Getting ready for revenue

Then a few moments later your phone buzzes with a Stripe notification. "Payment successful: £29." Then another. Then another.

It's exciting. Exhilarating actually.

The most I’ve woken up to (so far!) is $100,000 in Stripe notifications overnight. Believe me…it does not get old!

It's also bloody terrifying. Because suddenly you're responsible for keeping a business running, managing costs, and making sure customers get what they paid for.

That's fine. We're ready for this. This is what we’re here for. And this is what we’re prepping this week.

Let's get started:

This is a business

We need to start making money. This is a business, remember? But because we've built an AI tool, we need to be smart about it.

Runaway API costs can destroy you overnight. Thankfully, API costs are (very) cheap compared to what we'll charge, but we still need to put proper controls in place.

To put this in perspective: let’s say your API costs are ~$0.013 per generation (about 500 words in your particular product). You might be able to charge $39/month for 100 AI generations to your customer. Your API cost per customer is roughly $1.30/month. If they max out their usage, that is. So you're charging $39 for $1.30 worth of API calls.

That’s a 97% margin. Plenty of wiggle room.

The API costs are negligible compared to what people will pay for a working solution to their problem.

But we need to work out how much we are charging and how much access we provide to make this work. We then need to have user authentication (basically: user accounts) and billing.

This leads us to the most technical week we'll do for the whole summer camp. Sorry, there's no way around this! I’ve protected you until now.

From Fun Toy to Real Business

Right now, your AI tool is an open playground. It’s just a link that you’ve been sharing out. Anyone can use it, try it, break it. That's perfect for beta testing, but terrible for business. We’ve got to adapt it before we go wide with our launch.

To turn this into a real business, we need to restrict access and charge for it. No more free rides. People value what they pay for.

Today we're adding the velvet rope. User accounts mean we know who's using our tool, we can contact them, and we can control their access. Tomorrow we add payments. By Thursday, we have usage limits to protect our costs. We’ll build each step by step.

Step 1: Understanding Your Database Backend

Before we dive in, quick explainer: your AI tool has two parts. The frontend (what users see and click) and the backend (where data gets stored and processed).

Think of it like a restaurant. Frontend is the dining room and menu. Backend is the kitchen and storage room.

This is the case for most software, including your tool. We (as users) normally only see the frontend. So the backend stuff can be confusing if this is your first time encountering it.

In Lovable, Supabase is your backend. It's a database that stores user accounts, tracks who's paid, remembers usage limits. Without it, you'd need to build all this infrastructure yourself, which would take months. You can obviously use another database but if you’ve built in Lovable then it’s far simpler - just a few clicks to connect.

In Lovable, look for the Supabase button in the top right corner. Click it and follow the connection instructions. This gives you user authentication and database features. It’s a native feature so pretty simple to add. Here are the official instructions and contact Lovable support (or chat to ChatGPT) if you run into problems!

Step 2: Add User Authentication

Now for the main event. You're telling Lovable to add an authentication system to your tool.

I need to add user authentication to my AI tool. Requirements:

1. Signup page with email and password
2. Login page with email and password
3. Only authenticated users can access the main AI tool
4. Redirect unauthenticated users to signup page
5. Simple user profile created automatically after signup
6. Clean, simple design that matches my existing tool

Please set up basic authentication with Supabase. 

We'll be adding payment processing later. For now focus on the above.

This will get Lovable to build out your basic systems for user creation, sign in and content restriction. This might take a few iterations. Lovable might ask follow-up questions or need clarification. That's normal.

Notice right now I’ve asked it to hold on payment processing. The reason is we want to get each component working properly first before adding more complexity.

Step 3: Test Your Authentication

Once Lovable has implemented the authentication, test these scenarios:

New User Signup: Access the page in Anonymous/Incognito mode. Can you access the signup page? Can you create an account with email/password? Are you automatically logged in after signup? Can you access your AI tool?

Existing User Login: Can you log out and then log back in? Does the login form work correctly? Are you redirected to your tool after login?

Database Check: Check your Supabase dashboard. Go to the "Table Editor" section. You should see user profiles being created.

Useful - you can make “test” accounts by using your email+sometext.

For example if your normal email is jim@theoffice.com

You can set up aliases (distinct accounts) with jim+account1@theoffice.com, jim+test4@theoffice.com etc. etc. Just add + and then whatever you want and it’ll count as a different email.

You will hit issues during this process. That's normal. Use ChatGPT to help debug problems, just like we did during MVP week. Remember to be specific about error messages and what you were trying to do when things broke. Add screenshots of what you are seeing or use ChatGPT’s video mode to show it exactly what’s on screen.

Your Deliverable Today

By end of day, you should have:

• Working signup page

• Working login page

• Anonymous users blocked from your AI tool

• User profiles created in Supabase database

Build in Public Content

Share your progress:

"Day 31 of AI Summer Camp: Adding user accounts to my AI tool.

First time building something like this. Thankfully Lovable + Supabase making it easier than expected. Still expecting to learn a lot of technical skills this week!

The unglamorous but essential part of turning a demo into a business."

What's Next?

Tomorrow we add Stripe payments. Authentication today, monetisation tomorrow. We’ll keep building step by step by step! We’ll get you there! You're now 24 hours away from having a system where people can pay you money to use your AI tool. That’s pretty cool eh?

Keep Prompting,

Kyle

You needed a merchant account (weeks of paperwork and credit checks). Then you needed payment gateway integration (custom PHP code that barely worked). Then SSL certificates (expensive and complicated to install). Then PCI compliance (lawyers and security audits). Then webhook handling (pray your server didn't crash when payments came through). And probably some more stuff I’ve blocked from my mind because of the trauma…

I spent three months just trying to accept a simple £20 payment. Three (I was about to swear here…) months. And when it finally worked, I was terrified to touch anything in case it broke.

Today? Stripe handles the merchant account, gateway, compliance, fraud prevention and webhooks. Lovable writes the integration code. What took me three months now takes one day. Hell, 5 minutes once you know what you are doing.

Not easy. But simpler. Much simpler.

Let's get started:

Yesterday we built the velvet rope - user accounts that gate access to your AI tool. Today we're adding the payment systems that makes this a real business.

First, we need to decide: subscriptions or flat rate?

Subscription vs Flat Rate Decision

Generally, AI tools work best with recurring subscriptions because of how these tools are used. Your costs are ongoing (API calls every time they use your tool), so your revenue should be ongoing too.

Put another way your costs (API usage) are metered. So meter the costs for your customer too. The more they use the tool the more you pay for API so it’s only fair that your customer also pays more.

But…subscriptions aren’t the only way to charge here. Just the norm. Very briefly:

Subscription Model (Standard):

• ie. $39/month for 100 AI generations

• Clear usage limits protect your costs (downside)

• Predictable revenue stream

• Can offer different tiers later for different access levels

Flat Rate Model (Riskier but Simpler):

• $199 one off

• Much simpler to build and explain to customers

• Risky if the users i) use the tool heavily and ii) continue to do so!

• Works if you know average usage will be far below cost

One-time payments feel simpler, but they're (generally!) terrible for AI tools. Your costs are ongoing (API calls every time they use your tool), but your revenue is one-time. Eventually you're paying to serve old customers for free.

It can work but it’s harder to pull off. Dan Kulkov is a brilliant example of flat rate success. His AI tools charge one-time fees (lifetime, upfront) for unlimited access because he's studied his users and knows their average usage is far below what would hurt his margins. How? Experience and data. The problem is you don't necessarily know that yet, so it's risky!

For your first version: If you're confident about usage patterns, flat rate makes the purchase decision much easier for customers. If you're not sure, start with subscription limits. For most people it’ll be subscriptions.

We’ll base. the rest of this process on subscriptions because i) it’s more relevant for most of you and ii) it’s more difficult. If you can set up subscriptions then flat fee is easy. So we cover the more difficult implementation.

Step 1: Create Your Stripe Account

If you haven't already, create a free account at stripe.com. This gives you access to both test mode (for development) and live mode (for real payments).

Once logged in, you'll see your Stripe Dashboard. This is where you'll manage products, view transactions, and get your API keys.

You may not be able to set up a Stripe account, depending on your region. If this is the case talk to ChatGPT about alternatives. Common alternatives are Paddle and PayPal. But check with ChatGPT to find alternatives relevant to you specifically. Once you have an account just replace Stripe below with whatever alternative you are using.

Step 2: Create Subscription Product in Stripe

Before connecting to Lovable, set up your subscription product in Stripe:

In your Stripe Dashboard:

1. Go to Products in the left sidebar

2. Click "Add Product"

3. Product Name: Your AI Tool Pro (or whatever you're calling it)

4. Pricing Model: Recurring

5. Price: $39

6. Billing Period: Monthly

7. Description: Monthly subscription for AI tool access

Save this product. You'll need its Price ID for the Lovable integration.

Start with one subscription tier. You can add Pro/Enterprise tiers later once you understand customer behaviour.

Also we’re just using this to get our integration up and running. We’ll work out the actual price in the next part of this guide. Right now we just need to get the connection in play - we can replace this subscription don’t worry!

That said if you know the price you’ll be charging go ahead and put that in now. It’ll save you time later.

Step 3: Connect Stripe to Lovable

Now for the fiddly bit. Believe me though it’s much easier than it used to be! We’ll get Lovable to do the heavy lifting for us.

Following Lovable's Stripe integration approach, you'll use the chat-driven setup. Important: Stripe integration doesn't work in preview mode - you need to deploy your app to test it. It should already be deployed but if you run into errors make sure you confirm this!

First, get your Stripe API keys:

1. In your Stripe Dashboard, go to Developers → API Keys

2. Copy your Secret Key (starts with sk_test_ followed by aklj2l3nadkausd or some similar complex string of letters and numbers)

3. Keep this handy - you'll add it securely in Lovable

Do NOT share these keys with anyone! This includes NOT pasting it into Lovable’s chat.

Now in Lovable, use this prompt:

I need to set up recurring monthly subscriptions with Stripe. Requirements:

1. Users can subscribe for $39/month recurring billing
2. Only active subscribers can access my AI tool
3. Handle subscription status (active/cancelled/failed payment)
4. Redirect to tool after successful subscription
5. Show subscription status in user dashboard
6. Handle subscription cancellation gracefully

Please create monthly subscription integration using Lovable's native Stripe support.

Don’t paste your key into this chat! Instead this chat will trigger a form to appear that asks for your key. This is basically taking your key securely into your Supabase (that we set up yesterday) without even Lovable being able to “see” it.

So when prompted, use the "Add API Key" feature to securely store your Stripe secret key.

What Lovable will create automatically:

• Subscription checkout flow

• Database tables tracking subscription status

• Access control based on subscription status

• Edge Functions for webhook handling

• User dashboard showing subscription info

And it’ll hook everything up to the API key you’ve given it.

Step 4: Test Your Subscription Flow

Stripe has two environments. Test mode uses fake money and test cards. Live mode processes real payments. Always start with test mode.

Make sure you're in test mode in your Stripe Dashboard (toggle in top right).

Now head to your LIVE Lovable app and head to the payment screen (which should hvae been created in the last step)

Test Card Details: Use Stripe's test card numbers:

• Card number: 4242 4242 4242 4242

• Expiry: Any future date (like 12/34)

• CVC: Any 3 digits (like 123)

• Other fields: Use any values you like

Fun fact: 4242 etc. is the Stripe test card so Stripe knows this is a test transaction and won’t block it as fraudulent.

It doesn’t work!

OK. 90% chance here that it’s not going to work.

Sorry.

Subscriptions are the most technically complex part of the entire AI Summer Camp. You're dealing with webhooks, subscription states, edge functions, and multiple systems that all need to work together.

Lovable will do a LOT of the heavy lifting. But if it nails it first time I’d be pretty surprised. Happy surprise, don’t get me wrong. But surprised!

You will more likely hit issues. That's not a reflection of your abilities - it's the nature of payment systems and the complexity of what we are doing. Remember that this is still waaaay easier than it used to be. But we’re still going to need to do some troubleshooting.

Don't be afraid to ask for help:

• ChatGPT first: "I'm setting up Stripe subscriptions in Lovable and getting [specific error]. How do I debug this?"

• Lovable documentation: Check their Stripe integration guides

• Community: Ask in forums or Discord servers

• Professional help: If you're completely stuck, hiring a developer for a few hours is a reasonable investment if this is going to be a live business

The key is being specific about errors. Don't just say "payments aren't working, this sucks" - instead copy the exact error messages from browser, Stripe logs, or Supabase edge function logs. The more information you can give the easier to diagnose what’s up and how to fix it.

Your Deliverable Today

By end of day (or as long as it takes for this one!), you should have:

• Stripe account set up with subscription product

• Working subscription checkout in your app

• Access control based on subscription status

• Tested subscription flow with test payments

If this is all rocking and rolling believe me, you’ve just pulled off something impressive.

Build in Public Content

Share your progress:

"Day 32 of AI Summer Camp: Subscriptions are live.

Worked out Stripe, webhooks, subscriptions and more…phew!

First test subscription just went through. Seeing 'Subscription Active' in my dashboard hits different. Now it’s time to move this to paying customers…”

What's Next?

OK we have the basic mechanics in place. Tomorrow we nail down your pricing strategy. Should you do $29, $39, or $49/month? Usage limits or unlimited? One tier or multiple? We’ll work all this out tomorrow.

Keep Prompting,

Kyle

Price too high and nobody buys. Price too low and you work for free while burning through API costs. Price wrong and you either starve or go bankrupt.

It’s a Goldilocks problem. And not an easy one.

However, getting pricing right isn't about finding the perfect number (hell, that’s too hard) - it's about finding a starting a decent starting number you can test and improve upon.

Let's get started:

Why Pricing Paralysis Kills Businesses

Whole textbooks and courses have been written on pricing. I did one during my MBA. It was about as exciting as you imagine.

Here’s the main takeaway I had: perfect pricing doesn't exist. But bad pricing definitely kills your business. We need to fall somewhere in the middle and, more importantly, we need to do it quickly so we can move on.

I've watched brilliant entrepreneurs spend months researching the "optimal" price while competitors launch, get customers, and iterate based on real feedback. By the time the perfectionist launches, the market has moved on. And whatever they decided upon is no longer relevant.

Your goal isn't perfect pricing - it's confident pricing. Pick a number you can defend, test it with real customers, then adjust based on actual data.

Multiple Approaches to Find Your Price

There's no single "right" way to price your AI tool. We’ll use several methods to triangulate a reasonable range:

Method 1: Cost-Plus Pricing Calculate your actual costs, then add profit margin. Most reliable for protecting your business. This gives us a nice conservative baseline but is unambitious.

Method 2: Competitor Analysis See what similar tools charge, position yourself accordingly.

Method 3: Value-Based Pricing Price based on the value you deliver to customers.

Spoiler: value based pricing is my favourite. And the ultimately best method here. But right now you don’t have enough intel to make a call on this! So we need a range of methods to land on a good starting price first.

AI Pricing Research Assistant

Let’s go ahead and use AI to do the heavy lifting for us. Specifically I’d put this in a deep research mode so that the AI can gather up information for you:

I need to determine pricing for my AI tool. Help me calculate using multiple methods:

My tool: [description of what it does]
Target customer: [your niche]
Problem solved: [specific pain point]
Average usage estimate: [X generations per user per month]

Calculate pricing using these approaches:

1. COST-PLUS METHOD:
- API cost per generation: $0.013
- Estimated monthly usage per customer: [X generations]
- Total monthly API cost per customer: $X
- Recommended markup: 10x-20x for software
- Suggested price range based on costs

2. COMPETITOR ANALYSIS:
- Find 5 similar AI tools in [my niche]
- List their pricing and what's included
- Identify pricing gaps or opportunities
- Suggest positioning (premium/standard/budget)

3. VALUE-BASED PRICING:
- Time saved per month: [estimate hours]
- Value of that time at $50/hour: $X
- Current solution cost: $X
- Frustration/pain factor: [high/medium/low]
- Suggested price as % of value delivered

Use these methods combined to output 3 specific price points (low/medium/high) with justification for each approach.

Start Low and Raise Prices Strategically

After your research gives you a price range, generally you’ll want to start at the lowest defendable price. Here's why:

You can always increase prices. Current customers stay locked in (“grandfathered”) at their original price, so they feel rewarded for being early supporters.

Lowering prices screws early adopters. They paid more and feel ripped off. Bad look for any business. The first in should get the best treatment.

Raising prices creates urgency. "Price going up next week - last chance to lock in founder pricing" converts fence-sitters. It’s a built in urgency trigger and we love those.

It lets you test price sensitivity. We can keep raising prices until you hit resistance, then you've found your market ceiling.

Example Strategy:

• Launch at $29/month (founder pricing)

• After 25 customers, raise to $39/month

• After 100 customers, raise to $49/month

• After 250 customers, test $59/month

This means the first people in the door get what is always the best deal. This is how I operate my businesses. Early adopters put their trust in me so get the best deal. Fence sitters get a higher price.

It also means that each time you bump the price you can go to your audience and say “hey it’s going up from $29 to $39” shortly - you in? Lock in the price now”. Super effective and it gives you the ability to run “sales” without ever discounting (and devaluing your product).

It also means you can bump the price and see how it affects conversion. $10 extra and only a 3% dip in conversion - solid, lock in the new price. $10 extra and a 80% drop in conversion? You’ve found resistance, stick to the original price.

Update Your Stripe Product

Once you've chosen your price:

1. Go to your Stripe Dashboard → Products

2. Edit the product you created yesterday

3. Update the price to your chosen amount

4. Update the description if needed

5. Test the checkout flow with your new pricing

Your Lovable integration will automatically use the updated Stripe pricing.

Your Deliverable Today

By end of day:

• Multiple pricing calculations completed using AI prompts

• Chosen starting price (lowest defendable option)

• Stripe product updated with initial pricing

Build in Public Content

Share your pricing journey:

"Day 33 of AI Summer Camp: Decided on pricing at last!

Researched 6 competitors (range: $29-79). Calculated value delivered ($400/month time savings).

Landing on $39/month. It’s a good starting point. I’ll definitely increase from here”

What's Next?

Tomorrow we’re adding another technical element. We’ll add usage limits and credit systems. Your pricing is set, now we need to protect those margins with smart usage controls that prevent runaway API costs.

Keep Prompting,

Kyle

But now they're using it. A lot. And your API bills are climbing. Gulp.

Each generation costs you money - maybe $0.005 for a simple text response, maybe $2 for a complex image creation tool. With success comes usage, and with usage comes costs.

Most people won't abuse your system, but we need basic protections in place. Better to have limits you don't need than bills you can't afford.

Let's get started:

Why Usage Limits Matter

Why did we wait until now to add limits and plans? Because it’s more complex. Remember we always build simple to complex. I wanted you to get your basic user accounts and billing in place before we add complications like tiered access. One thing at a time!

We’re now going to add usage limits. Ie. how much someone can use your AI tool.

This is a delicate balance between pricing, usage limits, subscriptions vs one-off payments - it's multivariate and complex. Ultimately, you'll need to experiment: set a price, set a usage limit, see if people stay subscribed and don't churn (cancel their subscription)!

Working Out Your Usage Limits

Usage limits depend entirely on what your tool does. I can’t just give you an answer unfortunately!

Maybe your tool creates dream diary picture books using expensive image generation - each session might cost you $2 in API fees.

Or maybe it's text-based with simple responses - each request costs $0.005.

You need to gauge how much each "complete usage" costs you - from start to finish of one session.

How to test this:

1. Go into your AI tool and use it 10 times, varying your inputs

2. Check your OpenAI API usage dashboard

3. Note the total cost and divide by 10

4. That's your average cost per usage

Pretty rough but it gets you in the ballpark. And once you have this data, you can set intelligent limits.

Calculate Your Usage Limits

Let’s use a prompt to help us work out our limits.

Help me calculate usage limits for my AI tool subscription:

My tool details. First ask me for:
- Average cost per complete usage session: $[your tested amount]
- Monthly subscription price: $[your chosen price]

Calculate and suggest:

GENEROUS LIMITS (70% profit margin):
- Maximum monthly usage to maintain profitability
- Recommended limit with buffer for variation
- What this means for typical user experience

NORMAL LIMITS (85% profit margin):
- Conservative usage limits for healthy margins
- Recommended for most AI tools
- Balance of value and profitability

STRICT LIMITS (95% profit margin):
- Very conservative limits maximising profit
- Risk of customer dissatisfaction
- Only if your tool provides extremely high value

POWER USER TIER:
- Higher usage limit for premium pricing
- Suggested price point for heavy users
- What usage level justifies the higher cost

For each tier, explain:
- Monthly usage limit
- Cost breakdown
- Profit per customer
- Risk assessment

Base calculations on real API costs, not theoretical numbers. Use Python or a similar tool for calculations. 

Make sure that your AI uses the current API costs. It should be able to go and fetch them for you. If not just copy and paste them in from the ChatGPT pricing page.

Your Usage Tier Strategy

Once you know your limits, we can design your tiers. This is optional but will help i) get in paid customers and ii) deal with high usage power users.

Here’s an example of what it might look like.

Free Tier (Lead Generation):

• 3-5 uses to prove value and collect email addresses

• Clear upgrade prompts when exhausted

• No credit card required to test then prompted for payment after 3-5 uses

• Primary goal: get people to experience the value and pay

Paid Tier (Your Main Business):

• Usage limit based on your calculations above

• Monthly reset on billing anniversary

• This is where you make your money - the core business and what we’ve been designing the last few days

Power User Tier (Future Revenue):

• For the 5-10% who burn through regular limits

• Higher usage allowance at premium price

• Add this once you see people consistently hitting limits

You’ll probably just start with just Free + Paid. Add Power User tier once you understand actual usage patterns and have customers requesting more capacity.

Adding Usage Tracking to Your Tool

OK let’s implement this all! First we need a way to keep track of what’s been used by what user. Your Supabase database needs to track usage. Here’s a prompt to plug into Lovable:

I need to add a credit system to track AI usage in my app with Supabase:

Database schema needed:
1. Add to user profiles table:
   - account_type (free/paid/cancelled)
   - credits_remaining (integer, default based on tier)
   - credits_used_this_month (integer, default 0)
   - last_credit_reset (timestamp)
   - subscription_start_date (timestamp)

2. Create usage_log table:
   - user_id (foreign key to profiles)
   - credits_used (integer)
   - action_type (text: "ai_generation", "api_call", etc)
   - timestamp (when the usage occurred)

Credit rules:
- Free users: 5 credits total, no reset
- Paid users: [INSERT YOUR CALCULATED LIMIT] credits, reset monthly on subscription anniversary
- Each AI request costs 1 credit
- Block requests when credits_remaining = 0
- Show usage dashboard with remaining/used counts

Please create this database structure and the logic to handle credit deduction and monthly resets.

Make sure to insert your calculated limit from before! And I’ve set the free tier usage to 5 credits here but obviously adjust as necessary.

Credit Control Integration

Next up we need some logic that puts this into play whenever a user request comes in. Basically your AI tool needs to check credits before processing requests. Again use this prompt in Lovable:

Add credit checking and deduction to my AI tool:

Before any AI API call:
1. Check user's credits_remaining
2. If credits_remaining > 0: proceed with AI request
3. If credits_remaining = 0: show upgrade message, block request

After successful AI response:
1. Deduct 1 from credits_remaining  
2. Add 1 to credits_used_this_month
3. Update user interface with new credit count

Error handling:
- If AI API call fails, don't deduct credits
- If user has 0 credits, show clear upgrade path
- If database update fails, log error but don't break user experience

UI requirements:
- Show credits remaining prominently in interface
- Clear upgrade button when approaching limits
- What they get when they upgrade

Please implement this credit checking and deduction system.

From here make sure to test it out extensively. Again, ask your champions for assistance if you need to! Reward them with extra credits (ask Lovable to create you a “gift credit” function in the backend - you’re a vibe coder now!) if necessary.

Your Deliverable Today

By end of day:

• Tested your tool to understand actual API costs per usage

• Calculated appropriate usage limits using the AI prompt

• Added credit tracking to your database schema

• Implemented credit deduction logic in your AI tool

• Clear upgrade messaging when limits are reached

Build in Public Content

Share your usage control implementation:

"Day 34 of AI Summer Camp: Added usage limits to my AI tool.

Tested 10 real uses: average cost $0.013 per generation. At $39/month, setting limit of 200 uses = healthy 85% margins.

Free users get 5 tries to prove value. Most people won't hit limits, but I need protection from the few who would.”

What's Next?

Tomorrow we focus on customer onboarding and success. You've got the payment and usage systems working - now we make sure new customers understand how to get value from your tool immediately. Your business infrastructure is nearly complete. Time to focus on customer experience and make some revenue.

Keep Prompting,

Kyle

This is the assumption nowadays. We’re so used to delivery being immediate that when it isn’t we freak out.

You're about to launch publicly. We need to make sure we roll out a welcome mat that makes customers feel like kings and queens while preventing angry refund demands from the impatient ones.

Let's get started:

 Rolling Out the Welcome Mat

You need to prevent two types of problems:

The Impatient Customer: Expects immediate delivery and assumes the worst when things aren't instant. These people will demand refunds within minutes if not properly onboarded. Worse, they’ll flag you as a fraud. Which you’re not!

The Confused Customer: Pays, logs in, doesn't understand what to do, quietly disappears. They don't complain, but they don't get value either. Even worse in my opinion - I hate disappointing people!

Both problems are solved with immediate, clear onboarding that makes customers feel supported and successful from the moment they pay.

We need both in-app onboarding (inside your tool) and out-of-app support (email and contact systems) to cover all bases.

In-App Onboarding Systems

Here are a couple of ideas you can implement. Now that you are a vibe coder the world’s your oyster! So add what you think will be useful. Don’t need to follow me slavishly!

Thank You Page After Payment

When Stripe redirects customers back to your app after payment, they should see immediate confirmation:

I need a thank you page that shows after successful Stripe payment:

Content needed:
- "Payment successful! Welcome to [Your Tool Name]"
- "Your monthly subscription is now active"
- "You have [X credits] to use this month" 
- Large "Start Using Your Tool" button linking to main app
- "Need help getting started? Check our quick guide" link
- Simple, clean design that builds confidence

Make it celebratory but focused on next steps. Customer just paid and should feel excited to start using the tool.

Please create this post-payment thank you page.

You need to configure the redirect in both Stripe and Lovable. Lovable will tell you how but here’s the method.

In Stripe Dashboard:

1. Go to Products → [Your Product] → Edit

2. Look for "Customer portal" or "Success URL" settings

3. Set success URL to: https://[your-lovable-app-url]/thank-you

4. Set cancel URL to: https://[your-lovable-app-url]/pricing (or wherever you want them to go if they cancel)

In Lovable: When you set up your Stripe subscription integration, specify in your prompt: "After successful payment, redirect customers to /thank-you page in my app."

Both need to be configured properly, otherwise customers might get stuck on Stripe's generic success page instead of returning to your tool for proper onboarding.

Welcome Message for New Subscribers

When paid users first access your tool, show helpful guidance:

I need a welcome message for users who just became paid subscribers:

Show this for users with active subscriptions who haven't used the tool much yet:
- Welcome message with their name if possible
- Quick explanation: "Here's how to get the most from your subscription"
- Simple first step suggestion specific to my tool
- Their current credit balance displayed clearly
- Link to help page if they need more assistance
- Option to dismiss this message once they're comfortable

Make it encouraging and helpful, not overwhelming. Focus on getting them to first success quickly.

You can extend this to build out a whole “onboarding” tutorial but that’s likely overkill. We just want something to say Hi and point them in the direction of help if they need it.

Help Page

Create a simple help page with the information customers actually need:

Create a simple help page for my AI tool:

Include these sections:

GETTING STARTED:
- Step-by-step guide for first-time users
- What to expect from the tool
- How to get best results

UNDERSTANDING CREDITS:
- How the credit system works
- How many credits you get per month
- What happens when you run out

COMMON QUESTIONS:
- [Add 3-5 questions from your beta testing]
- Troubleshooting for typical issues
- How to contact support

ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT:
- How to view subscription status
- How to update payment method
- How to cancel if needed (be honest and helpful)

Keep everything simple, scannable, and focused on helping customers succeed with the tool.

Ideally use this below all your previous work to pull in existing information or go ahead and provide it yourself as needed. And make sure to check the page! This is an important one!

Out-of-App Support Setup

Immediate Access Email:

The most critical piece - customers need an instant email confirming their purchase and access. Use Lovable's Resend integration:

I need to send an automatic email when someone successfully subscribes via Stripe:

Email trigger: When Stripe webhook confirms successful subscription payment

Email content:
- Subject: "Welcome to [Your Tool Name] - You're all set!"
- "Thanks for subscribing! Your account is now active"
- "You have [X] credits to use this month"
- Direct link to access your tool: [your app URL]
- "Need help? Reply to this email and I'll personally assist you"
- Simple, clean email template

Use Resend integration to send this automatically. The email should arrive within 2-3 minutes of payment.

Please set up automatic welcome email for new subscribers using Resend.

Again, Lovable will help you walk through the steps but here’s the basic setup. It’s a lot like how we added Stripe previously.

Setting Up Resend:

1. Create free account at resend.com

2. Get your API key from Resend dashboard

3. In Lovable, use "Add API Key" to securely store your Resend key

4. Lovable will create the email automation using Supabase Edge Functions

Customer Support Setup

To start with keep support simple but responsive. Initially your email is fine. Either make a new email by buying a related domain or just yourbusinessname@gmail.com is fine to start. Don’t overcomplicate with full ticket support systems yet. We want to do this manually to start so that we are exposed to customer questions because that’s how we’re going to learn!

Testing the Customer Journey

Walk through the complete new customer experience. This is probably the most important testing you’ll be doing! We need this to flow well.

1. Complete a test subscription with Stripe test card

2. Follow the redirect to thank you page

3. Click through to your main tool

4. Experience the welcome message

5. Try using the tool as a new customer would

6. Check the help page for clarity

7. Test contacting support

Fix anything confusing or broken in this flow. And have others test it for you for belt and braces!

Your Deliverable Today

By end of day:

• Thank you page that guides customers after payment

• Welcome message for new subscribers in your tool

• Help page with essential customer information

• Tested customer journey from payment to access

Build in Public Content

Share your customer experience focus:

"Day 35 of AI Summer Camp: Building out the basic customer experience.

Thank you page → welcome message → help page. Nothing fancy, just making sure people who pay me know exactly what to do next! As customers we take this for granted but it all needs to be built.”

What's Next?

Week 7 complete! You've built a complete revenue system: user accounts, payment processing, pricing strategy, usage controls, and customer experience. This has been the heaviest tech week. Apologies! BUT it’s done! You’ve done all the heavy lifting.

Week 8 shifts to peer-to-peer growth. You'll learn to leverage relationships with other entrepreneurs, build strategic partnerships, and turn your peers into your growth engine.

Keep Prompting,

Kyle