I Built a Prototype in 2 Hours. Turning It Into Software Takes Months.

I just built this AI Toolbox prototype in under 2 hours using Google’s Antigravity. But it still needs months of real engineering work.

The app takes user inputs and generates strategic outputs, including downloadable PowerPoint slides.

Tools like Antigravity, Cursor, and GitHub Copilot have dramatically reduced the time to test ideas. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀. For validation, that’s genuinely useful.

𝗜’𝗺 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀, 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁: they handle scaffolding and boilerplate, but I still want to understand the important decisions in the code and UX.

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁, 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲. No auth, rate limiting, persistence, observability, or security hardening. Scaling it properly could take roughly 10–20x the prototype time. The barrier has moved from “can we quickly test if this idea works?” to “is this worth investing in properly?”

𝗘𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗼𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀. 𝗔𝗜 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁. Domain experts can validate concepts faster, but engineers should still own everything from prototype to production-ready system.

𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲: 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 “𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗶𝗻” 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗼𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. Treat prototypes as disposable, but salvage ideas and any parts that can meet production quality with refactoring and tests.

𝗕𝗶𝗴 𝗼𝗿𝗴 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲: explaining 𝗪𝗛𝗬 a working demo still needs months of work. Prototypes prove WHAT to build, NOT that it’s built. AI tools are great at scaffolding and boilerplate, and equally good at generating code that looks right but hides subtle bugs or security issues.

Key insights from builds like this:

 • Great for early validation = 5–10% of the work

 • AI tools excel at scaffolding and boilerplate

 • Fast prototyping ≠ fast production development

I am currently testing on my site with a small group. Watch this space as this idea develops further.

— Ram Srinivasan MIT Alum | Author, The Conscious Machine | Global AI Adoption Leader.

Published in Business Insider, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, MIT Executive Viewpoints and more.

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Ram Srinivasan currently serves as an Innovation Strategist and Transformation Leader, authoring groundbreaking works including "The Conscious Machine" and the upcoming "The Exponential Human."

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