10 AI Tools I Use Weekly as a Solo Builder

Building solo doesn’t mean building alone, especially with AI in your corner.

Over the past year, I’ve tested hundreds of tools across every category imaginable. These are the 10 AI tools I keep coming back to week after week—for prototyping, content, automation, and staying lean.

Whether you're shipping SaaS products, running a microbusiness, or just want additional leverage, these are worth knowing.

1. Tana

💡 Best for: Thinking, planning, and organizing with AI superpowers
Tana is like if Notion, Roam, and ChatGPT had a productivity-obsessed baby. Tana is my second brain to help me map ideas, connect tasks to product decisions, and generate structured thinking with AI.

2. Perplexity AI

💡 Best for: Researching markets, summarizing papers, finding insights
Google feels like a blunt instrument after using this. I treat it like a research analyst for fast, smart, and often deeper than traditional searches.

3. Claude 3 Opus

💡 Best for: Long documents, structured thinking, planning
Claude is better than GPT at deeply understanding big blocks of text. I use it when I want cleaner logic, more reflection, or to break down something complex.

4. ChatGPT (GPT-4o)

💡 Best for: Brainstorming, code help, writing, product strategy
This one’s obvious, but the secret isn’t just using ChatGPT. It’s learning how to engineer great prompts, set up custom GPTs, and layer it into every workflow you have. Chat-GPT is my co-founder who never sleeps.

5. Whimsical AI

💡 Best for: Flowcharts, wireframes, system design
I map out workflows and system architecture constantly. Whimsical helps me visualize ideas fast, boosted by AI assists to make things even smoother.

6. Typedream AI

💡 Best for: Launching fast, beautiful landing pages with AI
I use Typedream for rapid idea validation. The AI helps you generate page copy, layout, and even illustrations in minutes. It’s great for spinning up MVPs, waitlists, or marketing pages without touching code.

7. Hero UI Chat + Vercel

💡 Best for: Generating full AI-powered websites with deploy-ready code
Hero Chat is like having a frontend dev + designer + product PM in your pocket. I describe a product idea in plain English, and it spits out clean React/Tailwind code, ready to export and deploy on Vercel. For MVPs and landing pages, this combo is a solo builder's cheat code.

8. Runway ML

💡 Best for: Video editing, animations, AI-generated visuals
For turning ideas into motion, Runway is magical. I use it to create promo videos, background animations, and visual content that would normally take a full design team.

9. Cursor

💡 Best for: Coding with AI in a local VSCode-style environment
Cursor replaced VSCode + Copilot for me. It understands your codebase, lets you chat with files, refactor large chunks intelligently, and even write commits. If you're a technical builder, this is your AI cofounder.

10. Granola

💡 Best for: Transcribing meetings and turning them into structured insights
Granola saves me hours by automatically transcribes meetings, tags action items, and distills takeaways. I use it to stay focused during calls and revisit key decisions without scrubbing through recordings. Bonus: it integrates seamlessly with calendars and async workflows.

The best AI tools (as with any product) aren’t just shiny - they’re sticky. I’ve tried everything from the bleeding edge to the overhyped. These 10 made it into my permanent stack because they earn their keep every week.

If you’re a solo builder looking to scale without hiring, learn how to wield these right—and it’ll feel like you 10x’d your team.

Did You Know? Framer started as a design tool for prototyping interactions. Then AI happened, and they shipped an entire AI website builder in weeks. Adaptability beats scale every time.

‘Till next time,

Stack & Scale