By Ebrahim Basrai of the New Jersey Dawoodi Bohra community
The Moment I Knew We Had to Do This
Three months ago, I built a fully functioning website.
The catch? I didn’t write a single line of code.
I’d been experimenting with AI tools that turn plain English into working software. I typed,
“Create a landing page with a hero section and contact form,” and watched it appear. I tweaked colors. Added features.
It felt effortless—not because the technology was thinking for me, but because it was responding to my thinking.
That night, one question stuck with me: If I can do this without a coding background, why not my friends, my family, my community?
That’s when the idea for an AI Promptathon was born.
The goal was simple: to prove that entrepreneurship lives in thinking and lived experience—and that growth comes from continually pushing boundaries.
What We Set Out to Accomplish
An AI Promptathon is a hackathon without the coding barrier. No prerequisites. No jargon. Just people, their ideas, and AI tools that understand natural language.
What mattered wasn’t novelty, but what happens when tools become easy enough that thinking becomes the differentiator.
I wanted participants to walk away with three things:
- Confidence: a 12-year-old building alongside a 50-year-old professional—and both realizing they belong.
- Understanding: seeing AI as a collaborator that amplifies creativity, not replaces it.
- Curiosity: that quiet spark of what else could I build?
Most importantly, I wanted to show that entrepreneurship isn’t locked behind technical gates. Your ideas, your experience, your understanding of real needs—those are the assets. AI is simply a tool.
"Wait, It Actually Works?"
About 30 minutes into the building phase, we saw a breakthrough.
A team working on Hifz Hive, a platform to support Quran memorization, prompted an interactive challenge system. One woman refreshed her browser.
There it was: buttons, progress tracking, encouragement messages.
“Wait… it actually works?” she said, half laughing, half stunned.
They had gone from idea to working software in under an hour—no months of learning syntax, just clear thinking and effective AI prompts.
They ultimately took first place, not because of technical flash, but because they understood their users. They knew memorization is hard, motivation matters, and progress should feel rewarding. Insight became a prototype—fast.
That moment, multiplied across teams, was exactly why we did this.
The Energy Was Contagious
Every person in the room was engaged. They were leaning forward, huddled around laptops, pointing at screens, debating features. The 12-year-old students weren't intimidated by the professionals. If anything, they adapted faster. The seasoned engineers weren't dismissive of AI; they were genuinely curious about what it could unlock.
One team attempted to rebuild Canvas, a learning management system used by students throughout the nation. Another took on Genesis, an interactive school portal. Were these realistic one hour projects? Absolutely not. But the audacity to even try? That's the entrepreneurial spirit we need.
What People Built
The projects tackled real, familiar problems.
- Rizq Registry addressed shared kitchen inventory, anticipating shortages before they became issues.
- Future Fuel helped students navigate career uncertainty by connecting them with mentors and pathways. One judge said, “I wish this existed when I was in high school.”
- Vanta became a study companion designed by people who remembered exam anxiety.
- My Home Plate reimagined food sharing through a local marketplace for home-cooked meals.
What united these projects wasn’t variety—it was intent. AI prompts began as questions: Who is this for? What problem are we solving? What should happen next? As tools became simpler, critical thinking became more important.
These weren’t finished products. They were beginnings.
The Best Problem We Had
An hour in, no one was watching the clock.
When I announced we had 30 minutes left, the room groaned.
We extended. Twice. Teams were still refining AI prompts as judges walked by.
It was a logistical challenge—and the best problem I could have hoped for. People were so absorbed in creating to want it to end.
What Made Me Proud
Our judges—all professionals across fields—did more than evaluate. They mentored. They asked hard questions about monetization, differentiation, and user acquisition.
My co-organizer, Husain Attarwala, helped turn an idea into reality—especially the hard part: convincing people that no coding really meant no coding. Volunteers handled everything behind the scenes.
What inspired me most was the generosity. Teams that finished early helped others. Breakthroughs were shared freely. No one hoarded knowledge.
That’s the community I’m proud to belong to.
The Bigger Vision
Some of these ideas will fade. That’s okay.
What won’t fade is the shift that happened. A hundred people crossed a psychological threshold. The next time they have an idea, they won’t think, I need to hire someone. They’ll think, I can prototype this myself.
If this resonates, try one thing tonight: open an AI tool and describe a problem you care about in plain language. Don’t aim for perfection. Aim for clarity. Using basic AI prompts, ask it to build a simple version—then iterate.
Entrepreneurship doesn’t start with skill.
It starts with curiosity—and the courage to try.
AI is reshaping the world faster than we can track. But we are capable of learning how to shape it ourselves.
