The Problem: A Nightmare in a Google Doc
It all started with my friend, let's call him. He was trying to leave his retail job for a career in marketing.
I watched him spend a full Saturday afternoon staring at a blank Google Doc. He was stressed, deleting sentences, and copying outdated templates. The worst part? He knew he was a hard worker with great skills, but he had absolutely no idea how to say it. Every time he heard the term "ATS," he felt like the system was designed to keep him out.
I realized he wasn't alone. This was a silent nightmare for millions of non-technical job seekers. The existing tools either cost too much, were too complicated, or just... didn't work. They needed a guide, not another gate.
My Process: Building a Solution, One Conversation at a Time
I decided to build the solution myself. No team, no budget, just a problem I was determined to solve.
1
Listening to the Pain
I didn't assume I knew the answer. I talked to over 15 people who were exactly where he was. The stories were all the same: "I don't know what words to use," "Formatting makes me want to scream," and "I apply and never hear back." This empathy became my fuel.
2
The Strategy: One Thing, Exceptionally Well
The temptation was to build a tool that did resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles. But I fought it. My strategy was to do one thing perfectly: create a breathtakingly good resume from the simplest possible input. Everything else could wait.
3
Designing for Calm, Not Chaos
I opened Figma with one rule: My mom has to be able to use this. I designed a flow that feels like a friendly chat, not a government form. Every extra field or confusing button was removed. The goal was to make users feel smart, not overwhelmed.
4
The Technical Magic Trick
I'm not a professional coder. But I know how to make tools talk to each other. I used Framer to build the website and connected it to powerful AI (like GPT-4) through the OpenRouter API. My real genius was in the prompt engineering—I spent weeks writing and rewriting the instructions for the AI until it stopped sounding like a robot and started sounding like a professional career coach.
5
Launching in the Right Corners of the Internet
I made it free, forever. I didn't blow money on ads. Instead, I went directly to where the pain was most acute: subreddits like r/Resumes and r/jobsearch, and LinkedIn groups. I wasn't selling; I was helping. And people noticed.
The Solution
Narravo AI is the resume co-pilot I wish he had. You answer a few simple questions about your work history as if you're talking to a friend. A few moments later, your inbox has a beautiful, professionally formatted, and deeply ATS-optimized PDF. No sign-up. No cost. No headache.
The Impact: Numbers That Tell the Story
The results humbled me. People weren't just using it; they were being helped by it.
5 min
Average Time to Resume
The ultimate validation: My favorite emails simply read: "I started getting interviews." That's the only metric that ever truly mattered.
What Building This Taught Me
Start with Heartache. The best products come from a genuine desire to solve a painful problem you've witnessed firsthand. That emotion is your compass.
A Limitation is a Gift. Having no team or budget forced me to be ruthlessly focused and incredibly resourceful. It wasn't a handicap; it was my greatest advantage.
AI is a Puppet. You are the Puppeteer. The AI doesn't think. It responds. The real product was the carefully crafted prompt and user experience I built around it. The tech is just the lever.
This project proved that you don't need permission to start. You just need a problem you care about enough to solve.
