"Let's ask AI that too": A Non-Engineer Built a Landing Page in 2 Days

Yamaguchi: Setouchi-to Inc. is built on three pillars: the regional media outlet "Setofla," the startup fund "Setouchi Startups," and "SETOUCHI TO Empathy Investment," which stands alongside every challenger.

On top of that, we run several programs under "PROJECT ORANGE" that give students a chance to grow. There's "ORANGE DAYs," a weekend entrepreneurship program; "ORANGE CAMP," a space for dialogue among the next generation of founders and creators; and "ORANGE AI," where students actually build the things they want to make using AI. Through PROJECT ORANGE, we give students opportunities to learn and grow through real challenges.

The most exciting part of this work is getting to watch students wrestle with hard problems and take on challenges right in front of you. Through our VC and investment business, we support those student challenges from many more angles.

Yamaguchi: We asked Wolkin to help us build a landing page. But rather than having Wolkin build it for us, the idea was for them to support me hands-on so I could build the landing page myself using AI.

I come from the business side. In a previous job I'd touched GAS a little, but I had no real development experience. When I once tried to automate Slack notifications, I ended up having to rely on an engineer in the end.

That was the backdrop when the "ORANGE AI Project" got underway at Setouchi-to Inc. The project was selected for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's FY2024 "Program to Discover and Develop Unconventional Young Talent in the Regions (AKATSUKI Project)." In it, young people in Okayama and the Setouchi area combine their own "formative experiences" with a social issue and shape an AI-powered solution—and we needed a dedicated site for it. The trouble was, we had no engineer in-house and weren't sure how to build it. We could have outsourced, but we figured, "We're running an AI project—wouldn't it be far more interesting to use AI and build it ourselves?" So we decided to ask Wolkin.

Yamaguchi: I already knew Nakazono from Wolkin as a friend, but the real trigger for asking them for AI support was joining an introductory Cursor workshop held among friends. I was amazed that even a non-engineer like me could develop by talking with AI through that black screen. Asking ChatGPT questions is handy, but for more complex work I felt Cursor was the better fit.

What sealed it was how fast and dependable Wolkin was. We needed to build the landing page right away, and because their communication was so quick to begin with, I knew I could count on them.

Yamaguchi: To start, they gave me a video explaining the page-building steps using a version of Cursor customized for us, so I could reproduce the process on my own. Beyond the build steps, it included tips for using Cursor, so I could get what I wanted done right away. After that, they supported me broadly—I'd consult them on design changes, and they helped with deployment and with Git and Netlify operations. They then set up several hands-on support sessions, and we worked toward completion.

One thing Takumi Nakazono said during the support really stuck with me: "Try throwing that exact question you just asked me straight into Cursor." The big shift was getting into the habit of typing any question I had into Cursor. Work that used to take me hours sometimes finished in minutes, and the site was done after just two or three sessions of working side by side.

Partway through, we decided to drastically change the main color and overall tone. At first I tried to modify the existing design as a base, but I got the advice that "it's faster to rebuild from scratch," so in the end I rebuilt it. That turned out to be the right call. Not only did we make the deadline, but we handled in-house the very parts that would have driven up cost and coordination had we outsourced them—a huge win.

Yamaguchi: First, the project's landing page came together at lightning speed in just a few days. When recruiting students to join the program, it now came across that we were "doing this seriously." When you have a properly organized landing page, not just an application form, it becomes a path that lets students apply with confidence, right?

Also, I personally shifted into a "let's just ask AI first" mindset. The program recently kicked off, and I've even been telling the participating students things like, "Why not ask AI about that?" (laughs). We've built a flow where if you don't know something, you ask AI, and if it's still too hard, you ask a person. I think that changed not just our work efficiency, but the way members learn and the way they approach work itself.

Yamaguchi: Through this support, I came to really feel that AI isn't a tool only for people with special skills—it can be a familiar, everyday tool for non-engineers like us. And for students, once the habit of "first, ask AI" takes root, the bar to taking on challenges drops dramatically.

Going forward, I want to expand the use of AI even further within the "ORANGE AI Project," and create an environment where students can turn their ideas into reality more quickly. I'm looking forward to a future where more and more organizations can make AI their weapon.