Bhanu Teja didn’t have a grand plan. He just knew one thing. He was tired of building other people’s products.

So he quit. No safety net. He just moved back home, started freelancing to pay rent, and opened a blank code editor on a Friday night.

“I wanted to go indie,” he later said in an interview. “I didn’t like working for someone else anymore. I wanted to build my own stuff and share everything publicly.”

The weekend that changed everything

He wasn’t chasing a unicorn.

He just saw a need. A small, clear problem:

“Most websites don’t help you find what you’re looking for. You end up scrolling forever.”

So he built something simple. A tool that lets you turn any website into a chatbot that actually answers questions. He called it SiteGPT.

He used tools like OpenAI, Pinecone, and Cloudflare. No big architecture. No overthinking.

Just one person, a laptop, and a working prototype by Sunday night.

And it worked.

“The first version was basically just me prompting... but it ran better than expected.”

AI was the only teammate

Bhanu didn’t have a developer. Or a designer. Or a product manager.

But he had AI.

  • OpenAI API: This was the brain behind the chatbot. It helped turn website content into real conversations users could have.
  • Pinecone: This tool made it easy to store and search through all the content on a website, so the chatbot could find the right answer fast.
  • Cloudflare Workers: Everything ran on this lightweight platform, which let Bhanu launch quickly without managing servers.

Together, these three tools made up the simple stack behind SiteGPT’s MVP. OpenAI for the AI, Pinecone to organize the content, and Cloudflare Workers for hosting.

While others waited to hire, Bhanu shipped alone with AI as his co-founder.

From side project to serious business

He launched fast, and growth followed:

  • $780 MRR in just days
  • Climbed to $15K MRR (~$180K ARR) within a few weeks
  • Rounded out the year at $250K total revenue
  • All without a team, just him, AI, and a weekend project

“I launched it paid-only because I didn’t want to mess with free users. It had to prove it was valuable.”

Not everything was easy

At the beginning, it wasn’t smooth sailing:

  • Support came in via his personal inbox. He handled every bug, every request, no outsourcing.
  • Prompt tweaking became endless. What works for one page failed for another.
  • Pressure mounted to maintain weekly shipping cadence.

Still he adapted:

  • Spent 1–2 hours daily refining prompts.
  • Shared screenshots, progress, and user stories on Twitter to build trust.
  • Said no to “shiny features” and focused only on essentials.

That focus let him keep going. Solo, sustainable, and profitable.

AI helped him move fast. But his grit made it real.

This wasn’t just a technical trick. AI was the engine, but Bhanu was the driver.

  • Tech execution? AI
  • Prompting logic? Bhanu
  • Product clarity? Bhanu
  • User connection and revenue? Bhanu

He built, tested, priced, supported, posted, iterated, and continued alone.

What Bhanu’s story tells you

  • A weekend is enough: Pick a problem you feel and prototype fast.
  • Charge from day one: Let your product justify itself early.
  • Leverage AI for everything: Code, parsing, chatbot logic, you name it.
  • Own the conversation: Be transparent and real with your users.
  • Iterate by feedback: Small pivots beat big plans.

Want to try this?

  • Start with a problem you care aboutIt doesn’t have to be big. Just real enough to be annoying.
  • Build a simple version using AI + no-code (or low-code)Keep it scrappy. Let AI do the hard parts. You just glue it together.
  • Don’t wait for it to be perfectLaunch early. Learning from real users beats guessing in isolation.
  • Consider charging early if it fitsIt’s not for everyone, but it might help you stay focused and build something people truly value.
  • Share your progress publiclyYou don’t need a big following. Just be honest. People show up for real stories.

Final thought

Bhanu gave himself permission to build alone, with AI, and under no illusions. Within weeks, his side project became a meaningful business. All on one person’s shoulders.

In 2025, you don’t need permission or a team. You need curiosity, clarity, and a weekend with AI on your side. In 2025, with AI this powerful, there's no better time to start.