Built in the open
I'm building Relay with AI — in the open.
Relay exists because marketing leaders learn fastest from a peer who already did the thing. So it would be hypocritical to build Relay behind closed doors. This page is my own Build: how I'm actually using AI to design, code, and ship this platform — the real stack, the wins, the things that broke.
I'm a marketing leader, not a career engineer. Everything here was built in collaboration with an AI coding agent (Claude), one conversation at a time. If I can ship this, the bar for what a marketing team can build itself is a lot lower than most people think.
The stack
AI builder
Claude (Anthropic) — pair-built every feature in plain conversation
Hosting
Vercel — git push to deploy, preview URLs, custom domain
Database
Upstash Redis (KV) — durable storage via the Vercel marketplace
Resend — invites, passwordless login, founder notifications
Domain
relaycollective.ai — GoDaddy DNS → Vercel
Code
Zero-dependency Node + a single static front-end. Simple on purpose.
The build log
Thu night — Idea → live site
Started Thursday evening. Went from a concept to a deployed, invite-only site on a real domain in one sitting. Hardest part wasn't code — it was the DNS and email plumbing (verifying the sending domain, pointing GoDaddy at Vercel).
Fri–Sat — The trust engine
Built email-locked, single-use invitations: each member gets 10, every invite is tied to one person's email. Added an AI pre-screen that scores applicants (real sponsor? work email? senior?) so approvals take seconds.
Sat–Sun — Making it real
Cleared all the demo data so the network launches empty and fills with real Builds. Turned the community into a working forum (ask, answer, upvote, search) and the intelligence dashboard into live stats computed from real Builds. Added auto-approval so it runs without me babysitting.
This week — Trust, honestly
Slowed down and made sure the site doesn't overclaim. Built real per-field privacy (hide budget, team, vendors — enforced for everyone). Made connections actually broker intros by email instead of pretending to. Replaced fake endorsements with an honest 'founding circle is forming.' For this audience, one fake-feeling detail discredits the whole thing.
Ongoing — What surprised me
Two things: (1) the AI was best when I described the outcome and the trust rule, not the code; (2) most of my time went to the boring infra — DNS, email, env vars — not features. Exactly the stuff a peer's notes would've saved me. I'm logging it as it happens; the changelog below updates itself every time I ship.