Meet. Not lectures — we build the app together, step by step, with live 1:1 support when you get stuck.
- → Session 1: Plan the build, scope the database, first form rendered
- → Session 2: Supabase, save and retrieve data, AI integration
- → Session 3: Debugging workshop, deploy to Vercel, final polish
- → Cameras on — it's a cohort, not a lecture
Free 45-min Setup Clinic
The Saturday before week 1. We get your laptop ready so we don't waste a Tuesday evening on installs.
- → Install checks for Cursor and Node
- → Account creation walk-through
- → First successful Cursor connection
- → 1:1 fallback calls if you can't make Saturday
Private Discord Community
Get unblocked between sessions and stay connected after the cohort ends. Alumni keep showing up here too.
- → Ask questions between Tuesdays
- → Share what you're building
- → Ongoing support after the cohort ends
- → Where alumni post what they shipped next
Materials, Templates & Recordings
You leave with everything we used — and recordings so missing one session doesn't mean falling behind.
- → All workshop materials and templates
- → Starter code and prompts
- → Recordings of every session
- → A deployed app on your own URL
THE STACK YOU'LL LEARN
The same tools real engineers use to ship AI apps — explained for a non-technical audience.
OpenRouter
A single API for large language models. We use it to integrate AI into your app with proper prompts, JSON output, and error handling.
GitHub
Where your code lives. We cover the basics — commits, version history, connecting to Vercel — without the terminal noise.
THREE TUESDAYS. ONE WORKING APP.
A clear follow-along system that gets you from zero to deployed — with live support the whole way.
Setup Clinic (45 min, free)
Install checks, account creation, first successful Cursor connection. Join live, or book a 1:1 fallback call if Saturday doesn't work. We get your laptop ready so we don't waste Tuesday evening on installs.
Plan & Scaffold
Welcome, finished-app demo, plan the build, scope the database, design the AI prompt, project setup, first form rendered. The planning step most people skip — and the reason most vibe-coded projects fail.
Database & AI
Supabase connection, save and retrieve data, OpenRouter integration, first real AI output, history page. By the end of the night, the app is doing real work.
Debug & Ship
Debugging workshop using live attendee bugs, deploy to Vercel, environment variables in production, final polish, and what to build next. You leave with an app on the internet that you built yourself.
PERFECT FOR YOU IF…
buildAcademy is built for people with an idea and a few evenings to ship it.
Non-Technical Founders
You have an idea sitting in a notes app and want to actually ship something instead of paying an agency $15k for a prototype.
- → Build your own MVP
- → Stop paying for prototypes
- → Validate ideas faster
- → Speak technical fluently
Business Owners
You want to prototype internal tools and AI workflows for your business without an IT bottleneck.
- → Ship internal tools yourself
- → Automate manual workflows
- → Stop being held up by procurement
- → Bring AI inside your business
Operators & Marketers
You want to test ideas, prototype tools, and have better technical conversations with your engineering team.
- → Build working prototypes
- → Validate ideas independently
- → Better technical conversations
- → Ship without waiting for sprints
Tried Cursor & Got Stuck
You've tried Cursor or v0 alone, hit a wall, and want the accountability and live support to actually finish something.
- → Live 1:1 help in session
- → A clear follow-along system
- → Three habits that unblock you
- → Discord support after the cohort
WHAT THE COMMITMENT LOOKS LIKE
Not for you if:
- ✗ You're looking for free content — there is plenty on YouTube
- ✗ You want to be carried through without doing the work
- ✗ You're hostile to having your camera on — this is a cohort, not a lecture
What you'll need:
- ✓ A laptop (Mac or Windows) with stable internet
- ✓ A webcam and working mic
- ✓ Cursor Pro, OpenRouter credits (~$5), free GitHub/Vercel/Supabase
YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Callum Holt
Callum is a senior full-stack engineer at Shopfront, an AI-powered resale platform processing thousands of items per day across eBay, Depop, Grailed and Shopify. He runs 13Labs (an AI agency and consultancy), is Head of Partnerships at MLAI, and runs buildClub Melbourne.
Most people teaching AI coding are content creators or coaches. Callum ships production AI every day at his actual job — you learn the same patterns he uses for real work, not influencer demos.
“Great educator! Really easy to understand, deep knowledge and approachable!”
“Outstanding, totally suited for the job. Friendly and encouraging. Doesn't assume any prior knowledge.”
“Passionate presenter with deep domain knowledge.”
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Yes. buildAcademy is built specifically for non-technical people. You won't learn to "code" in the traditional sense — you'll learn to direct AI tools to build for you, and to understand enough to maintain what you create. Zero programming background assumed. If you can write a clear email, you can prompt an AI to build software.
Three weeks. Three live 2-hour sessions on Tuesday evenings (6:00–8:00pm AEST), plus a free 45-minute setup clinic on the Saturday before week 1. Dates and registration are on Luma.
Online. All three sessions run live on Google Meet. Cameras on — it's a cohort, not a lecture. The Saturday setup clinic runs during a co-working session Callum hosts; you can join in person or get a 1:1 fallback call.
An AI-powered outreach email and LinkedIn message generator. Type in a prospect's name, company and pain point, hit Generate, and get a personalised cold email and LinkedIn message back. Results save to a database, you get a history page, and the whole thing runs on your own URL.
Cursor Pro (about $20/month, your subscription), about $5 of OpenRouter credits, and free accounts on GitHub, Vercel and Supabase. We send detailed setup instructions a week before the event and cover everything at the Saturday clinic. About 15 minutes of setup in total.
You can learn individual pieces, yes. But you'll spend months piecing together fragmented tutorials, hitting walls with no one to help, and probably giving up before you ship anything real. buildAcademy gives you a structured path, expert guidance, and a cohort that keeps you accountable. The question isn't whether the information exists — it's whether you'll actually finish.
Every session is recorded so you can catch up. The private Discord lets you ask questions between sessions, and Callum runs live 1:1 support during the sessions themselves. That said, the live sessions are where the biggest breakthroughs happen — come if you can.
This cohort focuses on shipping a real AI-powered app in three weeks. We don't cover authentication, payments or multi-user systems — those are beyond what we can tackle in six hours of live teaching. We'll explain what they are and when you'd need them so you have a foundation to explore on your own.
RESERVE YOUR SEAT
15 seats only. First come, first served. Pick the next cohort on Luma and we'll send setup details the week before week 1.
Questions? Email callum@13labs.au